‘Academic Library Services to Chinese International
Students in New Zealand’
by
Belle Xinfeng Wang
Submitted to the School of Information Management,
Victoria University of Wellington
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Library and Information Studies
June 2006
Acknowledgement
First of all, I am sincerely grateful to my supervisor Dr Berenika Webster, who has
inspired my interest in the topic. Our discussions are always enlightening. Her
guidance, advice and encouragement have ensured the successful completion of this
project.
I would like to extend special thanks to Keith Webster, the University Librarian at
Victoria University of Wellington, who has provided statistics of Chinese respondents
from Student user survey report 2005 (Victoria University of Wellington, 2005b).
Furthermore, I appreciate the advice and suggestions from other lecturers in the
School of Information Management, including Dan Dorner, Chern Li Liew, Philip
Calvert, and David Pauleen.
I am very thankful to all the Chinese student participants who have devoted their time
so willingly to my personal interviews. I am also thankful to Chris Ross (also known
as Luohan), Cherie Wu, Brian Cao, Shirley Xie, Ma Lin, Xiong Ping, Yang Wen, Ding
Xiaowei, Hari Kota, and Grant Avery for their friendship, advice and encouragement.
Besides, I am indebted to the enrolment office of Victoria University of Wellington,
who provided me with the statistics of Chinese international students. I really
appreciate their timely assistance. I am also indebted to Student Learning Support
Services for checking the spelling and grammar and providing helpful suggestions.
Finally, I am thankful to Steven Zhou for his support and good advice, and
particularly to my lovely son, Liang Zhou, the most important person in my life, a
handsome and patient boy who keeps me busy and happy all the time.
Without the assistance and support of those I have mentioned above and of others I
am indebted to, I could not have completed this project. However, I am solely
responsible for the facts, opinions, and errors if any, in this thesis.
Contents
Acknowledgement
Contents
Tables and Figures
Abstract
CHAPTER 1 Introduction……………………….………………………..1
CHAPTER 2 Problem Statement……………………………….............3
CHAPTER 3 Literature Review..…….…………………………..………7
Culture and cultural dimensions…………………………………………………..7
Cultural diversity in academic libraries………………………………………………12
Challenges in cross-cultural communication…...…………………………………..13
Library anxiety of international students.…………………………………………...19
Some models and practices in library services for international students………20
Research gap...………………………………………………………………………..24
CHAPTER 4 Study Aims and Objectives...…..………………………27
Aims and Objectives…………………………………………………………..………27
Defining terms………………………………………………………………………….27
Project scope…………………………………………………………………………..30
Anticipated outcomes…………………………………………………………………30
Significance of the study……………………………………………………………..31
CHAPTER 5 Research Methodology………..…………….…………..33
Instruments for data collection……..………………………………………………...33
Population and sampling………….…………………………………………………..34
Pilot study………………………………………………………………………………35
Methods of data analysis……………………………………………………………..35
Limitations and Delimitations……………….………………………………………..36
CHAPTER 6 Findings and Discussion……………………………….38
Statistical Analysis……………………………………………………………………..38
Cultural Analysis………………………………………………………………………..61
Power distance………………………………………………………..……………….62
Uncertainty avoidance………………………………………………..……………….66
Individualism versus Collectivism………………………………..……..…………...69
Masculinity versus Femininity…………………………………………………..……75
Long-Term Orientation versus Short-Term Orientation………………………..….78
Others……………………………………………………………………………………..82
CHAPTER 7 Conclusions and Recommandations………………….90
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………90
Recommendations………………………………………………………….…............93
Possible Topics for Future Research………………………………………….……99
References…………………………………………………………………101
Appendixes………………………………………………………..………110
Appendix 1: Information Sheet……………………………………………….…...…110
Appendix 2: Consent Form………………………………………………………..…112
Appendix 3: Interview Schedules……………………………………………..……113
Tables and Figures
Tables
Table 6.1:
FFP tertiary international students from Asian countries and
China 1994-2004……………………………………………………….
Table 6.2:
39
Chinese students and scholars studying abroad in 2003 and 2004
students…………………………………………………………………. 41
Table 6.3:
Percentages of Chinese international students at VUW 20042005……………………………………………………………………... 43
Table 6.4:
Faculty of Chinese international students at VUW 2004-2005……
Table 6.5:
Demographics
of
VUW
Library
Survey
44
2005—Chinese
international Students………………………………………………….
46
Table 6.6
Campus library most often visited by Chinese students …………..
47
Table 6.7:
Agreement of two statements………………………………………… 47
Figures
Figure 3.1
Cultural differences between China and New Zealand………….
11
Figure 6.1:
NZ tertiary FFP students 2001-2005………………………………
38
Figure 6.2:
Number of FFP students from Asian countries in 2001………….
40
Figure 6.3:
Geographic distribution of all overseas Chinese students in
2003……………………………………………………………………
41
Figure 6.4:
Number of international students at VUW 1998-2004……………
42
Figure 6.5:
Facilities’ importance to Chinese students………………………... 48
Figure 6.6:
Chinese students’ satisfaction with facilities ……………………...
49
Figure 6.7:
Facilities means difference (Importance – Satisfaction)…………. 50
Figure 6.8:
Collections’ importance to Chinese students …………………….. 51
Figure 6.9
Chinese students’ satisfaction with collections …………………... 51
Figure 6.10
Collections means difference (Importance – Satisfaction)………. 52
Figure 6.11
Importance of library staff’s qualities……………………………….
Figure 6.12
Satisfaction with library staff’s qualities……………………………. 53
Figure 6.13
Importance of library services to Chinese students………………
54
Figure 6.14
Chinese students’ satisfaction with library services ……………..
55
Figure 6.15
Library services means difference (Importance – Satisfaction)…
56
Figure 6.16
Chinese
students’
satisfaction
with
library
53
services:
DK/NA/DR…………………………………………………………….
57
Figure 6.17
Library services’ importance to Chinese students: DK/NA/DR….
58
Figure 6.18
Chinese students’ satisfaction with collections: DK/NA/DR……..
59
Figure 6.19
Collections’ importance to Chinese students: DK/NA/DR……….
59
Abstract
This research project investigates the provision of academic library services to
Chinese international students in New Zealand. The aim of the project is to analyse
Chinese international students’ perceptions, experiences and expectations of the
library services, and fill the research gap of applying cross-cultural theories to
managing academic library services for international students. The methodology of
qualitative interviewing is used in combination with the quantitative analysis of the
secondary data from the VUW Library student user survey conducted in 2005. Based
on the statistical and cultural analysis, this research concludes that despite the
positive and favourable evaluation of the library services, collections and facilities,
and library staff, there are mainly four important issues which need to be resolved to
satisfy and exceed the needs and expectations of Chinese international students:
book retrieval, library as a study place, library collections, and underused library
services such as library instruction, reference services, journal resources, subject
librarians and the interlibrary loan service. Finally, strategies in providing academic
library service for Chinese international students in New Zealand are recommended
in relation to these issues, and possible further research topics are also identified.
This research is of great significance considering that the success of international
education as an export industry in New Zealand depends largely on these
international students’ adaptation to New Zealand cultures and on their satisfaction
with the services and support that they are entitled to according to the Code of
Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students, and that the success will
benefit not only the educational institutions, but also the New Zealand economy, the
whole society and domestic students.
Key words:
Academic libraries; library services; Chinese international students; New Zealand
CHAPTER 1 Introduction
As a Chinese woman living in New Zealand I am involved in cross-cultural
communication every day. For example, when a New Zealander called me
Xinfeng Wang for the first time, I made no response at all, because my name
is Wang Xinfeng. In the Chinese culture the family name comes first followed
by the given name. Besides, the Romanised Chinese or Chinese Pinyin does
not show pronunciation and the four tones.
In the provision of library services for Chinese international students who
speak English as a second language, the effective communication between
librarians and international students may not be simply achieved. International
students have their own accents; they may not be familiar with New Zealand
English. For example, most Chinese international students, especially when
they first arrive, may not be able to distinguish the pronunciation differences
between certain letters such as ‘n’ and ‘a’, ‘r’ and ‘i’.
Also, Chinese
international students often think in their own native languages, which will
cause them to express themselves inappropriately in English. It is recognised
that for most students the ability to use the library and its resources is crucial
to academic success. However, some Chinese international students may not
have the “knowledge, skills, experience, persistence, learning style, selfconcept, or self-confidence” (Jiao & Onwuebguzie, 2002) to fully utilise library
services. They may perceive the library quite differently and may have
different needs and expectations of library services.
1
Culture can be viewed as both a problem and an opportunity. As a problem,
the influence of culture must be anticipated; as an opportunity, culture is a
source of competitive advantage, releasing synergies from cultural diversity.
Culture and knowledge of culture are viewed as organisational resources or a
knowledge asset, and cross-cultural management is the application of this
resource, a form of knowledge management.
This research is an investigation into the provision of academic library
services to Chinese international students from a cross-cultural perspective.
According to New Zealand Ministry of Education (2005d), in July 2003, more
than 66 percent of tertiary international students in New Zealand were from
China. Numbers of Chinese international students increased very sharply,
with the annual increase rate being 60% in 2003. In 2004 Chinese
international students (31,828 in number) comprised nearly 74 percent of all
international students from Asian countries (43,107 in number). They are
important to educational institutions and the national economy of New
Zealand. And they are becoming an important part of the primary users of
academic libraries.
2
CHAPTER 2 Problem Statement
All over the world nearly two million tertiary students are involved in formal
education outside their own country, and it is likely that the figure will reach 5
million over the next 20 years (New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2005b). Of
the total 82,000 international students studying in all levels of New Zealand
educational institutions, the vast majority come from Asia, with 31,000 from
China, 15,000 from South Korea and 13,000 from Japan (Berno & Ward,
2003).
International students at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) increased by
more than 490% in five years from 1998 to 2004 (Victoria University of
Wellington, 2005c). Their presence has increased the cultural diversity of the
campus, which is an advantage to the university. International students have
become an important part of the primary library users, and Chinese
international students are the biggest group. Recently librarians have
identified some difficulties with these international students in using the library
services and in communicating with librarians. They claim that due to
language barriers, it takes a longer time to assist international students.
Librarians feel a need for specialised services for this target group, and the
library management is planning to take some measures to ensure excellence
in customer service (Personal communication with University Librarian Keith
Webster and other librarians, October 2005).
Berno and Ward (2003) have found that in comparison with European or
American international students, Asian international students in New Zealand,
3
most of them from China, perceive less availability of social support,
particularly in the area of emotional support. They experience higher levels of
perceived discrimination: 75 percent believed that New Zealanders made fun
of them behind their backs, only 44 percent felt welcome in New Zealand
society and close to 60 percent felt rejected by New Zealanders. Additionally,
they had a more negative perception of New Zealanders, and experienced
more difficulties in their psychological, socio-cultural and academic adaptation
than European and American students.
To help them get adapted academically, it is important to recognise that New
Zealand has an education system quite different from most Asian countries,
including China. For example, in most Asian countries teaching and learning
are based on prescribed textbooks and repeated exercises, and are
examination-driven. So it is important to assess international students’
learning style, which is closely related to culture, since their styles might be
less active, less intuitive and more reflective. Due to cultural differences in
processing information, international students may prefer a sequential
learning approach (De Vita, 2001). The main barriers to international students’
academic success are language and communication problems, adjustment to
new educational and library systems, and general cultural adjustment (Baron
& Strout-Dapaz, 2001). Moreover, “students who are accustomed to passively
listening to lectures and reading and absorbing textbook material may find the
idea of using the library for independent, creative research a strange one
indeed” (Grassian & Kaplowitz, 2001, p. 328). Another problem may be their
lack of library use in their home countries. And finally, the concept of
4
plagiarism may not always be a strong part of the academic environment in
their home countries (Badke, 2002). Because of these problems, international
students may not fully utilise library services.
However, in New Zealand the preferred teaching and learning style is based
on developing such skills as information literacy, critical thinking, group work,
leadership, and so on. As the Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh said,
VUW is focused on developing graduates marked by “three key attributes:
creative and critical thinking; leadership; and communication skill” (Victoria
University of Wellington, 2005a).
New Zealand education requires students to make greater use of resources
and a higher amount of self-motivation. Therefore, more support from libraries
can be expected by domestic students. However, Chinese international
students may not perceive that need because they come from an education
system which is teacher-orientated. According to the article Expectations of
learning: A New Zealand Perspective (Birt, Sherry, Ling, Fisher, & Lee, 2004)
many university teachers or educators in New Zealand are not aware of the
different learning styles of international students and do not adapt their
teaching styles in class, which in turn leads to withdrawal and poor
experiences of international students. This will have a direct effect on the
ability of universities to generate income from the education of international
students and on the universities’ ability to meet their other goals.
5
In this situation, what can academic libraries do to reduce and minimise these
students’ negative perceptions? What role do academic librarians play in
improving the quality of their educational experience in New Zealand? How
can librarians identify their perceptions and expectations of the library services?
To these questions there are no easy solutions. However, there is no doubt
that the university library plays an important part in providing library services
and support for both academic learning and scientific research within the
academic environment.
In the next chapter, literature on academic library services for international or
overseas students and on culture related theories is reviewed so as to find the
research gap in this area of study.
6
CHAPTER 3 Literature Review
Academic libraries in New Zealand are becoming linguistically and culturally
diverse with more and more international students enrolled in tertiary
education institutions. The literature on culture and library services for
international students falls into the following five themes: 1) culture and
cultural dimensions; 2) cultural diversity in academic libraries; 3) challenges in
cross-cultural communication; 4) library anxiety of international students; and
5) some models and practices in library services for international students.
Culture and cultural dimensions
For the term culture, there are hundreds of definitions. It is a considerably
ambiguous concept. As early as the 1950s, A. K. Kroeber and C Kluckhohn
reviewed 164 definitions of culture in the previous studies, and added another
one of their own (Mandernack, Lin, & Hovde, 1994, p. 86). It is said that the
word culture originates from the Latin word “colere” meaning “to build” or “to
cultivate” or the tilling of the soil. The narrow sense of culture is “civilization”
or “refinement of the mind” and, in particular, the results of such refinement,
including education, art, and literature (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 3). The
concept of culture varies from culture to culture. Culture is
(wenhua) in
Chinese. According to the Chinese-English comprehensive dictionary
(DeFrancis, 2003, p. 994), wenhua means “education; literacy” in China.
People go to school or university to acquire wenhua and knowledge. That is,
culture and knowledge are closely related to schooling in China.
7
The researcher does not intend to invent another definition. For this project,
the most popular definition of culture by Hofstede (2001, pp. 9-10) will be
adopted: culture is seen as “the collective programming of the mind that
distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from
another…The ‘mind’ stands for the head, heart, and hands—that is, for
thinking, feeling, and acting, with consequences for beliefs, attitudes, and
skills.” Patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting are called “mental programs” or
“software of the mind,” based on the analogy of the way computers are
programmed (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 3). This definition implies that a
culture is particular to one group, that culture is learned and passed down
from one generation to the next, and that culture includes systems of values
(Mead, 2005, p. 8). Hofstede (2001, p. 391) distinguishes organizational
cultures and national cultures: Organizational cultures, usually called
organization cultures in Britain, “distinguish organizations while holding their
national environments constant” while national cultures “distinguish nations
while holding organizational context constant, or at least as constant as
possible”. National culture is defined as “the collective programming of the
mind acquired by growing up in a particular country,” while organizational
culture is “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the
members of one organization from another” (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p.
402). National cultures are extremely stable over time (Hofstede, 2001, p. 34).
According to the onion model (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 7), culture has
four layers: values, rituals, heroes, and symbols. Like an onion, culture is a
system that can be peeled layer by layer. At the core of the model are values,
8
which represent the ideas that people have about how things “ought to be”.
Values acquired during childhood are broad tendencies to prefer certain
states of affairs over others. Values deal with evil versus good, dirty versus
clean, dangerous versus safe, forbidden versus permitted, decent versus
indecent, moral versus immoral, ugly versus beautiful, unnatural versus
natural, abnormal versus normal, paradoxical versus logical, and irrational
versus rational. From the core values outwards are rituals, heroes and
symbols, which have been subsumed under the term practices. They are
visible to an outside observer but their cultural meaning is invisible and lies
precisely and only in the way these practices are interpreted by the insiders.
Symbols, the outermost and superficial layer, are words, gestures, pictures, or
objects that carry a particular meaning. New symbols are easily developed
and copied from one cultural group to another. Heroes possess characteristics
highly prized in a culture and serve as models for behaviour. And examples of
rituals are ways of greetings and paying respect to others, or social and
religious ceremonies (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, pp. 7-8).
Geert Hofstede’s book Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind was
first published in 1991. Then in 1994 and 1997 slightly updated paperback
editions were published. The revised and expanded 2nd edition published in
2005 was co-authored by his son Gert Jan Hofstede. Five cultural dimensions
have been clearly explained in this new book. As Dahl commented,
Hofstede’s work, probably the most popular work in culture research, provides
a framework for cultural analysis. The framework, which can be applied easily
to many every day intercultural encounters, is particularly useful because the
9
complexities of culture and its interactions are reduced to five relatively easily
understood cultural dimensions (Dahl, 2004).
Geert Hofstede developed his cultural dimensions from examining workrelated values of IBM employees in the 1970s. In his original work there were
four dimensions: power distance, uncertain avoidance, individualism versus
collectivism, and masculinity versus femininity. In his later works published in
1991, Hofstede added a fifth dimension: long-term versus short-term
orientation.
Because these five dimensions of national cultures are the crucial dimensions
of cultural difference, differences might be expected in information seeking
behaviour and information use across cultures correlating with the five
dimensions. There are three sets of “barriers” to information seeking
behaviour: personal barriers, social or role-related barriers, and environmental
barriers. National cultures are one of the three environmental or situational
barriers, with the other two being time and geography (Wilson & Walsh, 1996).
Cultural differences between China and New Zealand are clear from Figure
3.1 below, which is based on the values from Hofstede and Hofstede (2005):
10
Figure 3.1: Cultural differences between China and New Zealand
140
118
120
Scores
100
80
79
80
66
60
58
49
40
30
22
30
20
20
0
PDI
IDV
China
MAS
UAI
LTO
New Zealand
Source: Hofstede and Hofstede (2005)
In the above figure, PDI stands for Power Distance Index, IDV Individualism,
MAS Masculinity, UAI Uncertainty Avoidance Index, and LTO Long-Term
Orientation. New Zealand culture is low on power distance, high on
individualism, moderate on uncertainty avoidance, above average on
masculinity and low on long-term orientation. However, China is very high on
long-term orientation, the highest of all countries around the world. The other
two dimensions with contrasted differences between China and New Zealand
are power distance, which is high in China, and individualism, which is low in
China.
11
Cultural diversity in academic libraries
With more and more international students enrolled in New Zealand tertiary
institutions, academic libraries are becoming culturally diverse. Cultural
diversity, which is of great importance to library management, can be defined
based on Hofstede’s introduction to culture and organization (Evans, Ward, &
Rugaas, 2000). Hofstede’s concepts of cultural dimensions such as power
distance, the individualist versus collectivist differences, and various attitudes
to uncertainty avoidance are reflected in the information-seeking behaviour of
the library user. To ensure that library and information services are indeed
appropriate and relevant, the questions—“Who is my client? What means can
be taken to deliver equitable services? How possible are the seamless
services?”—need to be asked again to provide global information reference
services in the culturally diverse academic context (McSwiney, 2002).
McSwiney was employed in 2002 as a researcher in the library at the
University of South Australia to explore the pedagogical, information literacy
and cultural issues which were involved in supporting international students
(Bundy, 2003). McSwiney discussed issues in crossing national boundaries,
including operational issues, pragmatic issues and cultural dimensions. For
cultural issues, she talked about mainly three dimensions of Hofstede—power
distance, individualist versus collectivist societies, and risk-taking versus
uncertainty avoidance—and how they are reflected in the reference
transaction.
12
Challenges in cross-cultural communication
Communication is a complex process, which typically involves more than the
simple exchange of information (Roberts & Rowley, 2004). It is a coding
process: the sender encodes the message through the choice of words, and
body language; and the receiver must then successfully decode the message.
According to the transmission model, communication is a dynamic process,
which comprises ten components: sources, encoding, message, channel,
noise, receiver, decoding, receiver response, feeding back and context (Jandt,
2004, p. 30).
The beginning of formal study of intercultural communication is generally
associated with the publication of Edward Hall’s The Silent Language in 1959
(Jandt, 2004, p. xv). According to Adler (2002, p. 17), the four variable—
culture, value, attitudes and behaviour—form a cycle. People express culture
and its normative qualities through their values about life and the world. Their
values in turn affect their attitudes about the form of behaviour that is
considered most appropriate and effective. The continually changing patterns
of behaviour eventually influence the culture. It is a dynamic process. The
author also proposes that the sent message in cross-cultural communication
is never identical to the received one (Adler, 2002).
As (Weiss, 2005, p. 125) pointed out, individuals process the world through
their cultural lenses that shape and distort their perceptions. And the word
“distort” is not appropriate for those who believe that perception is reality.
Singer (1998) has discussed perceptions and identity in intercultural
13
communication. Perceptions are defined as "the process by which an
individual selects, evaluates, and organises stimuli from the external
environment” (Singer, 1998, p. 10), while an identity group is defined as "a
number of people who perceive some aspects of the external world more or
less similarly and recognise and communicate this similarity of perceptions..."
(Singer, 1998, p. 59). Like values, attitudes, and norms, perceptions are an
expression of culture that affects communication. Perceptions are the
windows through which an individual experiences the world. One of his
premises is "Other things being equal, the higher the degree of similarity of
perceptions that exists among a number of individuals, the easier
communication among them is likely to be and the more communication
among them is likely to occur." Another premise is "If we want to communicate
effectively with one of 'them,' it is important to get to know their perceptions,
attitudes, and values as well as their cultural language" (Singer, 1998, p. 62).
Great communication characteristics are self-awareness, empathy, wit,
passion and spark (Theobald & Cooper, 2004, p. 13). There might be
communication problems even between native English speakers. For
example, at the reference desk the book Oranges and Peaches requested by
a student turned out to be On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. And
Down on Broad Street turned out to be Dun and Bradstreet; books on
“gynaecology” were used for tracing the family tree (Dewdney & Michell,
1996).
14
Library services to international students may involve cross-cultural
communication between librarians and international students from different
cultures, and it will be more likely to have communication accidents. One
strategy in effective communication is being “sensitive to culture” (Theobald &
Cooper, 2004, p. 181). Cultural characteristics can be thought of as filters.
People from different cultures have different filters or worldviews, which might
lead to uncertainty or anxiety. The library instruction classroom might be made
up of members of macro-culture (cultural majorities) and micro-culture
(cultural minorities), and there might be culture clash between the two
(Grassian & Kaplowitz, 2001).
Librarians’ cross-cultural communication skills play an important role in
dealing with international students. According to the article Peanuts: a note on
intercultural communication, some studies suggest that “it is often these
implicit cultural cues or codes, the ones that people are often the least aware
of, that are the most damaging to communication when librarians deal with
individuals whose cultural or racial backgrounds vary from their own” (Hall,
1992, p. 211). As the author continued, “From my own experience, an item as
insignificant as a peanut served as the experiential vehicle with which I
initiated the lecture, and now enables me to discuss the topic at hand.” The
kids the author used to play with in his childhood tended to call any types of
nut a peanut. The cultural mind-set of the author still wished to identify nuts as
peanuts. Based on his teaching experience Hall (1992) discusses “linguistic
bigotry”, “culture and power as variables in communication”, “cultural bias”,
and “dialects, accents and perception”. The author stressed the importance
15
for librarians to be cognisant that minority and dominant cultures do not share
the same communication cues. This article ends with helpful strategies for
how librarians can educate themselves about cultural differences. For
example, the author particularly recommended the book Culture, Style and the
Educative Process edited by Barbara Robinson-Shade. As the author said, in
the multicultural society educators “must develop an awareness of subtle
differences in our backgrounds that may adversely affect how we interact,”
and at the same time “must also keep in mind the basic commonalties that we
share as human beings, whatever our ethnic or socioeconomic backgrounds”
(Hall, 1992, p. 213).
Librarians “must learn how to avoid, repair, or at least understand” (Ross &
Dewdney, 1998, p. xvi) the communication accidents, a few of which “can
occur directly as a result of cultural differences” (Ross & Dewdney, 1998, p.
120).
Librarians
need
to
educate
themselves
about
intercultural
communication so as to identify intercultural differences, and develop
intentional
strategies
for
effective
communication.
Cross-cultural
communication is emphasised in this book, to increase librarians’ awareness
of the effects of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds during the daily
communication activities in libraries.
Wang & Frank (2002) examined cultural differences of international students
in the U.S., with a focus on communication process and style. These students
share common problems such as language barriers, which “create
communication problems, affecting the students’ ability to communicate
16
effectively with academic librarians and others in academe” (Wang & Frank,
2002, p. 211). As the authors point out, “Language reflects culture and tends
to control or influence processes used to think and to perceive” (Wang &
Frank, 2002, p. 211). Cross-cultural differences should be accommodated in
library services for international students. International students may hesitate
to approach reference stations and professional librarians because of
communication
differences
or
difficulties,
preconceptions
of
cultural
differences, and other reasons (Wang & Frank, 2002).
Language is one of the barriers of cross-cultural communication. According to
the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the world as we know it is largely predetermined
by the language of our culture” (Jandt, 2004, p. 146). People unconsciously
learn their culture while learning their native language. “The relationship
between language and culture is that they are like mirrors to each other. Each
one reflects and is reflected by the other” (Jandt, 2004, p. 178).
Communication and culture are said to be inseparable. As early as in 1966
Alfred G Smith said in the preface of Communication and Culture that culture
is a code we learn and share, and learning and sharing requires
communication. Communication requires coding and symbols that must be
learned and shared (Jandt, 2004, p. 29).
In addition to verbal communication, non-verbal communication also varies in
some way from culture to culture. For instance, in some cultures, people will
shake their heads while saying ‘yes’: “in some cultures the side-to-side nod
17
means agreement and the vertical nod means disagreement” (Ross &
Dewdney, 1998, p. 5). For some Eskimo people nodding head can means
“no,” while a quick rising of the eyebrows can mean “yes” (Hall, 1992). One’s
culture affects behaviours or practices such as physical proximity in
conversations with others, the ability to make direct eye contact in
conversations and so on (Wang & Frank, 2002). But according to Mattock
(2003, p. 142), we do not have to worry too much about body language,
otherwise the communicator might be nervous of making a mistake in the next
transaction, and the proceedings become stiff and unnatural.
Some idioms should be avoided in cross-cultural communication. For
example, “He has a finger in every pie” means, “He is involved in every aspect
of business” (Mattoch, 2003, p. 134). But non-native English speakers may
replace pie with tart in the idiom a finger in every pie, not knowing that “tart” is
also a colloquial term for “prostitute”. To international students, library
terminology is a third language (Kamhi-Stein & Stein, 1998). Library jargons
such as “stacks”, “checked out” and “reserve” can present particular difficulties
to international students, and should always be defined and explained when
used in instructional situations(Grassian & Kaplowitz, 2001, p. 326). Not only
jargon words, but also new words, ambiguous statements, abbreviations, and
acronyms should be avoided (Grassian & Kaplowitz, 2001, p. 332).
New words or words with new meanings are increasing in New Zealand,
according to a TV news report on 20 July 2005. This trend nobody can
18
reverse. But to the special library users—international students, it is not a
good idea to use such new modern words.
(Mattoch, 2003) presents some useful methods to facilitate cross-cultural
understanding, which can be applied to librarians’ encounters with
international students. Communicators should place stress on the key words,
and punch the message out; make greater use of significant pauses, giving
the audience time to digest what is just said; and use natural intonation and
breath-grouping.
For better cross-cultural communication, international students should learn to
talk this way. However, it takes time as international students learn and get
familiar with the native style of speaking.
Library anxiety of international students
International students are likely to visit libraries more frequently than domestic
students, partly “due to their use of libraries as studying facilities and the
extended length needed to find desired research information,” and they are
more likely to experience higher levels of library anxiety (Onwuebguzie & Jiao,
1997). “Library anxiety” can be defined as feelings of fear and intimidation
that occur when students enter large academic libraries. The most important
step librarians can take to alleviate library anxiety is to be warm, friendly, and
approachable (Mellon, 1988). Liu and Redfern (1997) discuss information
seeking behaviours of multicultural students, and have found some factors
hindering their interaction, such as a fear that their English was inferior and
19
fear of not understanding instructions (Liu & Redfern, 1997). Library anxiety is
one of the international students’ affective issues that librarian-instructors
should address (Liestman, 2001). Unlike continuing international students,
incoming international students may experience “heightened levels of library
anxiety” due to their newness to the university and the country (Jackson,
2005).
These findings of the study on library anxiety and difficulties among
international students have useful implication for library services. In addition to
addressing affective issues, librarian-instructor should provide brief, relevant
instruction, being careful not to overload students (Liestman, 2001). The
cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance is shown in the information
seeking behaviour according to the stress/coping theory (Wilson & Walsh,
1996).
Some models and practices in library services for
international students
Newly arrived international students expect to have “friendly and patient public
service desk employees”, especially when language barriers may have a
negative impact on public service transactions, and request more orientation
and introduction to the library (P. A. Jackson, 2005). Just-in-time reference
supports the independent, self-sufficient user (Langley, Gray, & Vaughan,
2003). International students prefer to receive instruction at both point of need
20
and point of use rather than commit additional time to an extra class on library
skills (Liestman, 2001).
To realise the effective learning outcome, according to Conteh-Morgan
(2002), some second-language learning theories such as innatist and
interactionist can be incorporated in information literacy instruction. The
author describes how librarian can use these theories to develop an
instructional model that is learner-centred and outcomes-based. As the author
concluded, it seems that a basic understanding of second language teaching
theories are fundamental to improving librarians' ability to teach better and to
helping LEP students learn more effectively. Librarians are expected to design
a course that is more linguistically, socially, and culturally responsive, thereby
creating a more rounded learning experience for LEP (Limited English
Proficiency) students. Librarians will provide a great service by encouraging
connections between new and known material, by bringing library instruction
in closer harmony with the language instruction methods more familiar to
students, and by helping students understand that information and language
skills profoundly impact on both their academic success and personal lives
(Conteh-Morgan, 2002).
One model emphasises the necessity of leading international student
information literacy through academic literacy (Badke, 2002), while another is
the peer-teaching model (Downing, MacAdam, & Nichols, 1993). It might be
necessary to have one international student librarian for outreach and
instruction: “Having one contact person who…is perceived as approachable
21
and interested in (international students) will go a long way towards improving
communication, and building a positive relationship between the library and
the international student body” (Kumar & Suresh, 2000).
Some library services such as interlibrary loan, librarian reference-byappointment, and live online reference are new concepts to incoming
international students, while the services and concepts such as reference
desk and open stacks are understood (Jackson, 2005).
Some authors have explored the issue of library services on what languages
to be used. Library orientation and instruction for international students could
be conducted in students’ native languages (Liestman & Wu, 1990). One
instruction program adopted the bilingual approach (Spanfelner, 1991). As
Grassian and Kaplowitz (2001, p. 332) point out, if students are from different
countries, librarians may consider developing library glossary in both English
and several other languages for the students. The online Multilingual glossary
(Association of College & Research Libraries, 2005) can be made use of: for
each English term, five other languages (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French
and Spanish) are provided. San Jose State University is planning to make the
online tutorial Library Basics available in Spanish soon, and will translate it
into other languages to better serve international students and language
minority students population (Jackson, 2005). The author states, the library
Web pages for international students “serve as a library welcome mat,
assuring the international population that the library is committed to
understanding international students and meeting their needs.” However,
22
there exists some concern that providing too much library services in nonEnglish languages might detract from the university mission because English
proficiency is required for all university students and language may not be the
main barrier to academic success for all international students (Jackson,
2005).
Some researchers recommend the collaboration between librarians and ESL
(English as a Second Language) instructors (Conteh-Morgan, 2001) or
between teaching faculty, librarians and ESL teachers (Kamhi-Stein & Stein,
1998) to empower ESL students. International students will benefit from
specialised library information competence and orientation programs (Jackson,
2005).
Based on the findings from a survey sent to academic librarians and staff of
international student offices, Baron and Strout-Dapaz (2001) have developed
a sample library skills set for international students, which is derived from
ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education
(Association of College & Research Libraries, 2000). Another study on
information skills of international business undergraduates was carried out in
a UK university: both UK and international students feel equally embarrassed
about asking questions; both experience library anxiety. UK students feel
more frustrated when unable to find information without help, which is a
noteworthy finding within a context of the curriculum’s emphasis on
independent study; and international students have a more positive attitude to
23
the library, which might be explained by their motivation to succeed (VargaAtkins & Ashcroft, 2003).
Research gap
Asian international students, mostly Chinese international students, have
been a research topic of increasing interest in New Zealand. For instance,
some researchers have investigated from other perspectives the issues of
New Zealand international students, such as their experiences (Ward &
Masgoret, 2006), their expectations of learning (Birt et al., 2004), their crosscultural and educational adaptation (Berno & Ward, 2003), and their impact on
domestic students and host institutions (Ward, 2001).
Of the 15 services available at educational institutions investigated by Ward
and Masgoret (2005), one was “library services”. Both the quality and the
availability of library services were evaluated favourably by Asian international
students, ranked the first and the fourth respectively. They also found tertiary
international students evaluated library services more favourably than
secondary and private language school students. However, there was still a
quarter (25%) who said library services were not available and 8 percent who
responded “Don’t know”. Besides, “library services” was only a very tiny part
of their research. It was a very general investigation, not very detailed or
specific. One of the topics the authors recommended for future research was
the in-depth research of Chinese international students, including qualitative
approaches to understanding their experiences in New Zealand.
24
Li (1998) investigated the following six categories of the library services to
student with diverse language and cultural backgrounds: hours, physical
surroundings, materials, research tools, personnel, and copy services. As to
the cultural-based differing expectations of Asian international students in
classroom, some researches have been done in the United States (Niehoff,
Turnley, Yen, & Sheu, 2001), Australia (Fisher, Lee, & Birt, 2002) and New
Zealand (Birt et al., 2004). The research done in Australia and New Zealand
explored four issues related to student expectations: the focus on theory or
practice; deadline flexibility; study diligence; and respect for university
teachers (Birt et al., 2004; Fisher et al., 2002). Based on these researches,
similar issues in academic libraries were identified for this project, in relation
to the five cultural dimensions.
Of the previous MLIS (Master of Library and Information Studies) theses at
VUW, some researchers chose international students as a research topic:
Ward (1998) focused on library instruction services, while Ding (2004)
investigated reference services; Deng (2004) researched information needs
of
Chinese students while Thang (2005) investigated the library use by
Vietnamese. These studies provide valuable insights in researching the issue
of international students in some aspects. Of all the literature of international
students reviewed above, few experts have done such a research on
application of cross-cultural theories to managing academic library services
for Chinese international students. The cultural dimensions identified by the
sociologist Geert Hofstede can be related to information-seeking behaviour in
a global context of academic libraries. This relationship between cross-cultural
25
theories and information seeking is “an area that invites further research”
(McSwiney, 2002). As to the library services for international students, more
attention should be paid to international students’ information seeking
behaviours and their perception of libraries and available information services
(Wang & Frank, 2002).
The research gap is identified based on the literature review in the above part,
and the study aims and objectives will be presented in the following chapter.
26
CHAPTER 4 Study Aims and Objectives
Aims and objectives
The study aims to practically analyse Chinese international students’
experiences and expectations of the library services. Specifically the
objectives of this study are:
1. To describe Chinese international students’ experiences in using the
library services, as compared with other libraries they have used
2. To identify barriers to the use of library services so that these barriers
can be removed or reduced, thereby increasing their satisfaction with
the services, helping them achieve academic success, and improving
the quality of their education experience
3. To develop a set of recommendations for New Zealand academic
libraries in serving international students
Theoretically the study aims to fill a research gap of applying cross-cultural
theories to managing academic library services for Chinese international
students. Hofstede and Hofstede’s model of five dimensions of culture will be
used as a theoretical framework to construct the survey instrument and
conduct the data analysis.
Defining terms
“Library services” may include circulation desk, reference librarians, online
search services, interlibrary loan and library cooperatives (Bolner, Dantin, &
Murray, 1991, pp. 19-21). For this project, “library services” at VUW Library
27
are divided into three broad categories: collection development, lending, and
reference. Collection development services department includes acquisitions
and cataloguing. These staff are working behind the scene. The lending
service department is responsible for issuing books, shelving, and close
reserves. It consists of the circulation desk and closed reserve desk.
Reference services involve not only answering in-depth or simple question at
the reference desk, but also include user education (or library instruction or
more broadly informational literacy instruction), and liaison with faculty and
students. Based on the recent student user survey in VUW Library (Victoria
University of Wellington, 2005b) 1 , the researcher chooses to investigate
mainly the following library services: opening hours of the library and
reference desks; library catalogue; interlibrary loan; library guides and
publicity of library services; print versus electronic collections; library
orientation, tours, instructions and training; issue and closed reserve desks
versus reference desk; and the skills and importance of library staff.
“International students” are students who are enrolled by an education
provider; and they are, in relation to the provider, foreign students as defined
in section 2 or section 159 of the Education Act (New Zealand Ministry of
Education, 2005a). They are overseas students coming to New Zealand for
the purpose of education. There are some other common terms in the
literature, such as “ESL (English as a Second Language) students” (ContehMorgan, 2001), “EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students,” “NESB
1
Thanks to Keith Webster, University Librarian at VUW, who has granted the permission for
the researcher to use the data from “Student User Survey Report 2005” on Chinese students’
use of library services. The report is referred to as “VUW Library Survey 2005” in the rest of
the thesis.
28
(Non-English Speaking Background) students” (Kennedy & Dewar, 1997), and
“LEP (Limited English Proficiency) students” (Conteh-Morgan, 2002). In New
Zealand, most international students are Foreign Fee Paying or full fee paying
(FFP) students. “Chinese international students” refer to those current VUW
international students who are from mainland China.
“Cross-cultural communication” and “intercultural communication” are used
with no difference in meaning, just as in the book Communicating
professionally: a how-to-do-it manual for library application (Ross & Dewdney,
1998). “Cross-cultural communication” can be simply defined as either verbal
or nonverbal communication between people from different cultures. It is
“…the key task of identifying and restricting the pernicious effects of noise,
‘the ultimate limiter of communication’, in a system composed of multiple
cultures” (Holden, 2002, p. 316). According to Jandt (2004, p. 4), intercultural
communication is the communication between individuals or groups of diverse
cultural identifications.
“Cross-cultural management” is defined as “development and application of
knowledge about cultures in the practice of international management, when
the people involved have different cultural identities” (Mead, 2005, p. 16).
Holden (2002, p. 316) defines it as “a branch of international management
whose task is to facilitate and direct synergistic interaction and learning at
interfaces where knowledge, values and experience are transferred into
multicultural domains of implementation.
29
The term “respondents” was used in the VUW Library Survey 2005, while a
different term “participants” was used to describe interviewees to differentiate
when necessary.
Project scope
As can be seen from the definitions of “library services” and “international
students,” the project scope is limited to VUW Library services for Chinese
international students.
Anticipated outcomes
This project has a potential to benefit Chinese International Students by
developing strategies on how to help them make better use of the academic
library services to achieve academic success, and on how to improve the
quality of their educational experience in New Zealand.
On the other hand, the library may benefit by implementing customer services,
which aim at removing, or minimising barriers identified in this research. This
in turn will help the library’s parent organisation in attracting and retaining
more international students.
In a broader sense, this research may help to fulfil the vision of New Zealand
export education as “A sector delivering sustainable, high quality international
education and support services, thereby producing a range of economic,
educational and cultural benefits for New Zealand” (New Zealand Ministry of
Education, 2005b).
30
Significance of the study
The phenomenal growth of Chinese international students has many benefits
to the New Zealand economy, education providers, New Zealand society and
domestic students. As stated in the article Export Education in New Zealand:
a strategic approach to developing the sector. An overview (New Zealand
Ministry of Education, 2005b), “A successful, sustainable approach to
providing education for international students has benefits for individuals,
institutions and wider society.” All students, both domestic and international,
benefit from their exposure to other cultures and perspectives, which may help
to develop cross-cultural communication. New Zealand export education
contributed $530 million in foreign exchange in 1995, and $700 million to the
national economy in 2000, created over 20,000 jobs and contributed 1.7
billion to the local economy, and has the potential to realise $1 billion each
year within two years (Berno & Ward, 2003; New Zealand Ministry of
Education, 2005b). “Export education” is defined as “a transaction across
borders involving the provision of education services in exchange for financial
consideration” (New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2001).
Chinese international students represent the largest group of tertiary
international students in New Zealand. The success of international education
as an export industry in New Zealand depends largely on these international
students’ adaptation to New Zealand cultures and on their satisfaction with the
services and support that they are entitled to according to the Code of
Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students (New Zealand Ministry
31
of Education, 2005a). Unlike local students who have been exposed
constantly to school or public libraries in New Zealand, Chinese international
students have to learn the library basics. By investigating the provision of
library services such as library instruction for international students, the library
can help to develop confident researchers and support the information
competence, international students retention and their academic success
(Jackson, 2005).
The next chapter will present how this research was conducted.
32
CHAPTER 5 Research Methodology
Instruments for data collection
The primary research methodology for this project is qualitative research
interviewing. The interview schedule (See Appendix 3) consists of two parts:
participant’s personal information, and semi-structured interview questions.
Interview is one type of case studies in qualitative research (Gorman &
Clayton, 2005). A semi-structured interview is an interview designed with a
number of interviewer questions prepared in advance, but such questions are
designed to be sufficiently open and the subsequent questions cannot be
planned in advance but must be improvised in a careful and theoretical way
(Wengraf, 2001, p. 5). The sixteen interview questions fall into 3 categories:
perceptions, experiences and expectations. Before each interview, the
information sheet (See Appendix 1) was presented and explained and the
written consent form (See Appendix 2) was collected. With permission, 7 of
the interviews were audio taped.
The secondary research methodology is the quantitative approach to the
available data from the VUW Library Survey 2005 (Victoria University of
Wellington, 2005b). The quantitative data analysis is integrated into the
qualitative interview data analysis. Using different techniques may provide
different perspectives on the situation, thereby increasing what is known about
it.
33
Population and sampling
Participants were recruited through Victoria International, the office for
international students’ enrolment and general support. Advertisements were
also posted around the university campus notice boards. Eight Chinese
international students were selected for the informal personal interviews: six
undergraduates and two postgraduates. Of the six undergraduates, the
number was evenly distributed among first-year, second-year, and third-year
students. That is, there were 2 first year, 2 second year and 2 third year
undergraduates. For the two postgraduates, one was a master, the other a
PhD. Of the eight participants, 3 were males and 5 were females. Four
students (a half) were aged 22 to 25. Two first year students (a quarter) were
aged 20 to 21, and the other two postgraduates were aged 26 to 30.
As to the participants’ faculty of study, 3 were from Faculty of Commerce and
Administration. The other 5 participants were from the other five faculties of
VUW: 1 from Faculty of Architecture and Design, 1 from Faculty of Education,
1 from Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, 1 from Faculty of Law, and
another 1 from Faculty of Science.
As to years in New Zealand, one participant had stayed in New Zealand for
only 3 months, while another one had been here for more than 4 years. 3
participants had stayed in New Zealand for 1 up to 3 years, while the other 3
for 3 up to 4 years.
34
Pilot study
The instrument for data collection was piloted and tested on two students.
When the students were interviewed, they were not clear about some library
services, and the researcher had to explain to them. To facilitate
communication and understanding and to save time, the researcher printed
out the VUW Library homepage and some other library web pages, and took
some photos to show to participants.
For some services they were not using, they had nothing to contribute. So
some questions actually asked became “Suppose you were using or suppose
you will use…” Some questions were not open enough. Simple questions
were later changed into wh- questions beginning with “what” and “how often”.
Although some questions seem a little repetitive, the semi-structured interview
questions proved to be a good research instrument with only some minor
changes after the pilot.
Methods of data analysis
The method of content analysis was used for analysing and interpreting
qualitative interview data collected directly by the researcher. Some common
themes have been found.
At the same time, the quantitative analysis of the secondary data from the
VUW Library Survey 2005 was conducted as far as Chinese international
students were concerned. The software Microsoft Excel was used to produce
some graphs and charts, and to analyse the data. The cross tabulations from
35
VUW library survey 2005 were entered into spreadsheets. The quantitative
data was presented in the form of descriptive statistics, such as means and
percentage. As to the satisfaction and importance for certain library services,
a 5-point Likert scale was used to obtain the means. Means of satisfaction
and importance for the same service were compared. Respondents who did
not reply or who replied “Don’t know” or “Not applicable” were excluded from
the 5-point scale. These missing data were dealt with separately.
The combination of both the quantitative and qualitative analysis helps to get
a big picture of the library services for Chinese international students. This
may avoid in some degree the limitations of either quantitative or qualitative
methods only. Finally cultural analysis is done using Hofstede and Hofstede’s
theoretical framework.
Limitations and Delimitations
The study was delimited to provision of academic library services for Chinese
international students. Eight VUW students were interviewed, which means
that the research results may not be generalised to all the Chinese
international students in New Zealand. In the quantitative analysis of the
secondary data from VUW Library Survey 2005, the software Excel was used
instead of SPSS, though it might be more powerful in analysing data and in
producing complicated tables and graphs.
All the interviews were conducted in Chinese. Interviewing with Chinese
international
students
by
a
Chinese
researcher
helps
the
mutual
36
understanding, minimises miscommunication between the researcher and
student participants, and may help to find their real problems and needs
without worrying about their English proficiency. However, certain cultural bias
cannot be completely avoided due to the researcher and students speaking
the same language and having the same cultural backgrounds. It is also
unavoidable that the researcher’s translation of interviews may not completely
reflect what the student interviewees intended to convey, because some
meanings of words or sentences may be lost when translated into English.
Another limitation is that the data obtained from VUW Library Survey 2005
contains both domestic and international Chinese students. However, 70
percent of the Chinese respondents are international.
Lastly, it would be better if the interview questions were designed on the basis
of the five dimensions of national culture.
37
CHAPTER 6 Findings and Discussion
This chapter is divided into three parts: 1) “Statistical analysis” of data from
the related literature and from the VUW Library Survey 2005; 2) “Cultural
analysis” of the researcher’s interviews with Chinese international students
using Hofstede and Hofsede’s framework; and 3) “Others” to indicate that
some interviews do not evidently fit Hofstede and Hofstede’s framework.
Statistical Analysis
In 2003 in New Zealand tertiary institutions, there were over 34,900
international students, comprising 10.4 percent of the total tertiary students.
And more than 66 percent of the foreign fee paying or full fee paying (FFP)
students came from China (New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2005d). The
year 2004 and 2005 saw a continual increase of FFP students, though at a
slightly lower rate, as shown in Figure 6.1.
Figure 6.1: NZ tertiary FFP students 2001-2005
40,000
35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
38
Source: The figure was made based on statistics from New Zealand Ministry of Education
Websites.
As can be seen from Table 6.1 below, from 1994 to 1998 New Zealand
tertiary international students from Asian countries fluctuated, whereas
Chinese international students increased in number, though very slightly. The
sharp increase of Chinese international students appeared from 1999, and
more than 70 percent of Asian students came from China in 2003 and 2004
(See the shaded area of Table 6.1).
Table 6.1: FFP tertiary international students from Asian countries and China 19942004
Year
Number of
Asian students
Number of
Chinese students
Percentage of Chinese
of Asian students
1994
2,303
49
2.1%
1995
3,188
52
1.6%
1996
4,204
56
1.3%
1997
5,197
75
1.4%
1998
4,755
89
1.9%
1999
4,966
457
9.2%
2000
6,275
1,696
27.0%
2001
10,543
5,236
49.7%
2002
32,369
20,137
62.2%
2003
40,735
29,039
71.3%
2004
43,107
31,828
73.8%
Source: The table was based on statistics from New Zealand Ministry of Education ( 2005b,
2005e)
39
New Zealand Ministry of Education has full year statistics and July statistics.
The statistics for Table 6.1 above were full year statistics. The sharp increase
of Chinese students is the main reason for the great increase of Asian
students. A majority of Asian tertiary students were from China in 2001 (See
Figure 6.2).
Figure 6.2: Number of FFP students from Asian countries in 2001
Source: This is the original figure from New Zealand Ministry of Education (2005c)
According to the Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China, Chinese
students and scholars studying abroad are classified into three types: statefunded, employer-funded and self-funded. The so-called “self-funded”
overseas Chinese students and scholars are equivalents to foreign or full fee
paying (FFP) students in New Zealand. As shown in Table 6.2 below, most of
the overseas Chinese students and scholars are self-funded (93% in 2003
and 91% in 2004).
40
Table 6.2: Chinese students and scholars studying abroad in 2003 and 2004
Self-funded
Total
Year
Statefunded
Employerfunded
Number
Percentage
2003
3,002
5,144
109,200
93%
117,346
2004
3,524
6,858
104,281
91%
114,663
Sources: JIAOYU SHEWAI JIANGUAN XINXI WANG of Ministry of Education of the
People's Republic of China, 2005; Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of
China, n.d.)
In 2003 nearly a half of overseas Chinese students chose to go to European
countries. The second continent they chose was Oceania (22.5%), New
Zealand included of course (See Figure 6.3). The total number of New
Zealand tertiary Chinese students in 2003 was 29,039 (New Zealand Ministry
of Education, 2005e), comprising more than a quarter (26.6%) of all the selffunded overseas Chinese students (109,200).
Figure 6.3: Geographic distribution of all overseas Chinese students in 2003
Africa
Asia
1.8%
10.5%
North America & Latin
America
15.4%
22.5%
Oceania
49.8%
Europe
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
Source: The figure was made based on statistics from Ministry of Education of the People's
Republic of China (n.d.)
41
According to the VUW annual report 2004 (Victoria University of Wellington,
2005c), international students came from more than 70 countries, and
accounted for nearly 17 percent of the total students enrolled at VUW. The
number of international students at VUW has increased dramatically,
particular after the year 2000 (See Figure 6.4). And the annual increase rate
from 2000 to 2001 was as high as more than 88 percent.
Figure 6.4: Number of international students at VUW 1998-2004
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Source: Victoria University of Wellington (2005c)
Chinese international students are mainly responsible for the increase of total
international students. According to the VUW enrolment office, the number of
Chinese international students enrolled decreased slightly in 2005, which is
not unusual. The VUW Media Release, issued on 2 March 2005, stated that
42
“We are…experiencing the planned effect of Victoria's self-imposed
limit on international enrolments which last year led to the imposition of
higher entry standards for international students.” Victoria University’s
internationalisation strategy has a desired level of international
enrolments being no more than 16 percent of all enrolments (Victoria
University of Wellington, 2005c).
Although their percentages of total students and of total international students
in 2005 decreased slightly (by 0.8% and 4.4% respectively), the total number
of Chinese international students (more than 1,500) was still very large. Of the
total international students, Chinese international students comprised more
than a half (53.7%) in 2004 and nearly a half (49.2%) in 2005 (See Table 6.3).
Table 6.3: Percentages of Chinese international students at VUW 2004-2005
Year
% of total students
% of total international
2004
2005
Decrease
8.5
7.7
0.8
53.7
49.2
4.4
Source: VUW enrolment office
Approximately half of the total international students (50.8% in 2004 and
49.7% in 2005) chose to study in Faculty of Commerce and Administration,
while more than a half (67.4% in 2004 and 69.35% in 2005) of Chinese
international students chose to study business and commerce (See Table 6.4).
43
Table 6.4: Faculty of Chinese international students at VUW 2004-2005
YEAR
FACULTY
Total
Chinese
International
international
2004
Faculty of Law
2.2%
1.2%
2004
Faculty of Science
9.1%
8.8%
2004
College of Education
0.3%
0.4%
2004
No Faculty Designated
14.1%
5.1%
2004
Faculty Architecture & Design
3.2%
3.7%
50.8%
67.4%
20.3%
13.3%
100.0%
100.0%
2004
2004
Faculty of Commerce &
Administration
Faculty of Humanities &
Social Science
Total
2005
Faculty of Law
1.5%
0.9%
2005
Faculty of Science
9.4%
8.5%
2005
College of Education
0.4%
0.1%
2005
No Faculty Designated
14.2%
3.6%
2005
Faculty Architecture & Design
4.5%
5.3%
49.7%
69.3%
20.2%
12.2%
100.0%
100.0%
2005
2005
Faculty of Commerce &
Administration
Faculty of Humanities &
Social Science
Total
Note: “No Faculty Designated” refers to students of Certificate in Foundation Studies.
Source: VUW enrolment office
44
Statistics above has shown that the majority of international students through
out New Zealand and at VUW are from China, and most of Chinese
international students study commerce and business administration. In the
following part, statistics from the VUW Library Survey 2005 will be analysed.
Demographics of the VUW Library Survey 2005 are illustrated in Table 6.52,
where the number and percentage were presented. The total number of
Chinese respondents was 299, with international students accounting for 70
percent. More respondents were female (60%) and aged 18-25 (85%). The
majority were studying on campus (96%). About a half (51%) were from
Faculty of Commerce and Administration. Most of them were undergraduates
(92%), and those who had studied at VUW for up to 3 years accounted for
nearly 80%. The total number of respondents under “Faculty” was 320, which
might mean 21 (320 – 299) of them were choosing courses from other
faculties, or studying toward double degrees.
2
Sources of Table 6.5—6.7 and Figure 6.5—6.19 are from the VUW Library Survey 2005.
45
Table 6.5: Demographics of VUW Library Survey—Chinese Students
Gender
Age
Male
Female
Total
Under 18
18-21
22-25
26-35
36-45
over 45
Total
(18-25)
Type of
Student
Types of
study
Principal
mode of
study
Number of
years at
VUW
Level of
study
Faculty
International
Domestic
Total
Full-time
Part-time
Total
On-campus
Distance
Total
Less than 1
1 up to 2
2 up to 3
3 up to 4
4 up to5
5 or more
Total
(less than 3 years)
Undergraduate
Postgraduate (Honours)
Postgraduate (Masters,
Diploma)
Postgraduate (PhD)
Total
Commerce and Administration
Science
Humanities and Social Science
Architecture and Design
Law
Education
Total
120
179
299
3
147
107
35
6
1
299
254
208
91
299
288
11
299
287
11
298
68
79
88
48
13
2
298
235
271
8
40%
60%
100%
1%
49%
36%
12%
2%
0%
100%
85%
70%
30%
100%
96%
4%
100%
96%
4%
100%
23%
27%
30%
16%
4%
1%
100%
79%
92%
3%
16
5%
1
296
163
60
49
25
16
7
320
0%
100%
51%
19%
15%
8%
5%
2%
100%
46
Though half of respondents were studying in Faculty of Commerce and
Administration, only one out of six (16%) visited the Commerce Library most
often. The Central Library (72%) was the most often visited campus library.
Six students did not answer the question and one answered “Not applicable”
(See Table 6.6).
Table 6.6: Campus library most often visited by Chinese students
Campus Library
Number
Percentage
Central Library (Kelburn)
211
72%
Commerce Library (Pipitea)
47
16%
Architecture & Design Library
23
8%
Law Library (Pipitea Campus)
8
3%
W J Scott Library (Karori)
3
1%
N/A
1
0%
Total
293
100%
For the two statements—“Overall, the library provides a good service” and
“The library should offer more self-service options”—most respondents agreed,
with the means being 4.13 and 4.17 respectively on a 5-point Likert scale (see
Table 6.7). For the second statement the two numbers who agreed strongly
and who agreed slightly being quite close.
Table 6.7: Agreement of two statements
Statements
Means
Agree
strongly
Agree
slightly
Neither
Disagree
slightly
Disagree
strongly
Overall, the
library provides a
good service
4.13
26.1%
62.5%
9.0%
1.3%
0.3%
The library
should offer more
self-service
options
4.17
39.5%
38.1%
18.1%
1.3%
0.7%
47
As to facilities, the most important ones for Chinese students are “Individual
study facilities,” “Library environment—noise” and “Provision of SCS
computers/PCs” whereas “Social spaces,” “Library signage” and “Library
environment—décor” are relatively unimportant (See Figure 6.5).
Figure 6.5: Facilities’ importance to Chinese students
4.54
Individual study facilities
Library environment--noise
4.45
Provision of SCS computers/PCs
4.42
Photocopying
4.21
Provision of online catalogue computers
4.18
Library environment--cleanliness
4.18
Library environment--temperature
4.14
4.02
Group study facilities
3.79
Library environment--décor
Library signage
3.73
Social spaces
3.71
0
1
2
3
4
5
Means
“Individual study facilities” was not only the most important but also the most
satisfactory. “Social space” is the least important of all facilities, and the third
most unsatisfactory facility, while “library signage” is the second least
important but its satisfaction level is as high as the third most satisfactory (See
Figure 6.5 and 6.6).
48
Figure 6.6: Chinese students’ satisfaction with facilities
3.72
Individual study facilities
Provision of online catalogue computers
3.57
Library signage
3.56
Library environment--cleanliness
3.54
Library environment--temperature
3.50
3.50
Library environment--décor
3.49
Group study facilities
3.35
Photocopying
Social spaces
3.24
Library environment--noise
3.21
3.04
Provision of SCS computers/PCs
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00
Means
For some facilities, Chinese respondents’ satisfaction levels were much lower
than the importance levels. Due to this, the means differences (importance
minus satisfaction) on “Provision of SCS computers /PCs” and “Library
environment—noise” are as high as 1.38 and 1.24 respectively (See Figure
6.7). There are big gaps between the satisfaction levels and the importance
levels of these two services. The most unsatisfactory facility is “Provision of
SCS computers/PCs,” followed by “Library environment—noise” (See also
Figure 6.6). That is to say, Chinese students require more computers in the
library and a quieter environment for study. These issues are, therefore,
particularly important for librarians to address in serving Chinese international
students.
49
Figure 6.7: Facilities means difference (Importance – Satisfaction)
Provision of SCS computers/PCs
1.38
1.24
Library environment--noise
Photocopying
0.87
0.82
Individual study facilities
Library environment--cleanliness
0.64
Library environment--temperature
0.64
Provision of online catalogue computers
0.61
Group study facilities
0.53
Social spaces
0.46
Library environment--décor
0.3
Library signage
0.16
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
73 percent of Chinese respondents had laptop computers, but only 17 percent
had used the wireless network in Central Library. About 41 percent were not
aware of the wireless network. So getting more students to use the wireless
network will solve the problem of their need for more computers.
As to collections, audio-visual (AV) material and periodicals are not important
to Chinese students (See Figure 6.8). The “Range of books” is both the most
important and most satisfactory (See Figure 6.8 and 6.9). However, when
considering the means difference (importance – satisfaction), “Closed reserve
& 3-day collection” is a bigger issue, and “Range of books” falls the second
place, followed by “Purchase of new books” (See Figure 6.10).
That is,
Chinese international students require more books, and particularly more new
books. These are important issues that librarians need to pay attention to.
50
Figure 6.8: Collections’ importance to Chinese students
4.51
Range of books
4.37
Closed reserve & 3-day loan collection
Purchase of new books
4.11
Range of e-databases
4.06
Range of e-journals
3.94
Purchase of new e-resources
3.87
Range of periodicals
3.83
Purchase of new periodicals
3.77
Range of audiovisual material
3.58
0
1
2
3
4
5
Means
Figure 6.9: Chinese students’ satisfaction with collections
3.72
Range of books
3.51
Range of periodicals
Range of e-databases
3.43
Range of audiovisual material
3.43
Purchase of new periodicals
3.40
3.36
Purchase of new books
3.31
Range of e-journals
Purchase of new e-resources
Closed reserve & 3-day loan collection
3.26
3.20
2.90 3.00 3.10 3.20 3.30 3.40 3.50 3.60 3.70 3.80
Means
51
Figure 6.10: Collections means difference (Importance – Satisfaction)
Closed reserve & 3-day loan collection
1.16
Range of books
0.79
Purchase of new books
0.76
Range of e-databases
0.62
Range of e-journals
0.62
Purchange of new e-resources
0.61
Purchase of new periodicals
0.37
Range of periodicals
0.32
Range of audiovisual material
0.16
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
Chinese respondents are particularly satisfied with the “Helpfulness” and
“Competence” of library staff, and these two qualities of library staff are also
the most important (See Figure 6.11 and 6.12).
52
Figure 6.11: Importance of library staff’s qualities
Helpfulness
4.53
Competence
4.40
Response to
problem/complaints
4.37
Availability (weekdays
8-5)
4.21
Availability (eve.
weekends)
4.06
3.80
3.90
4.00
4.10
4.20
4.30
4.40
4.50
4.60
Means
Figure 6.12: Satisfaction with library staff’s qualities
4.12
Helpfulness
4.03
Competence
Availability (weekdays
8-5)
3.87
Response to
problem/complaints
3.85
Availability (eve.
weekends)
3.81
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
4
4.1
4.2
Means
53
“Opening hours” was viewed as the most important service, followed by
“Accuracy of library catalogue” and “Accuracy of re-shelving of material”. The
least important library services were “Library tours” and “Library training
programmes” (See Figure 6.13). It seems that Chinese international students
are not interested in the library training programme and library tours. How to
make them aware of its importance is an important issue.
Figure 6.13: Importance of library services to Chinese students
Opening hours
4.49
Accuracy of library catalogue
4.43
Accuracy of reshelving of material
4.41
Ease of use of library catalogue
4.32
Time taken to reshelve library material
4.23
Response time of library catalogue
4.19
4.03
Library web site
Length of queues at Library service points
3.89
Speed of interlibrary loan
3.85
Refence desk opening hours
3.85
Cost of interlibrary loan
3.83
Library printed subject guides
3.65
Publicity for library services
3.64
Library training programmes
3.27
Library tours
3.20
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Means
Chinese students were most satisfied with “Opening hours,” followed by
“Reference desk open hours” and “Library websites”. The least satisfactory
54
service was “Cost of interlibrary loan,” followed by “Time taken to re-shelve
library material” and “Accuracy of re-shelving of material” (See Figure 6.14).
Figure 6.14: Chinese students’ satisfaction with library services
3.94
Opening hours
Refence desk opening hours
3.87
Library web site
3.85
3.76
Ease of use of library catalogue
3.71
Library tours
Publicity for library services
3.61
Library printed subject guides
3.57
Response time of library catalogue
3.55
Length of queues at Library service points
3.54
Accuracy of library catalogue
3.52
Library training programmes
3.42
Speed of interlibrary loan
3.39
3.29
Accuracy of reshelving of material
3.17
Time taken to reshelve library material
3.04
Cost of interlibrary loan
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
Means
Ward and Masgoret (2006) found that the Chinese students tend to rate
almost all factors as significantly more important than students from other
countries, and proposed that the Chinese have a cultural tendency to
emphasise negative experiences. This is partially revealed in the survey: all
library services are more important than satisfactory, with the exception of the
following three services: “Library tours,”
“Library training programme” and
55
“Reference desk opening hours” (See Figure 6.15). As can be seen clearly,
Chinese international students are not satisfied with the issues related to reshelving and the library catalogue, although they are very important to them.
Figure 6.15: Library services means difference (Importance – Satisfaction)
Accuracy of re-shelving of material
Time taken to re-shelve library material
Accuracy of library catalogue
Cost of interlibrary loan
Response time of library catalogue
Ease of use of library catalogue
Opening hours
Speed of interlibrary loan
Length of queues at library service points
Library website
Library printed subject guides
Publicity for library services
Refence desk opening hours
Library training programmes
Library tours
-0.60
-0.40
-0.20
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
From the figure above, it appears that Chinese international students were
very satisfied with “Library tours,” “Library training programmes” and
“Reference desk opening hours”. But the issue is that most of them do not
regard these services as important (See Figure 6.13). Furthermore, it seems
likely that they do not use these services. For example, Chinese international
students chose the answer Don’t Know (DK) or Not Applicable (NA), or they
56
simply Didn’t Reply (DR) for some questions. When asked whether they are
satisfied with the services, over three quarters (75.92%) and over a half
(51.84%) answered DK/NA or DR for the services of “Library training
programmes” and “Library tours” respectively (See Figures 6.16).
As to
whether they are satisfied with the “Library training programme”, nearly a third
(31.44%) answered this way or did not answer (See Figure 6.17). This shows
Chinese international students’ lack of awareness of these services. How to
help them get better informed is a challenge to be resolved.
Figure 6.16: Chinese students’ satisfaction with library services: DK/NA/DR
Library training programmes
75.92%
Library tours
51.84%
Cost of interlibrary loan
42.81%
Speed of interlibrary loan
41.14%
Library printed subject guides
38.46%
Publicity for library services
23.41%
Accuracy of reshelving of material
18.39%
Time taken to reshelve library material
17.39%
Refence desk opening hours
16.39%
Library web site
11.04%
Length of queues at Library service points
10.70%
Response time of library catalogue
9.70%
Accuracy of library catalogue
8.36%
Ease of use of library catalogue
8.03%
Opening hours
3.68%
Percentage
57
Figure 6.17: Library services’ importance to Chinese students: DK/NA/DR
Library training programmes
31.44%
Speed of interlibrary loan
21.40%
Cost of interlibrary loan
18.39%
Library tours
17.73%
Library printed subject guides
13.71%
Publicity for library services
11.37%
Library web site
6.69%
Refence desk opening hours
5.35%
Accuracy of reshelving of material
4.01%
Time taken to reshelve library material
3.68%
Ease of use of library catalogue
3.68%
Response time of library catalogue
3.01%
Accuracy of library catalogue
3.01%
Length of queues at Library service points
2.01%
Opening hours 0.00%
Percentage
For the satisfaction with “Range of audiovisual material” more than a half
(51.17%) chose DK/NA or DR (See Figure 6.18). By contrast, all the Chinese
respondents answered the questions on the importance of “Opening hours
(See Figure 6.17 above) and “Range of books” (See Figure 6.19).
58
Figure 6.18: Chinese students’ satisfaction with collections: DK/NA/DR
Range of audiovisual material
51.17%
Purchange of new e-resources
42.47%
Purchase of new periodicals
41.14%
Range of periodicals
30.43%
Range of e-journals
29.43%
Range of e-databases
27.09%
Purchase of new books
20.74%
Closed reserve & 3-day loan collection
Range of books
8.03%
5.69%
Percentage
Figure 6.19: Collections’ importance to Chinese students: DK/NA/DR
Range of audiovisual material
20.07%
Purchase of new periodicals
15.38%
Purchange of new e-resources
14.72%
Range of e-journals
12.71%
Range of periodicals
10.37%
Range of e-databases
10.03%
Closed reserve & 3-day loan collection
Purchase of new books
Range of books
4.68%
2.68%
0.00%
Percentage
59
There are three possible reasons why Chinese students chose Not Applicable
or Don’t Know, or did not reply at all for some survey questions. The first
possible reason is that they do not understand the questions, particularly all
the questions are written in English. The possibilities cannot be avoided that
some Chinese respondents may have difficulties understanding some of the
questionnaire. The second reason is that they may not understand the
directions for answering the questions. And more important reason is that they
have never used the services, and the services are not relevant or important
to them. It is likely that they only reply questions that are closely related to
them.
The statistics from VUW Library Survey 2005 are analysed above. Below is
the statistical description of the interviewing with Chinese international
students.
Only one participant interviewed seldom visited Central Library, all the others
visited and talked about the Central Library. That is, the library mentioned
more frequently by participants was the Central Library. This is in consistency
with the VUW Library Survey 2005.
The former Colin Bailey Education Library in Somerset House near Cotton
Building, which was closed on 28 October 2005 and merged into W J Scott
Library, was mentioned by one participant from Faculty of Education. No
participants that the researcher interviewed had ever visited the W J Scott
Library in Karori. Only one student was curious about what books were
60
available there, whether students from other campuses could borrow books
there, and expected some books there could be transferred to the Central
Library at regular intervals. Therefore, all VUW libraries were covered in the
interviews except the physical location of W J Scott Library.
The statistical analysis of data from available literature and from the VUW
Library Survey 2005 was conducted above. In the following part, interviews
with Chinese international students are analysed in detail and the findings are
discussed from the cultural analysis perspective using Hofstede and
Hofstede’s framework.
Cultural Analysis
Cultural analysis will help promote mutual understanding and avoid being
ethnocentric. According to the developmental model of intercultural sensitivity,
the experience of difference goes from ethnocentric stages to ethno-relative
stages. Ethnocentric stages develop from denial of difference, defence
against difference, to minimisation of difference, while ethno-relative stages
go from acceptance, adaptation, to finally integration (Bennett, 1993). In the
following parts Hofstede and Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture will be
discussed, in connection with interviews with Chinese international students.
61
Power Distance
The first dimension of culture is power distance, which is defined as “the
extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations
within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally”
(Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 46). In education, power distance is reflected
in the fact that students are expected to respect their teachers. Although the
authors focus on education when discussing power distance and schools,
their ideas can also be applied to the library services for international students.
Students also respect librarians, who provide library training programmes,
give library instructions and are partially responsible for students’ information
literacy. In some sense, librarians are also regarded as educators.
To what extent an educational system can contribute to changing a society is
an unanswered question, said Hofstede and Hofstede (2005, p. 53). China is
a large-power-distance country. The hierarchical relationship or inequality
among people is seen as normal. Teachers, especially old teachers are
treated with respect. The teacher-centred educational process is highly
personalised in a large-power-distance country. The knowledge transferred by
the teacher is seen as the personal wisdom of the teacher rather as an
impersonal “truth”. The teacher is a guru, a term derived from the Sanskrit
word for “weighty” or “honourable”. In such an educational system, the
learning quality is highly dependent on the excellence of teachers. Teachers
should take all initiative in class. Students speak up only when invited to
(Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 53). They remain dependent on teachers even
62
after reaching tertiary education levels (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 54).
This has implications to librarians’ teaching such as library instructions.
Students receive truth from professors, agree with professors and respect
them. The influence of teachers and classmates is great, which is also
confirmed in this research. One student said:
My International Business lecturer introduced to us some databases on
the marketing course. He told us how to search for articles by entering
key words. When I have academic questions, I usually ask my
lecturers, tutors or classmate. I have never thought of asking any
questions in the library. I do not go to librarians for help. Sometimes we
have to ask librarians for help to find me a book, such as a book in
Closed Reserve section, or a book I cannot find myself on shelf. But I
usually ask the circulation desk, not the reference desk, because I don’t
know the function of the reference desk, and my teachers didn’t tell us.
Another reason is that my classmates do not use the reference service
either.
Another student said something similar, “I have never seen a subject librarian.
I guess nobody knows. For academic question in my subject, I usually ask my
teachers.”
If their teachers do not stress the importance of certain library services,
Chinese international students, undergraduates in particular, will not use the
63
services. On the other hand, they will use the library services better if their
teachers have told them. For example, the student who has made good use of
library services claimed,
I often go to the reference desk. My first year teachers and my second
year teachers all stressed the importance of library reference services.
My tutor said that she usually spends at least 2 days in specially
searching for resources. I will prepare my assignment well in advance,
just like my tutor. I use almost all services except overseas interloan. I
usually borrow many books for each assignment. This is why I often get
high grades. For example, the book I need is available only in the
National Library, so I interloaned the book. Thanks to the reference of
that relevant book, I got an A for my written assignment. My teachers
stress the importance of the reliability of reference sources. If you use
articles from the web, you don’t know who wrote them and you don’t
know whether it is valuable or not.
Another interviewee speaks highly of the cooperation between the librarian
and his teacher,
For the course Knowledge Management, we need a lot of resources to
write essays. Our teacher invited the librarian to our first class. The
librarian gave us an introduction to the library and how to find
resources.
64
It can be said that the role of library staff is often ignored or understated.
Instead, Chinese international students turn to their teachers or learning
support services instead. For example, two undergraduates interviewed
mentioned the benefit of the course FCOM 110: The New Zealand
Commercial Environment. As one said, the tutorials in this course contains
many basic things including the library skills, such as how to use the New
Zealand library to search for information, how to write essays, how to go on
the internet and so on.
And another interviewee also mentioned learning
support services,
I have never noticed library tutorials or library training. Such activities
might be held by Student Learning Support.
Another participant made some comments on the relationship between the
library services and student learning support services,
Most international students just go to Student Learning Support to check
grammar, correct mistakes in assignment. Their services are also not fully
utilised by international students. Only a small number of students use
the services. Their services are more than proofreading. For example,
they sometimes suggest going to the library to check references. Like
library services, Learning Support also has classes such as reference
skills, how to avoid plagiarism, and so on.
The interviews show that power distance is an important factor in library
services for Chinese international students.
65
Uncertainty Avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance is the second dimension, which means “the extent to
which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown
situations” (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 167). According to the authors, this
dimension deals with a society’s search for Truth: “Uncertainty avoiding
cultures foster a belief in an absolutely Truth” while “uncertainty accepting
cultures take a more relativistic stance” (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 228).
This dimension has no equivalent in the Chinese Value Survey (Hofstede &
Hofstede, 2005, p. 208), and there is not much difference between New
Zealand and China, with New Zealand a little bit higher (See Figure 3.1). In
terms of identity, this dimension means that “one group considers the other(s)
as dangerous” (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 322).
Uncertain avoidance runs from being comfortable with flexibility and ambiguity
to a need for extreme rigidity and situations with a high degree of certainty
(Jackson, 2002). These findings are supported by this research. For example,
as to flexibility, some students may think the library rules are too stiff and rigid.
Though in China all the rules may change if you know the guanxi
(relationship), all students interviewed agreed that “When in New Zealand, do
as New Zealanders do.” There is no problem for them to observe the rules.
The newly arrived PhD participant had a different opinion about flexibility.
“There is no flexibility in China,” she said, very pleased to know she did not
have to pay the fines if the main collections book was overdue 1 or 2 days,
66
and that she can renew these books online at home. When she hurried to
Close Reserve desk to return books, the librarian assured her, “No problem.”
Most Chinese international students prefer not to ask questions in the library
orientation or tutorial, or at the reference desk, either because they do not
have such a habit or they have too many questions, or they are not
comfortable to do so. As one interviewee commented,
I joined a small group of library tour at the beginning of my study. There
were only 3 students in the group. They had a timetable for the tour. I
just turned up at the scheduled time. The staff will show you around
even if only one student turns up—that’s good. The other two students
were English native speakers. One of them asked many questions,
questions related to his own problems or subjects. He had used other
libraries before. I didn’t ask questions. I had too many questions to ask.
This was my first time to attend such a tour. I knew nothing about the
library. Everything was new. Everything was a question. The tour was
too fast; time was too short. The introduction was too general, not
specific enough.
One interviewee would like to advise new international students,
We should have to take initiative to ask for assistance. Others will not
actively invite you.
Although Chinese international students might be less likely to feel impeded
by their English proficiency (Ward, 2001), they do have language problems:
67
much time is needed to search and read resources, and more time is needed
to complete and write up assignments such as essays or reports. As one
interviewee said,
In my opinion, the barriers to international students’ use of the library
services are language and communication. This is particularly true of
new international students. But their English can’t be too poor now that
they are admitted to the university.
Although some expect Chinese or other Asian library staff, Chinese
international student interviewees prefer the library instruction and other
service encounters are conducted in English instead of in their own native
language. One student said,
If Chinese is used too much we do not feel like studying overseas in an
English speaking country. English is preferred. To new students
Chinese might be necessary. One reason that some students choose
to study at Vic instead of at Massey is that English is used more, and
there are fewer Chinese students. We have more opportunities to
speak English.
Besides, negative media report of international students’ problems and
language difficulties has some effect on them. New Zealanders were and are
still perceived by some students to have a negative attitude toward
international students. As one international student interviewee said, “Why do
you focus on Chinese international students? Why not focus on Asian
international students or international students in general. There are already
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enough [negative] media reports of Chinese international students in New
Zealand.” That is, they do not want to leave a bad impression. So uncertainty
avoidance might be one of the reasons why they are not comfortable in asking
for help.
Individualism versus Collectivism
The third dimension is individualism versus collectivism. In an individualist
society, “the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look
after himself or herself and his or her immediate family.” In contrast, in a
collectivist society “people from birth onward are integrated into strong,
cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s lifetimes continue to protect
them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty” (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p.
76). This concept of individualism versus collectivism is the most popular and
is one of the most frequently researched concepts. It is a dimension that is
most easily grasped and frequently encountered when looking at other cultural
behavioural patterns (Dahl, 2004).
An individual is part of collective “we” group in the collectivist culture. The “we”
group or in-group is the major source of one’s identity and the only secure
protection against the life hardships. Collectivism is associated with an
extended family, leading to the distinction between in-groups and out-groups.
While personal time, freedom, and challenge are important to individualist
people, training (to improve skills or learn new skills), physically conditions
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(such as good ventilation and lighting, adequate work space etc.) and use of
skills on the job are important to collectivist people (Hofstede & Hofstede,
2005, pp. 76-77). For example, in this study, participants are more concerned
with library facilities and environment than certain library services. As one
participant commented on the lack of self-issuing machines in the summer
holiday,
It is very necessary to have self-issuing machines. It’s strange that even a
smaller university library such as Lincoln University Library has self-issuing
machines, why doesn’t VUW have one? Canterbury University Library also
has self-issuing machines, so does the Wellington City Library. But our
photocopying machines are much better and more advanced. The only
problem is that we have to use a special photocopy card instead of the
student ID card3.
For facilities, one participant interviewed is very happy to see that the library
has recently purchased very good quality photocopying machines. She said
that they can select black and white or colour photocopy. They can choose
different sizes. However, another participant regards it as a waste of money,
because she is not using the machine often, and thinks it unnecessarily too
complicated.
As to SCS computers, some participants complained that at peak hours they
have to wait a long time to use the computers in the library. This is also
3 Now in Trimester 1 2006, there are two self-issuing machines in Central Libraries near the issue desk, and both
student ID cards and the former photocopy cards can be used for photocopying.
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revealed in the VUW Library Survey 2005, where “Provision of SCS
computers /PCs” is the most unsatisfactory facility. Some students may
occupy the computer with a scanner without using the scanner.
As participants put it, “Because we use the library mainly as a study place, the
library environment is very important.” Participants’ opinions of the library
environment are summarised as follows:
First of all, it should be very quiet. Group study rooms in Central Library
are not soundproof, which makes the library quite noisy. It is good that it
is not so noisy upstairs, and not very noisy in Commerce Library. Second,
the library should be decorated with more plants and flowers to make the
library environment more beautiful. Third, the library should have new
furniture. The chairs and tables are too old. Fourth, the air in the library is
not fresh. It is necessary to have better ventilation, and also better lighting.
The library can assist with cultural adjustment issues by providing physical
and artistic comforts including artwork, displays, exhibits, furnishings,
carpeting, presentations, bookstalls that reflect a variety of cultural heritages
(Baron & Strout-Dapaz, 2001). This will increase international students’
comfort levels in the library. In this study, one participant was happy to see the
recent display of Peking Opera video show and the little statues of the Opera
characters around November 2005.
The concept of high or low contexts, developed by Edward Hall, plays a
crucial role in cross-cultural or intercultural communication. High-context
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communication is frequent in collectivist cultures (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005,
p. 89). In high-context cultures, communication is for promoting and sustaining
harmony; while in low-context cultures, communication is conveying exact
meaning (Cheng, 2003, pp. 4-5).
In a low context culture such as New Zealand, people rely heavily on words
for information transmission. Silence is viewed as abnormal and anxietyproducing. The communicative approach is direct and explicit. In Western
cultures higher status was given to the speaker of “source” of information than
the “receiver” (Jandt, 2004, p. 46). By contrast, in a high context culture such
as China, more information is stored than transmitted. In high-context
communication “little has to be said or written because most of the information
is either in the physical environment or supposed to be known by the persons
involved, while very little is in the coded, explicit part of the message”
(Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 89). People do not need a lot of words to
communicate. They rely heavily on nonverbal communication. Silence is
communicative and respected. The fact of being together is emotionally
sufficient in a collectivist culture (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 88).
Communicative approach is indirect and inferential. As Jandt (2004, p. 46)
points out, in Asian cultures communication is viewed as communicators
cooperating to make meaning. This communication model reflects Confucian
collectivist values: respecting the relationship through communication can be
more important than the information exchanged. These theories have
implications to library instructions and to the student-librarian encounters at
the reference desk.
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Chinese international students’ hard work might also be related to collectivism.
They study hard to live up to their parents’ expectations. Whether people are
used to acting as individuals or as part of cohesive groups may be based on
the concept of the family.
The dimension of individualism versus collectivism may involve the discomfort
with group work or independent work. In this research group study room in the
library might be a social place for Chinese international students, as one
student said,
We chat about everything in the study room. We discuss the
assignment together. It’s a more efficient way of study. At last, key
points come out or the task may be broken down: each one is
responsible for a part.
They may work together when borrowing books, as one interviewee
commented,
The library does not have a lot of new books that all our classmates
may need at the same time for the same course. We have to exchange
with classmates. For example, each of us borrows 3 books; we check
out all the required books available.
When asked how often they visit the library and/or library websites, all
participants visit the library very frequently, all prefer to visit the library in
person rather than contact library staff by phone or email, and a majority of
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them visit the library or library website to use the library catalogue only to
search for books.
One participant said,
I can learn how to do it at once if I visit the library in person. It’s always
easier to express clearly when face to face with library staff.
Chinese international students also prefer personal help from librarians rather
than the printed guide, as one said:
I prefer the librarian to explain to me. The librarians’ explanation or
introduction is easier to understand. In my opinion library tutorials are
more important than the written guides. For written guides we have to
make effort to read and try to understand the meaning. Guides are not
as visual and vivid as library tutorials. I knew nothing about the library
when I arrived. I didn’t even know the directions of the building. It is
better that librarian gives me some training or tutorial rather than give
me the guides. I am still not clear where the North or South end of the
library as indicated in the library catalogue to show the location of a
book. One day a librarian told me the journal I was looking for was not
kept together with other books, but on the other end of the library. The
librarian’s help is better.
Even after they have read the library guide, they may still prefer to go to the
librarian to confirm their understanding is correct. So the traditional physical
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face to face cross-cultural communication between library staff and Chinese
international students is quite common.
Masculinity versus Femininity
Hofstede and Hofstede’s fourth dimension of culture is masculinity versus
femininity. In a masculine society, “emotional gender roles are clearly distinct:
men are supposed to be assertive, tough, and focused on material success,
whereas women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned
with the quality of life” (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 120). By contrast, in a
feminine society, these emotional gender roles overlap. This dimension is
equally powerful, yet often understated and neglected, mainly because the
controversial name given to this dimension has somewhat influenced its
popularity (Dahl, 2004).
Although most library staff are women, this dimension is not particularly
evident in this research. The quality of life might be related to good customer
services. Interviewees were satisfied with the good attitude and services of
library staff. As one student said,
I often turn to the issue desk for help when I cannot find a book. They
provide timely assistance. Sometimes they couldn’t find either. In this
case they ask us to leave our details, and they will contact us either by
phone or by email when they find the book. The service is good; library
staff’s attitude is wonderful. In China library staff’s attitude is not good.
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Besides, there are not many library staff, and the staff do not have a
high professional standard.
Most library staff in China are general clerks who do not possess the skills
and competencies to help library users. Liao (2004) has explored the root
cause for the underdevelopment of user services in Chinese academic
libraries from a historical perspective. According to the author, “the traditional
concept of books and knowledge in China are fundamentally at odds with the
very philosophy of user services.” Books are regarded as precious objects or
treasures. Librarians tend to be more interested in physical collections than in
making collections conveniently accessible to library users. Book acquisition
and development are regarded as the primary mission of the library and user
services are ignored (Liao, 2004). This is also revealed in the VUW Library
Survey where books, especially new books are considered very important by
Chinese international students. Interviews with them also found that books are
very important to Chinese international students, more important than journals
or electronic resources to some undergraduates. As one said,
It is too troublesome to search library databases. It’s not easy to grasp
how to use. I cannot search by any key words. I tend to find journal
articles through other search engines on the web. Databases might be
more useful to postgraduates. Besides, databases contain a lot
newspaper or magazine articles, which have limitations. They don’t have
a high academic value. Books are more important. We will try not to use
electronic resources. Besides, databases are not very useful to
undergraduates, because our teachers may have already printed the
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database articles for us. We have very thick prescribed textbooks. It takes
a lot of time to finish such a book.
This dimension may also be called career success versus quality of life. When
applied to this research, “career success” becomes “academic success”. Most
Chinese international students have to focus only on study, and some may
exclude social life. They must be full time students, pay full tuitions, and have
the pressure to graduate as soon as possible. As Mitsis and Foley (2005) said,
students with high masculine values are goal driven, and their goals could be
in line with quick course completion, which may lead to students holding a
surface of student-driven learning preference.
People from individualistic Western cultures have a humanistic orientation,
which leads to a concern for the well-being of people and for the quality of life.
This is related to the cultural dimension of masculinity and femininity.
In China study hard is good, and play is bad, that is probably why the AudioVisual (AV) collections are not important to them. As one interviewee said,
We borrow books from the library for study. We do not consider AV
collection on the 9th floor for pleasure. Besides, there is little
introduction on how to use it. I have been there once, but have never
used the facilities and have never borrowed anything there.
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In this research cultural perception of gender roles is not very obvious.
However, this dimension does relate to students’ academic success and the
quality of life or customer services.
Long-Term Orientation versus Short-Term Orientation
China scores higher than any other countries on the dimension of long-term
orientation versus short-term orientation. This dimension was introduced in
1991, as a result of Geert Hofstede’s cooperation with Michael Bond, who had
conducted a Chinese Value Survey and linked this dimension to the work of
Confucius, an intellectual of humble origins in China around 500BC (Hofstede
& Hofstede, 2005, p. 208). One of the key principles of Confucian teaching is:
Virtue with regard to one’s tasks in life consists of trying to acquire
skills and education, working hard, not spending more than necessary,
being patient, and persevering (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 209).
According to Hofstede and Hofstede (2005, p. 210) long-term orientation
“stands for the fostering of virtues oriented toward future rewards—in
particular, perseverance and thrift,” while short-term orientation “stands for the
fostering of virtues related to the past and present—in particular, respect for
tradition, preservation of ‘face’, and fulfilling social obligations.” The values on
both positive and negative poles are Confucian: the positive pole expresses a
dynamic orientation toward the future while the negative pole stands for a
static orientation toward the past and the present. This dimension deals with a
society’s search for virtue, and relates to the teachings of Confucius. The
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search for virtue is the key in Eastern thinking (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p.
229). Chinese people belong to high face saving cultures. Politeness centres
on self-denigration and other elevation. Indirectness is considered to be civil,
considerate and honest, and vagueness is tolerated. In low face saving
cultures such as New Zealand, indirectness is regarded as offensive and
dishonest, and vagueness is not tolerated. According to Cheng (2003, p. 7),
the Chinese “face” has two aspects: mianzi and lian. The former refers to
one’s need to conform to social conventions and to express one’s desire to be
part of the community, while the latter defines one’s need to show a moral
sense of place and role. These concepts will have an impact on the reference
encounter. Chinese international students may think their ignorance is a
shame, and do not ask for assistance or ask questions probably because they
do not want to lose face. Alternatively they may not want librarians to lose
face by not being able to provide them the correct answers: some participants
do believe librarians may not be able to help them. This is an important issue
in the library instruction sessions.
The dimension of long-term and short-term orientation is evident in this
research. For example, the interviewee who claimed that the library was not
very important to him turned out to be a very heavy user of the library. He
used the library only as a study place. Most of the time, he reads his own
books, sometimes books from other libraries, or books from VUW library
shelves. Sometimes he would continue his study in the Law Library when the
Commerce Library was closed at night. He spends at least four to five hours in
the library every day, weekends included. He explained that he was sharing a
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room with another student (to save on the rent), and could not possibly study
at home. This reveals the student’s virtue of thrift and hard work. Asian
students tend to attribute success to effort and failure to lack of it, and are
more likely to put in more effort than students from Western cultures
(Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 215),
This dimension also relates to Chinese international students’ demand for an
answer to a specific question, or the library skills or information literacy.
“Information literacy” is defined as “a set of abilities requiring individuals to
recognise when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate,
and use effectively the needed information” (Association of College &
Research Libraries, 2000). Based on this definition, the five standards of
information literacy are that the information literate student: 1) determines the
nature and extent of the information needed; 2)accesses needed information
effectively and efficiently; 3) evaluates information and its sources critically
and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and
value system; 4) individually or as a member of a group, uses information
effectively to accomplish a specific purpose; and 5) understands many of the
economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and
access and uses information ethically and legally (Association of College &
Research Libraries, 2000).
A majority of Chinese international students do not go to the reference desk to
ask for assistance. When asked supposing they use the reference service,
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which they would expect: the answer to a specific question or the library skill,
some undergraduates prefer the answer, as one student said,
I prefer the answer to my question because I might be in a hurry. Once
I’ve got the answer I may leave immediately and do my assignment. I
don’t think I need any library skills.
Some interviewees speak highly of reference librarians, as one said,
I know reference librarians are not supposed to give us answers only,
but they are good enough to adapt to the needs of international
students.
This also relates to collectivism. In a collectivist society, learning is a one-time
process (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005, p. 98). However, most participants
demand both the answer and library skills if possible. One participant said that
library skills are important, but if she still cannot find resources with the basic
skills she would like librarians to give her the answer. Therefore, examples of
both long-term and short-term orientations are revealed in this study.
In the above section cultural analysis has been conducted of the interview
findings in connection with statistical findings from the VUW Library Survey
2005, using Hofstede and Hofstede’s framework.
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Others
Those interview findings that are hard to fit the five dimensions of culture are
now discussed in this part called “others”. This part consists of the following
sections: 1) Library as a study place; 2) Good comments; 3) Difficulties or
barriers; 4) Role of the library; 5) Reference services; and 6) Level of study.
Library as a study place
The library is viewed as a good place for study. One undergraduate said,
It is a good place for study. We can concentrate much better on reading.
Sometimes what we learn from textbooks is not the same as the practice.
Extensive and wide reading in the library helps us to understand all
aspects or sides of key knowledge points. This deepens our
understanding. The study efficiency is much higher. When I see other
students reading and studying so hard, I will do the same.
This is why participants are more concerned with the opening hours of the
library. Several undergraduates demanded 24 hour access to the library
during terms. As one participant suggested, library staff can be there, say,
until 11pm. After that time they can access the library by swiping their student
card, just as they access the 24 hour computer labs. Participants are not
satisfied with the opening hours of Commerce Library, but they may go on
their study in Law Library which closes later. The participant of Architecture
and Design Library was satisfied, with its opening hours being the longest of
all VUW libraries. One participant said the library should open earlier on
weekends, because he preferred to read and do his assignments in the library
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during that time. He had no time to visit the library during weekdays when he
had to attend classes or tutorials. Another student said the library closes too
early on Fridays and Sundays. So students have different needs and different
expectations.
Good comments
Participants’ general impression of the library is good. As one student who
has made very good use of the library services commented:
Library is not only a place for study and for borrowing books. There are
also other services. These services are very good.
Participants are satisfied with the library services, especially the personal
assistance provided by librarians, as commented by one participant,
Library staff are so helpful and friendly. Although I don’t know “subject
librarian,” library staff will tell me who I can turn to for help when I go
there to ask questions. I use Journal Finder, databases and also
interloan services. This is related to my major. I need to consult a lot of
books to write my essays. But interloan must be books that the library
does not have. I will go to Te Puna to find out the nearest location of
the book in New Zealand, and then fill in the online form. It is so simple
and easy. It is free for book interloan; for articles it will cost $20. We
can interloan books from other universities, even from overseas. The
services are wonderful.
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When the PhD student explained her reasons of not using libraries in China,
she was actually making a good comment on New Zealand libraries:
Before I came to New Zealand I used libraries much less. One reason
is that I was not a PhD in China. Another reason is that facilities are not
so advanced. I didn’t want to go to the library. The third reason is that
here in New Zealand the average personal possession of information
and resources is much higher than in China. In China there are too
many people in a university. If one person has borrowed the book, the
others cannot borrow. You cannot possess or own the resources.
Besides, you can borrow and keep the book for a certain time, and
have to return it. But here, it is so good that you can renew it online. In
New Zealand it seems that we can possess more resources, keep
longer time. What’s more, reference librarians are so helpful.
These good comments show that they are satisfied with the library services.
Difficulties or barriers
The following comment on close reserve collection may reveal their difficulties
in study:
For closed reserve books we can only read in the library for 2 hours. 2
hours for Asian students is too short. We need longer time to
understand the book. We cannot interloan from other libraries because
the library has the book in closed reserve. So we have to photocopy.
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That is why most participants suggested getting more copies of the highly
demanded books in closed reserve collection, or the photocopied copies for
circulation.
To the newly arrived students, the main barriers are unfamiliarity with the
library and difficulty in locating books:
My barrier is that I am not familiar with the library because I arrived not
long ago. At first I didn’t know how to find books on shelf, how the
books are organised on every level. I did not know the call number.
With the call number I still did not know how to find books. Later I was
surprised to find the library guide is right near the lift in Central Library.
The guide is very helpful. I find it more difficult to find books in Central
Library. Although available from the catalogue, the book is not on shelf.
This has happened not just once, but several times. I don’t know why.
Some students may have difficulty in using the library catalogue to do
searches:
To search the library catalogue, the author’s surname needs to be
entered first. If we search by author’s surname but do not know the
given name, there will be too many results. It will take a long time to
find what we need. If I do a title search I often find it difficult to get any
result. I don’t know why. It would be good if the author search and title
search could be combined.
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This means they need more assistance and it is very necessary for them to
attend the library training programmes.
Some Chinese international students are not aware of the importance of the
library services partly due to the difference in educational systems. As one
interviewee commented,
I have never used the library in China. You can pass exams and do
very well in exams if you study the textbook well. In China I studied
Medicine, 100 percent of the exam questions are from the textbook.
Students in China, whether they are in engineering, science or the arts
areas, are not required to write essays. They are required to write a
thesis for graduation only. Most undergraduates do not use libraries.
Postgraduates may use libraries, but not so much as here in New
Zealand.
Another student said something similar,
When I was in middle school I didn’t use school libraries. Textbooks were
enough. Besides, it is not free to borrow books from public libraries in
China. We can read our own books there. We can also borrow books
from university libraries, but again have to pay or ask friends to help. In
China I buy books, not borrow them from libraries.
Their difficulties or barriers in using the library to achieve academic success
should be recognised.
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Role of the library
All the participants interviewed except one attached great importance to the
library and its services. They used such words as “surely, very, quite or
extremely important” to describe the importance of the library to their study
and research. One undergraduate participant said, “The library plays a
dominant role in developing our ability of independent study in New Zealand.”
It is more important to postgraduates, as a PhD participant put it, “It would be
impossible for me to do the research and complete my PhD study without the
library.” As they explained, the library provides not only a place and facilities
for study, but also the latest information and resources to keep them informed
in their own field of study.
Nobody can deny the importance of an academic library to students. As the
university librarian says, every great university is built around a great
university library (Webster, 2006). The library work is essential to support the
university’s mission to be an internationally recognised research university
and to provide a high quality educational experience for both undergraduate
and graduate students. The library will play an important part in attracting
great scholars to this great university.
Reference services
Most undergraduates are not clear about the concept and function of
reference service. One student said,
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In China there are no reference librarians to help you or explain to you
how to use the library.
What they do know is the reference collection and reference resources and
references at the end of essay or readings. One participant asked the
researcher what the reference desk is for. After it was explained to her, she
commented,
This is a point ignored by the library. International students, particular
undergraduate
international
students,
may
have
difficulty
understanding the concept and function of the reference desk. Publicity
of this library service is not enough. It is the library’s responsibility to
publicise its services, to make all the available services known, and
make sure that international students understand these services.
Level of study
Use of library services relates to students’ level of study. Generally
undergraduates use less than postgraduates. In this research, the PhD
participant was very systematic and logical when talking about what she
would do if she could not find resources she needed:
If the resources are available from the catalogue but I cannot find them,
I will go to the circulation or reference desk. Sometimes I may ask my
classmates. I seldom search the web only. If the resources are not
available from the catalogue, I will take the following steps. First of all, I
will try searching VUW library catalogue using different searching skills.
I will try both the basic and advanced search. Guided search might be
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helpful. Second, the library may not own the resources at all. In that
case I will search other libraries of the New Zealand University Library
Consortium. If still not available, I will go to the national library Te Puna
to find the national holdings. My next step is Google search to find
international holdings. Going to the reference librarian is my last resort.
On the contrary, one undergraduate interviewee said he would do nothing if
he could not find resources he needed; more undergraduate interviewees
would rather use an older edition or simply search the web Google.
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CHAPTER 7 Conclusions and Recommendations
Conclusions
Based on the statistical analysis of data mainly from the VUW Library Survey
2005 and the cultural analysis of interview data, the following conclusions of
this research have been reached. Despite the positive and favourable
evaluation of the library services, collections and facilities, and library staff,
there are some important issues which need to be resolved to satisfy the
needs and exceed the expectations of Chinese international students. These
issues are organised into four categories: 1) book retrieval; 2) library as a
study place; 3) library collections; and 4) underused library services such as
library instruction, reference services, subject librarians and the interlibrary
loan service.
1. Book retrieval
First of all, the difficulty of locating library books, particularly in the Central
Library, is most frustrating to Chinese international students. Therefore, it
seems to them that the library catalogue does not show the exact locations of
books. What’s more, the re-shelving of just returned books takes a long time,
making it more difficult for them to retrieve books.
2. Library as a study place
Most of the interviewees regard the library as a study place. Reading and
studying in a quiet clean library environment is what they expect. And facilities
such as SCS computers/PCs, and computers with scanners are more
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important to Chinese international students than certain library services such
as library tutorials and the library training programmes. In the library, their
study efficiency is high; they can concentrate better there. That is why they
also require longer opening hours, particularly before and during exam time.
3. Library collections
New books in the 3-day and closed reserve collections raise the biggest
concerns for Chinese international students. Journal articles, whether they are
printed or electronic, are considered not as important or academic as books.
Journals are equivalent to diaries or magazines for some interviewees. This is
a partial reason why they do not use the finding tool Journal Finder. When
visiting the library website, most of the participants only use the library
catalogue for retrieving books.
4. Underused library services
Chinese international students’ use of the library services depends largely on
their teachers’ encouragement. If their teachers stress the importance of
certain library services, most Chinese international students will use them. If
their classmates or friends use the services, they will use them too. Therefore,
the influence of teachers and peers cannot be ignored.
This research has found that Chinese international students are not familiar
with some library services such as library instructions, the reference service,
subject librarian and interlibrary loans.
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Library instruction, such as library tours and library training programmes,
should be the biggest issue to instruction librarians in serving Chinese
international students. From findings of the VUW Library Survey 2005, library
tours and library training programmes are not important to Chinese
international students. When asked how satisfied with the “Library training
programmes”, more than 3 quarters of the Chinese respondents chose not to
answer or answered “Don’t know” or “Not applicable”. The most likely reason
is that they do not use the service. Interviews with some Chinese international
students proved that most of them did not attend the training programmes,
and some did not attend library tours or library orientation either. Some did
attend, but found the instruction or introduction was not detailed enough. That
is, more specific introduction to the library and the library services was
required by Chinese international student participants. Some also want more
library training programmes and library tutorials.
Although they may have difficulties in communicating with librarians, most
Chinese international student participants prefer that the library instruction be
presented in English instead of Chinese.
Furthermore, most Chinese international student participants are not clear
about the concept and function of the reference service and the reference
desk, which is one reason why they are not using the reference service. In
addition, most Chinese international students do not know subject librarians.
The professional role and expertise of librarians are often ignored or
understated.
92
Finally, most Chinese international students, especially undergraduates,
choose not to use the interlibrary loan library service to borrow books from
other libraries. As to this service, there is one inconsistency between the VUW
Library Survey 2005 and the interviews: cost of the interlibrary loan service is
the most unsatisfactory according to the Survey (See Figure 6.14), but
according to the interviews, its cost is not a big problem, and speed of the
interlibrary loan service would be more important if they use the service.
Recommendations
Recommendations on how to provide better academic library services for
Chinese international students are presented as follows. For the underused
library services—library instructions in particular—more recommendations are
presented in combination with literature.
1. Book retrieval
To facilitate book retrieval, the library catalogue should be updated quickly.
Lost or missing books should be indicated clearly, and a new copy should be
purchased as soon as possible.
In addition, the CJK (Chinese-Japanese-Korean) catalogue should be added
to the VUW library catalogue to make it possible to search for Chinese
resources using non-Roman vernaculars, and display non-Roman characters.
At the same time, Chinese resources can be put together on a special shelf.
The VUW library can also learn from the public library. On the Wellington City
Library website, information on collections and services are provided in 15
93
languages, targeting at migrant communities. This is regarded as part of the
New Zealand Diversity Action Programme run by the Human Rights
Commission. This news report concluded, “Through out New Zealand,
libraries are key contributors to strengthening cultural diversity and helping
migrants settle by providing information services and hosting evens” (Depart
of Labour, 2006b).
Re-shelving is a big concern for the VUW library. Returned books should be
put back on the shelves as soon as possible. More student assistants can be
employed to do the shelving. Furthermore, Chinese international student
participants require more personal help from library staff to help them find
books. Two or more desks staffed with paraprofessionals or student
volunteers should be added in the big Central Library. Alternatively all library
staff members working in the library should receive adequate training to
facilitate book retrieval.
2) Library as a study place
First of all, the library as a study place should be quiet. One solution is that the
group study rooms in the Central Library should be made more soundproof.
More computers should be installed in the library. At the same time, more
effort needs to be made to publicise the wireless network service to meet
Chinese international students’ requirement for computers and to shorten the
waiting queues at peak hours. Moreover, students should be made aware that
there are computers in many other different places for them to use.
94
To meet Chinese international student participants’ demand for longer open
hours, the library needs more after-hour staff. The library may consider
opening the library longer two weeks before and during exam times.
3) Library collections
More books should be added to the closed reserve and 3-day loan collections.
For the prescribed text books, the library could hold more than one copy. In
addition, two hours to finish reading a closed reserve book in the library for a
Chinese international student is not long enough. Staff could remind them that
they can come back to renew the book if nobody else requests it.
In addition, more library training on how to use the library databases might be
needed to get the required library resources quickly.
4) Underused library services
Teachers play an important role in Chinese international students’ use of
library services. The library should publicise its services in collaboration with
faculties in some ways. For example, on the first page of the students’ course
notes or somewhere near the reading list, lecturers may provide a one-page
notice to students so that students know they can go to the reference desk to
seek assistance, use interlibrary loan service and so on. Moreover, librarians
should appear in the first class, tell students what library services are
available, and what help librarians provide. What’s more, the library
instructions such as the library training programmes or library tutorials must
be related to Chinese international students’ courses of study.
95
The library staff should think of the best ways to publicise the library services.
It is the university library’s responsibility to reach Chinese international
students. That is, the library should be more proactive.
It is necessary that some Asian library staff, such as Chinese, Japanese,
Korean, are available to explain very clearly how the library services work. In
particular, more efforts should be taken to clarify the concept and function of
the reference services.
To facilitate Chinese international students’ understanding of some library
terms, a hyperlink should be provided to ACRL’s multilingual language table
on VUW library web pages. Moreover, the VUW library could learn something
from the William and Anita Newman Library at Baruch College in New York
(available from http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/about/v-tour), providing virtual
tours in English, Chinese and several other primary languages of the primary
library users.
On the VUW library website, at least one page could be created specifically
on “Library Services for International Students”. As to this, the academic
library at University of Technology Sydney in Australia does very well: the
international librarian is available, and the library guide is translated into
Chinese
(available
from
http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/services/international_students). On their Chinese
web pages, hyperlinks are also provided to make accessible some web pages
that Chinese international students are interested in. Similarly, the VUW
96
library could translate the library guides into other languages, particularly into
the three main Asian languages: Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Many other
libraries in New Zealand have translated library guides, library regulations,
and other materials into Chinese.
When giving library instructions to Chinese international students, librarians
have to slow down, and give a more detailed introduction to the library. What’s
more, they need to be aware of international students’ different learning styles
and integrate that knowledge into library instructions. Librarians need also to
be aware of Chinese international students’ differences in language and
communication styles, which may lead to misunderstanding and even to bad
service (Iivonen, Sonnenwald, Parma, & Poole-Kober, 1998). Moreover,
information literacy instruction or library instructions to international students
should be mainly presented in English, and sometimes may have an
international student act as facilitator or interpreter.
Furthermore, it is necessary to provide special library instruction services for
Chinese or Asian international students in small groups. Most of them are too
shy to ask questions.
In response to cultural diversity of users, the academic library needs to recruit
more staff from different cultures to improve the quality of library services to
Chinese international students. Library anxiety of Chinese international
students may be greatly reduced and they may approach the library staff for
personal assistance. Chinese international student volunteers can also be
97
recruited. Most of them are happy to be able to work as student assistants in
the library, or work as volunteers whenever possible to assist new
international students.
To further librarians’ knowledge on cultural studies, training and continual
professional development should be emphasised. Awareness of, and
sensitivity to, culturally determined norms promotes understanding between
librarians and Chinese international students. In the workshops on instruction
described by Downing and Diaz (1993), group exercises are included for
sensitising instruction librarians to multicultural issues. (Evans et al., 2000)
have discussed three stages of awareness training: to consider the impact of
tradition and expectation of the family; to consider stereotypical thinking; and
to examine communication styles and learn to understand different modes of
interaction and communication. Staff training can strengthen intercultural
communication “by increasing awareness of body language, eye contact,
personal space, cultural customs of other countries and teaching methods”
(Jackson, 2005). To better serve the diverse students, it is urgently needed
that
academic
library
professionals
enhance
their
cross-cultural
communication skills (Jones, 2000). According to the BASIC (Behavioral
Assessment Scale for Intercultural Competence) model, there are eight skills
valuable in intercultural communication: 1) display of respect, 2) orientation to
knowledge, 3) empathy, 4) interaction management, 5) task role behaviors, 6)
relational role behaviors, 7) tolerance for ambiguity, and 8) interactive posture
(Abilock, 2003). As Jandt (2004, p. 27) points out, “Knowledge of the norms of
different cultures can help people to better communicate across culture.”
98
Cross-cultural communication skills are the most important competency of
librarians serving international students.
Chinese international students’ behaviour in libraries reflects their cultural
background. When librarians try to learn about these students, they also have
to learn about these students’ culture. That is, the impact of culture on
Chinese international students’ information seeking behaviour cannot be
ignored.
Possible Topics for Future Research
Library user studies will be a topic of continual interest, as different groups of
users have different needs and expectations, and these are changing over
time (Roberts & Rowley, 2004). It is important to be aware of the changing
needs and cultures of library users so that the library will become increasingly
focused on customer-driven services.
The following topics are recommended for future research.
— Comparative study of international students from diverse language and
cultural backgrounds, to find their common concerns and different
expectations about library services.
— Qualitative or quantitative study of Chinese international students and
domestic students. For this study, only Chinese international students are
99
interviewed. In the future study, domestic students can be included as a
control group.
— Comparative study of Chinese international students and other Asian
students. Asian students and Chinese international students may be from
different subcultures, with different opinions and ideas. We should not
ignore significant differences within a culture.
— Comparative study of Chinese international students and Asian kiwis.
Asian kiwis use the slang word “banana”—yellow on the outside, but white
on the inside—to describe themselves. Bananaworks is a cross-cultural
and marketing consulting company in New Zealand, whose aim is to help
Asian kiwis to bridge the cultural gap (Depart of Labour, 2006a). Some
Asian kiwis appear to have altered aspects of their Chinese identity, but
they may share some common problems in seeking information in an
academic library.
— This research is an exploratory study of applying cross-cultural theories to
academic library services for Chinese international students. At the core
of culture is “values” invisible to an outside observer, and these values
influence people’s information seeking behaviour. This is quite a
complicated and interesting issue, which needs to be further explored in
the future.
100
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Appendix 1:
Information Sheet
INFO 580: Research Project
Researcher: Belle Xinfeng Wang
Academic Library Services for Chinese International Students in New Zealand
This project is to be conducted by Belle Xinfeng Wang, an MLIS (Master of
Library and Information Study) student at Victoria University of Wellington
(VUW). It is a case study of VUW library services for Chinese international
students. The project involves interviews with current students at VUW. The
objectives of the project are to:
1. Describe Chinese international students’ perceptions, experiences and
expectations of the library services
2. Identify barriers to the use of library services
3. Develop recommendations for New Zealand academic libraries in
serving international students.
This project has a potential to benefit Chinese International Students by
developing strategies on how to make better use of library services to achieve
academic success and improve the quality of their educational experience in
New Zealand. On the other hand, the library may benefit by implementing
customer services, which aim at removing, or minimising barriers identified in
my research.
110
Victoria University requires ethical approval for research. The researcher is
required to obtain informed consent from participants. Participants play a key
role in the project. Each participant will be invited to attend an interview for
approximately one hour. The interviews, with your permission, will be audio
taped.
Any information or opinion participants provide will be kept confidential,
reported only in an aggregated or non-attributable form, and used for this
project. Participants may withdraw from the study at any time up until middle
of January 2006 without explanation. In that case any data provided will be
destroyed. Participants may check interview notes. Summary of the results
will be provided to all participants. Results will be published in the form of a
thesis deposited in the University Library, and possibly in professional
journals.
Any questions about this project can be directed to the researcher or the
supervisor:
Researcher:
Supervisor:
Name: Belle Xinfeng Wang
Name: Dr Berenika Webster
Phone: (04) 976 2055; 021 0481 022
Phone: (04) 463 6868
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
or
[email protected]
111
Appendix 2:
Consent Form
INFO 580: Research Project
Researcher: Belle Xinfeng Wang
Academic Library services for Chinese international students in New Zealand
After reading Information Sheet, please tick the following boxes and sign your
name:
… I have read the attached Information Sheet, have understood the nature
and objectives of this research project, and have been given the
opportunity to seek further clarification or explanation.
… I understand that I may withdraw from this study at any time up until middle
of January 2006 without providing reasons. And if I withdraw from the
project, any data I have provided will be destroyed.
… I understand that any information or opinions I provide will be kept
confidential, and reported only in an aggregated or non-attributable form,
and will be destroyed two years after the conclusion of the research.
… I understand that I have the right to check interview notes.
… By signing this form I give my consent to being interviewed by Belle
Xinfeng Wang and to having the information I provide used for this project.
… I understand that the results will be part of a student research project, and
the researcher may write a paper about the study to be published in a
journal or presented at a conference.
… I give my permission for the interview to be audio taped.
If you would like feedback, please provide your email address here:
_________________________
_________________________
Participant’s Signature
_________________
Date
112
Appendix 3:`
Interview Schedules
A. Participant’s personal information
Code: _____________
1. Gender:
a. Male
b. Female
2. Age:
a. 18-21
b. 22-25
c. 26 or over
3. Level of Study:
a. undergraduate: first / second / third year
b. postgraduate (master or PhD)
4. Faculty
a. Architecture and Design
b. Commerce and Administration
c. Education
d. Humanities and Social Science
e. Law
f. Science
5. Years in New Zealand
a. Less than 1
b. 1 to 2
d. 3 to 4
d. 4 years or more
c. 2 to 3
113
B. Semi-Structured Interview Questions
Perceptions or opinions
1. What important role does the university library and its services play in
your study and research?
2. What is your general impression of the VUW library services (e.g.
environment, opening hours, resources, facilities)?
3. In your opinion, what library services are very important? (e.g. opening
hours of the library or the reference desk; speed and cost of interlibrary
loan; library catalogue: accuracy, speed and ease of use; library
website; library orientation, tours, training programmes; speed and
accuracy of re-shelving library material; length of queues at Library
service points)
A. Which one or two are most important?
B. What is your opinion of the library reference service? (e.g.
concept and function)
C. What is your opinion of Subject Guides and Subject Librarians?
4. As an international student, what barriers have you found to the use of
library services?
Experiences or stories
5. How often do you visit the library? (e.g. before exams; during terms
and during holidays)
6. How did you use libraries before you came to New Zealand?
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7. How often do you visit the library website? What information do you
seek?
8. How often do you use electronic resources?
9. What will you do if you could not find the resources? (e.g. Ask library
staff at the circulation desk; ask library staff at the reference desk;
contact your subject librarian; ask classmates or friends; go to other
libraries or go on the Internet)
10. Can you briefly describe the library orientation/tour/tutorial you have
ever attended?
11. Can you tell me one or more successful and unsuccessful stories in
using the library services?
Expectations or suggestions
12. What library services need to be improved compared with other
libraries you have ever visited?
13. What services would you like to see in the library?
14. What do you expect from reference desk, the answer to your question
or library skills?
15. What else do you expect the library to do to improve its services? (e.g.
Chinese language: material and staff; publicity and library guides;
experienced Chinese student assistants; faculties; flexibility)
16. What advice do you have to new Chinese international students in
using the library?
Thank you for your time to answer the questions!
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