Nancy Fried Foster, the lead anthropologist, and a team of librarians from Rochester University describe the two year research project they undertook in 2005 and 2006 to address the question of, What do students really do when they write their research papers? with the views of using their findings to improve services and facilities provided by the library. Chapters outline the variety of smaller projects undertaken to address this question that used a variety of research methods including interviews, surveys, mapping diaries, photo elicitation, and design charettes.

I read this slim volume (a grand total of 83 pages) for work as I'm currently engaged in doing research using some of the same methods to explore use of public library space. The chapters average out at about ten pages with those focused on specific projects splitting the majority of their content evenly between detailing the methods used and then briefly exploring some of the more interesting findings. While not highly detailed for every step undertaken for the different research methods, it does give some practical examples of how the methods work. The findings weren't particularly surprising to me in comparison with the researchers as the project was done in the same year that I was a first year undergraduate student, so many of the student behaviours, while not necessarily ones I had, were very familiar to me. ( )