University Students’ Needs for Communication Spaces in Higher Education in China: A Survey at Three Universities

Abstract With the development of mobile technology and digital scholarship in higher education, university students’ communication needs change over time. The academic communication space includes both student-oriented physical spaces in the library, such as discussion rooms and conference rooms, as well as online virtual spaces such as knowledge-based forums and academic communication groups. Thus, it is necessary to re-examine students’ needs for academic communication space in physical and virtual modes, as well as the differences between student groups. We conducted a survey at three universities to collect information on users’ needs regarding the spaces, amenities and equipment, environmental requirements, management and service, and other areas. The data revealed that the top demand scores are for small communication spaces (7.80), an online forum for academic exchange (6.77), and a chat group for academic exchange (6.74). The virtual communication space is also becoming popular with students, especially in upper classmen and postgraduate groups. The top three demand scores for space amenities and equipment are a high-speed and stable network environment (9.26), freely placed tables and chairs (8.51), and a printing, copying, and scanning all-in-one machine (8.28). There is no difference in space demands according to gender. Graduate groups generally have a much higher demand for equipment than undergraduate groups. Furthermore, the respondents at Jinan University have a significantly higher demand for communication space than the other two universities. Our research provides insights into the communication space of academic libraries in China, which also has implications for other academic libraries to improve their spaces to meet student groups’ needs.