Bring your children with you: A case study into making the tertiary library family friendly

Tertiary students who are also sole-parents experience challenges accessing the library services they

need to complete their course work. Author Joanne Barnes used her Victoria University Masters of

Information Studies 580 research project to undertake a qualitative study that investigated the impacts

her institution’s library policy had upon these students’ ability to undertake a program of study. The

findings revealed that these students would have a far easier time completing and be far more effective

library and information users had they been able to bring their children with them to the library so

the Unitec Institute of Technology Library listened. This case-study describes the process of how they

made their library welcoming, and usable for the students with children as well as those without.