Restorative Library Study Spaces

Abstract

Academic librarians are struggling to find methods to demonstrate their impact on student learning and to understand what types of spaces within their physical libraries will contribute the most to institutional goals. At the same time, students are coming to higher education with more disabilities, distractions and competing responsibilities than ever before. These students need study spaces that will assist them in recovering from the mental fatigue that comes with everyday life and that makes it more difficult for them to direct their attention to important tasks, problem-solve, and think reflectively. Attention Restoration Theory (ART) has shown that exposure to natural environments, even through window views and interior plants, can decrease mental fatigue and restore the ability to direct attention. This study uses a revised version of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale and the Perception and Compatibility Scale in an experimental setting to determine whether exposure to natural environments in simulated library study spaces is perceived as restorative and, thus, likely to have a positive impact on students’ abilities to direct their attention.