Download complate issue - Ozean Publications

with class marks L-P are shelved in Reading room E; Reading room F houses classes Q-Z while Reading roomG is now home to the Law collection. Aside the reading rooms, there are special collections which also containreading spaces. The special collections in HOL include Reference/Bibliography collection, Africana collection,Documents collection, Serials and Day Reserve collection (HOL, 1989). Fig. 1 shows the layout of a typicalreading room.Fig. 1: One side of a typical reading room at HOL [Usually consist of two sides with shelves in-between]As Crawford (1999) asserts “Space use within libraries has always been fairly complex and will become moreso in the future.” He identified the following space needs and uses by libraries: Meeting spaces, Study spaces,Reading spaces, Research spaces, Coherent spaces and Flexible spaces. While not discussing Stack or Shelvingspace, he acknowledged “it isn’t going away” and constitute one of the reasons why Libraries will continue toneed more physical space in future. This study is concerned with reading/study space which encompasses study,reading and research spaces as identified above.It is generally believed in library circles that users will undertake their study activities in the reading roomswhere the books for their relevant disciplines are shelved. This will facilitate access to and use of the books inthe reading rooms by the core disciplines users. In the context of this study, core discipline users are users whopatronize their Faculty-based reading rooms while migrant users are users who do not patronize their Facultybasedreading rooms. Migrant users tend to deprive the core discipline users of access to reading/study spaceand relevant resource materials.This study was hinged on the philosophy of libraries providing facilities for stratified users in which Sciencestudents are expected to patronize Science-based Reading Rooms, while Art-based students patronize Art-basedReading Rooms. The focus of this paper was to examine the suitability and workability of this concept amongHOL users. The objective of this study was to evaluate the degree of compliance with this postulate and thelevel of migratory behavior.LITERATURE REVIEWFew works have been undertaken in the area of space utilization in Libraries especially in the area ofreading/study spaces. In developing countries, little or no research work has been documented to act as a basisfor policy formulation in stocking of books. Klein (1977) examined shelving space utilization in Hospitallibraries with space shortages. He examined shelving spaces extensively and also touched on sitting spacesgiving several alternative solutions. As regards sitting space shortages, the introduction of carrels in everyusable and available space was suggested. Hall (1979) in his research on Library Space Utilization measuredactivity or spatial relationships between functional divisions within the library using a computerized technique.His methodology demonstrated that significant information about functional requirements of a library can bemeasured and displayed in quantitative and graphic forms. He concluded that such an output could provide abehavioral analysis of the library environment based on actual observation.Crawford (1999) identified a natural connection between libraries and study, even if library materials were notinvolved. Libraries, for generations, have provided safe havens for those who cannot study effectively at homeor in their dormitories. Provision of spaces for study, reading and quiet contemplations, and research remained a150