Using the Library Anytime From Anywhere

Study abroad is a great opportunity for personal and intellectual growth among undergraduates, but how do they access a library to help with research and information while out of the country?

University of Vermont library associate professor Laurie Kutner explores that question in a new article published in the most recent edition of College & Research Libraries (subscription required). Kutner spent a six-month sabbatical in Costa Rica in 2007, trying to learn how scholars access the secondary sources they need when conducting primary research in one of the world’s remote areas.

Kutner’s newly published research extends that study to how undergraduates in 10 Costa Rica-based study-abroad programs use their home-campus libraries to access the academic information they need.

The results are that many abroad students have relative uncertainty about using their home institution libraries while outside of the country. Kutner also believes that there’s more that university libraries could be doing to help their students get the most of their research sources when out of the country.