Abstract
The intent of this case study was to gain insight into the information needs and research behaviors of upper-division performing arts students, and how to best address those needs. This article presents findings from focus group interviews of thirty music, dance, and theater majors at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The data revealed several themes, including that performing arts students have unmet multimedia, primary, and interdisciplinary research needs and that they struggle with the discovery layer and the catalog. The findings have implications for how library instruction and research services should evolve to serve this population.
Highlights
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) identified user behaviors and expectations as a top-ten trend in academic libraries in 2012.1 The motivation to conduct this study was a desire to identify user behaviors and expectations of a unique population—performing arts students—and to use that input to guide enhancements to library services
Concerned about the problem of library disconnects for those students who do not receive adequate disciplinary library instruction or those who do not use library services at all, the author conducted a series of focus group interviews
During spring 2014, upper-division music, dance, and theater students at the University of Wyoming in Laramie were invited to participate in a series of focus group interviews to help determine their research and information literacy needs
Summary
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) identified user behaviors and expectations as a top-ten trend in academic libraries in 2012.1 The motivation to conduct this study was a desire to identify user behaviors and expectations of a unique population—performing arts students—and to use that input to guide enhancements to library services. Aims to discover what they [users] need and designs solutions that will help advance those interests.”[2] Problem discovery dovetails with the intention of focus group interviews—input directly reported from library users, which leads to improvement in services. Serving the Needs of Performing Arts Students: A Case Study. Concerned about the problem of library disconnects for those students who do not receive adequate disciplinary library instruction or those who do not use library services at all, the author conducted a series of focus group interviews. The use of focus groups was a logical method to obtain qualitative data regarding student information-seeking needs and research behaviors, a way to gather firsthand input to help implement more relevant library instruction and research services. The author of this case study defines performing arts students as upper-division music, dance, and theater majors
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