Patterns of user-visit, movement and length of stay in a special library : a case study

A case study is presented, based on observations of the patterns of library visits, library traffic, user-movement and length of stay of the Indian space technologists (IST) as users of their primary library at ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC). The study depicts the relative use of different service areas of the library, the in-house use of library documents and the intensity of use of the library by the IST. It is concluded that there is a total lack of studies of physical interactions of users with the library though knowledge from such studies of real time interactions and behaviour of users helps in planning and evaluating physical layouts of the library and understanding information seeking behaviour of the users.