The Engineering Library & Technology Commons, a specialized library embedded in the College of Engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia, collects a battery of statistics showing that users value its robust reserve textbook collection, study spaces, and wide range of technologies available for checkout or onsite use. In January 2019, librarians augmented this information by surveying students about their perceptions of the library space. While the responses do reveal engineering students’ deep appreciation of library resources, they also illuminate the different learning communities that flourish in the library and students’ surprisingly acute awareness of the unique role that the library’s “third space” plays in their academic journeys.
