It's all about the learning: what students say about their learning in informal learning spaces in the library.

Abstract

Most learning occurs outside the classroom yet research on the relationship of learning to informal learning space is in its beginning phases in higher education. Temple (2008) notes the dearth of research on learning space in higher education. He comments that teaching and learning in the university includes the need to understand the impact of university space. Academic libraries are being renewed and designed for learning. However, little is known about what sort of learning goes on in the informal library spaces. A study undertaken in winter 2016 asked students to consider the relationship of informal library spaces to their learning choices. This paper discusses key learnings which serve to provide some understanding of the relationship between libraries, space and informal learning behaviors