data gathering

Library Observation Reflection
This activity was one that I thought would be interesting but, to be honest, it wasn’t one in which I entered with a lot of expectations. I wasn’t really sure what would happen so I tried to approach the exercise with an open mind.

My perceptions of the library did change from this exercise. Prior to this observation I have always just kind of used the library. I have used it a lot, but generally I will do all of my searches online. Thus, when using the library, I often go with information in hand and looking for a specific area. I have never really stopped to take a look. The only time I have spent time in the library working on a paper, I intentionally secluded myself.

I didn’t necessarily have a specific emotional attachment to this library but I do have an emotional connection to libraries in general. I have always seen them as inviting places. In my mind they were places where people would come together and where there was not only a lot of information and books but also a place where there was fun to be had. I have always associated libraries as a place of interaction. While I would not say that this library doesn’t allow interactions, and I am not going to state that there aren’t parts of the library that aren’t vibrant, because there are, on this given occasion, there was very little meaningful interaction to be had. The people in the library, and there were quite a few, spent most of their time working to maintain a separation from each other. This is a sign of productivity, but there s more to it. I had never truly stopped to look at the environment, which is a little hard. Everything is made of a hard substance and most of the furniture and art use strong angles. Everything is built around movement patterns or movement in general. There are few places which encourage face-to-face, comfortable interaction. It makes sense, though, that this particular section of the library is designed in this way as it is the main