Today, more than 40 university libraries in the United States, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East are involved in projects that build directly on the Rochester model, ultimately using their findings to guide everything from software development and new construction projects to how late the reference desk stays open.

With mapping diaries, participants are given a campus map then asked to draw where they go during one day. In the Rochester study of undergrads, the exercise revealed that student’s primary block of concentrated time for “serious studying” fell between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. -- several hours after regular library staff had left the building. In response, the library initiated a Night Owl Librarian service during the busiest weeks of the semester.

Columbia University-educated anthropologist Nancy Fried Foster has spent her life studying cultures. Now as the nation’s first anthropologist assigned to a library, she is bringing those well honed observation skills to the ever-evolving field of information science.

From videotaped interviews and charrette-style workshops to formal observations, Rochester’s approach is scalable and low cost. “It doesn’t matter if you have a zero budget or a bazillion dollars, you can use these techniques. You can do a small study and still come up with powerful results,” says Alice Bishop.

Published in 2007, Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester has become a best seller in the library world, selling out of its first three printings – even though it is available free for download.