Florida State University Libraries 2016 Wrong Planet, Right Library: College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Academic Library Amelia Maclay Anderson Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION WRONG PLANET, RIGHT LIBRARY: COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER AND THE ACADEMIC LIBRARY By AMELIA MACLAY ANDERSON A Dissertation submitted to the School of Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 i Amelia Maclay Anderson defended this dissertation on February 26, 2016. The members of the supervisory committee were: Nancy Everhart Professor Directing Dissertation Juliann Woods University Representative Mia Liza A. Lustria Committee Member Michelle Kazmer Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii This dissertation is dedicated to my wonderful family. Thank you for the values you instilled in me, for encouraging a love of learning, and for your unending support. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There is absolutely no way I could have completed this journey without the continual guidance and support from my advisor, Dr. Nancy Everhart. Thank you for the opportunity to assist with Project PALS and, more than anything, thank you for being an amazing role model. Thank you to my committee members for offering encouragement throughout this process. You are all such amazing women, and I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to learn from you. Dr. Lustria, I will never forget all of your “teachable moments” during the STEER project and beyond! Thank you for taking me under your wing and giving me my first true research experience. Dr. Kazmer, thank you for all of your guidance during the first year of my doctoral program, as well as sharing your qualitative expertise through both coursework and collaborative research projects. And Dr. Woods, thank you for introducing me to so many important concepts and connections, allowing me to tag along with you at ASHA, and otherwise providing insight into a population in which I was previously uninformed. Your willingness to share your incredible knowledge quickly helped me get over the learning curve. Dr. Christie Koontz – thank you for your positivity and all around “goodness,” and for being the one to bring me back to FSU. Twice now! And thank you to Dr. Bradley Cox for his contagious enthusiasm and willingness to collaborate on the project that ultimately led to the idea for this dissertation. My family has been an incredible source of support throughout this process, and I can’t thank them enough. Thank you Mama for always offering supportive words and providing beach weekends when necessary. Thank you Carrie and Henry for sending dissertation writing cookies and cute pictures along the way! And thank you Dad for providing me with weekly lunchtime pep talks – “dissertating” is so much better when discussed over enchiladas. Thank you also for sharing your office space when it came time for Chapter Four and Five (sorry for eating all of your snacks!). Brent, here is your whole paragraph. Yes, you earned it. Thank you for being my person. Thank you for putting up with the Spotify playlists that fueled this dissertation, and thank you for actually reading this beast the whole way through. I appreciate your love and support. Thank you to the Library Chapter. Our weekly-ish meetings helped me to maintain somewhat of a work/life balance. And finally, my fellow doc students have been a tremendous source of support throughout the past three years, and I couldn’t have done it without them. My cohort in particular – how lucky we are to have each other! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ viii 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW..........................................................................................................10 3. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................32 4. FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................48 5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................73 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................101 A: PERMISSION LETTER .........................................................................................................101 B: HUMAN SUBJECTS APPROVAL LETTER........................................................................102 References ....................................................................................................................................104 Biographical Sketch .....................................................................................................................114 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: References to the physical environment ..........................................................................51 Table 2: References to social norms and social types ...................................................................55 Table 3: Number of references to library resources per variable ..................................................57 Table 4: Social and communicative experiences ...........................................................................63 Table 5: Barriers to library use ......................................................................................................68 Table 6: Commonalities in academic library use ...........................................................................75 Table 7: Barriers to library use and potential solutions .................................................................87 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Potential information worlds of college students with ASD ..........................................29 Figure 2: Prominent codes describing students with ASD descriptions of their experiences in libraries ..........................................................................................................................................50 Figure 3: Prominent codes describing students with ASD descriptions of the physical environment of the library .............................................................................................................52 Figure 4: Prominent codes describing students with ASD descriptions of their interactions with library resources .............................................................................................................................59 Figure 5: Prominent codes describing students with ASD descriptions of their social/communicative experiences at the library ...........................................................................64 Figure 6: Positive and negative references within library descriptions .........................................71 vii ABSTRACT Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has steadily increased in prevalence in recent years, with a current estimate of 1 in every 68 children eligible for such a diagnosis. Prevalence within the general population is reflected in the growing number of college and university students with ASD, with more students registering for services than ever before; this growing number registered for services does not include those who do not have a formal diagnosis or attempt to forge the academic journey without targeted support. College attrition rates are higher for college students with ASD than for neurotypical college students due to lack of previously available supports, along with characteristics of this population including challenges during periods of transition and difficulty adapting to social and behavioral norms. Academic library usage correlates to college retention for college students as a whole; however, no studies have yet been done to explore how college students with ASD use their academic libraries and, in turn, how this might play a role in their ultimate college success. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of college students with ASD in academic libraries. It seeks to understand their questions and concerns, as well as their experiences in utilizing the library and library resources. We know that individuals with ASD use the library, but there is little firsthand evidence to describe their experiences and barriers they face in accessing library services. By addressing these concerns, campus libraries and librarians can ultimately help to support ASD student retention. This exploratory study used a qualitative content analysis design to collect discussion board posts to the online forum Wrong Planet (wrongplanet.net). Wrong Planet, a robust forum with more than 80,000 members, was designed by