Aishah Almajedi Professor Ashlyn Williams English 1102 19th Feb, 2013 Figured world: UNC Charlotte library

People don't always do what you expect, they tend to do what you inspect. My group members and I saw this in action when we chose the J. Murray Atkins Library in North Carolina at Charlotte as our field of investigation. Its purpose is to provide a quiet study environment, computer technology and access to a wide variety of literature for students. It provided us with the perfect cover: the library has rules against eating and loud noise. We pretended to study while we observed the behaviors of individuals and the interaction between cliques. We also saw how they measured up (or did not measure up) against the library's norms. The library's discourse communities were as varied as the people who comprised them. For example, some of the people studied by themselves while others formed study groups and conversed in hushed tones. Most of the students used the computers in the library while others brought their own laptops. There were a number of "outsiders" looking for specific books. However, by and large, most of the visitors were either university students or faculty/staff members with specific study or research goals in mind.

Observation #1 Date: 5th Feb, 2013 (4:00-5:15 pm) Location: Library (third floor) A certain groups in the third floor were using laptops. The group was studying mathematics and it had five individuals. One of the members in that group was an Asian, and he was helping the group. At a particular time the three including the Asian left other two to study together. One of them who were left behide seemed to have some difficulties compared to the rest.

Observation #2 Date: 6th Feb, 2013 (2:00-3:20 pm) Location: Library (second floor) This group was situated on the second floor and they were studying in the libraries computer. They were studying in their earphones and by the presences of isolated writing papers, surfing on the web, talking and texting on their phones it seemed they were unfocused. There were more people in the library this day.

Observation #3 Date: 8th Feb, 2013 (3:00-5:30 pm) Location: Library (first floor) There were a significant number of people in this floor compared to the other floors. First floor is quite comfortable environment food and talking is accepted. There were isolated group and an active group there with small groups sitting together in single chairs.

One of the members of my group (Rosio) was assigned to do the interview for this assignment. The interview was taken in the coffee shop with a student name (Josh). Rosio come up to josh while he was reading a book, and listening to music. The interview went as follow:

Q1: Why were you here on a late Friday afternoon? - Because his roommates were distracting him could not focus on reading so he came to the library in that time.

Q2: Why did you choose this part of the library? - Because it was located next to the coffee shop.

Q3: How often do you come here? - Few times a week.

Q4: When you come here, do you usually come for reading or for studying? - Mostly for studying, but on Friday I come for reading, because I have the whole week to study.

Q5: What do you expect when you come to the library? - A controlled volume and a good place to study.