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The figured world that my group intended to observe is the J.

Murrey Atkins library located on the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus. The university library is there to provide a quiet study environment for students who attend and to give computer access and a wide variety of different literacies such as novels, poetry, biographies etc. to any students who are compelled to do so. The J. Murrey Atkins library contains the same principle rules and conventions as any other library, such as no food, no drink, and remaining quiet. These basic rules are employed in the library setting to ensure that its actors fully receive the advantages it has to offer as an exceptional learning environment. This means that your volume should be kept at a considerably low tone and any devices you may possess that have the potential to cause a disruption or distract anyone from their studies should do the same. Within this figured world I expect to see a variety of different discourse communities, but the main ones I expect to see are a discourse of people who study alone, who study in groups, who are on laptops, and those who are not on laptops, but this could be broken down even further if it is found that there are a more predominant discourse groups studying a certain subject is certain areas of the library. These areas could range from being spread though out a given floor or even spread out between the floors themselves. Before the observations began my group decided to organize and setup the three days to have different main purposes so that we would not be all over the place in our observations. We did this by first letting the first day, February 5 2013 4:00pm-5:15pm, be mainly for observing different groups in the library. On this day we observed a group of students on the third floor that were all on laptops and seemed to be engaging in a student tutoring session. This was apparent because one of the individuals was facilitating the rest by offering help and answering any questions. The group was initially there before we arrived but began to disperse around 4:55pm. Next on day two, February 6 2013 2:00pm-3:20pm, we used this day to observe individuals on the second floor. As we looked around it became apparent that every individual present was not necessarily using the library for studying like the groups observed the day before, but instead many were on computers with ear buds in, writing papers, surfing the web or on their phones. We also observed that many individuals were either spread out or completely isolated from others in the library. On the third and final day, February 8 2013 3:00-5:30, we observed the first floor. One of the first things we noticed was the separateness of groups from individuals. Individuals tended to be located in the far back area where it was quieter and the groups were either in designated rooms with projectors or toward the front with white boards. After analyzing this it was very much possible that this floor was set up like this purposely because even though the first floor is more open and talking is more so accepted for bigger groups it still allows for a non-distracting environment for individuals. On this day my group also conducted an interview. We asked the individual his reasoning for coming to the library and if he normally comes to this floor. He then replied, I come because it is hard to focus with my roommates and, Yes, I do prefer this floor because of the location of the coffee shop and because this floor is a lot more comfortable. We then continued to ask if he generally came for leisure or studying and what he overall expects

Comment [M1]: Good description of the library (RR)

Comment [M2]: Good background description of rules and expectations. (AF)

Comment [M3]: You could reword it to not repeat who a lot (RR) & (A A)

Comment [M4]: Good word usage (RR)

Comment [M5]: You could reword this part (AA)

when he comes to the library. He stated that, I come mostly for studying, but on Fridays for leisure and I expect a controlled volume and a good place to study. After all three of our observations took place and the interview had been conducted we discovered that many of our initial thoughts and assumptions of what a conventional library was and the different discourse communities within were the same as a conventional library with a few exceptions here and there. With that being said the figured world of J. Murrey Atkins library actors (students) value the artifact of having a not necessarily good study environment, but a comfortable environment overall with a selection of different floors to adhere to your preference of noise level and sociability .

Comment [M6]: You could also mention specific artifacts for the actors (students) and combine it to their figured world. Type of literacy practice for each observation (RR& AA) e. the earphones with the individuals Comment [M7]: You could change the format of your paper. Observations can be bulleted (AA)

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