Understanding Our Students: Reflecting on the Academic Library’s Role in Meeting the Needs of Evolving Student Populations

Nontraditional students in higher education can be considered as today’s “traditional” student, accounting for 74% of the undergraduate population. What does this mean for academic libraries in regard to our support services? This column discusses the necessity of understanding the changing landscape of students, and how their experiences impact the ways they engage with the library. Students in higher education are very diverse in a multitude of ways, so to be truly inclusive, librarians need to understand the complexities and layers of the students we work with and how we can better serve and support them.