Going Dark: What Are the Consequences of Losing Off-Campus Access to Library Resources?

Abstract

In October 2013, one of Brandon University’s servers was hacked, and the campus’s servers were isolated from the internet. This led to the loss of off-campus library services to students and faculty. To investigate the effects of this loss, the authors surveyed Brandon University students and conducted semi-structured interviews with Brandon University faculty. The authors found that 68% of the students surveyed reported that the loss of access to off-campus library services affected them in some measure. The survey provided insight on why some students were not affected by the loss of access. The survey also provided data on how the loss of access affected students. The semi-structured interviews provided perspectives on the difficulties of the situation. Although the authors do not want to ever face this problem again, the study provided important lessons in provision of library service in these situations.

Keywords

• off-campus access
• database usage
• student surveys
• information seeking behavior