This study presents detailed data and commentary on the policies and plans of higher education institutions for their group study rooms and spaces. The report helps its readers to answer questions such as: How many group study rooms do colleges maintain and what are their plans for them in the future? How are they equipped? What percentage are soundproofed? Have desktop computers? Smartboards? Whiteboards? Ethernet Ports? How did librarians plan their size configuration? Or their placement in the library? What are their policies regarding reservations, limits on use, rental to outsiders, food and beverage consumption and other issues? What type of student uses the group study rooms the most and what do they tell librarians when they are surveyed about group study rooms? How different are the group study room policies and plans for library buildings built before 1962 vs those built after 1998? If librarians plan to add more group study rooms from what areas of the library is the space coming? How are projects being funded?
Just a few of this 81-page report’s many findings are that:
• In 2015 the mean number of group study rooms and spaces provided by the libraries sampled increased by 7.85%.
• 25% of the libraries sampled offered single person enclosed study rooms intended for individuals and not for group study.
• A mean of 67.77% of the group study rooms in the sample were equipped with whiteboards.
• For colleges charging more than $25,000 per year in annual tuition, 65.31% of group study rooms had Ethernet ports.
The older the library building, the greater the likelihood that food is allowed to be consumed in group study rooms. For buildings built before 1962, 75% of libraries allowed food consumption; this figure drops to 71.43% for libraries built between 1963 and 1970 and then drops again to 45.45% for libraries built between 1971 and 1998; only 27.7% of libraries built after 1998 allow food consumption in group study rooms.
43 colleges participated in the study, largely from the USA but also from Canada, the UK, Singapore, and China. The sample comprises 17 private and 27 public colleges o