Article Note: On Facilities and Campus Recruitment

Stephen Abram, of Stephen's Lighthouse, picked up an article about facilities and recruitment in his post "Academic Libraries and Student Recruitment." The article in question is a brief piece summarizing recent research on the impact of physical facilities in the decision making process of students preparing to attend college as well as asking questions about their retention once they are in college. The study found that the top five characteristics students name for evaluating the quality of an institution are academic. The library turns out to be one of the facilities they look at in their decision making. This may be the start of a resource that some administrators may want to consider when making a case for better library facilities. I was reminded of this article as well because in one of the classes I was teaching one my students had a question along the same lines. If I recall, she was looking at student satisfaction and facilities. The article's print citation is as follows:

Cain, David and Gary L. Reynolds. "The Impact of Facilities on Recruitment and Retention of Students." Facilities Manager (March/April 2006): 54-60.

In addition, Mr. Abrams pointed to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education for May 30, 2006, entitled "Facilities Can Play Key Role in Students' Enrollment Decisions, Study Finds." The article was written by Audrey Williams June, in case anyone needs to search it on a database or print.