Reconsidering library spaces: trace of privacy in library users behaviors.

Abstract

This paper examines the trace of privacy in the behavioral pattern of students in the library of the faculty of architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey. After scrutinizing the users? behaviors by disguised observation and taking photographs for two days, the experimental analysis shows that not only students prefer to sit in more private situations, they also apply various mechanism to achieve higher privacy level; library users prefer to sit adjacent to walls, avoid sitting near the corridors, and personalize their adjacent seats. Comparing to students with no computer, called here as paper-based users, computer-users desire a higher level of privacy; they avoid sitting near the corridors and places where their computer screen is visible to the public. Consequently, this study via revealing the robust trace of privacy in students? behavior shows that library needs to provide more private spaces to attain a more satisfactory level of service by decreasing the gap between the desired and the achieved level of users? privacy.