Library as the student's cornerstone or obstacle: Evaluating the method ofempathy-based stories

The paper discusses the use of qualitative methods - especially the method of empathy-based stories (MES) - in evaluating what students consider as th eir ideal library The study was carried out in the Kuopio University Librar y in Finland. First-year students of nursing science wrote the stories that were subsequently analysed. From the stories a model of five steps could b e derived that described the fundamental elements in the students' ideal li brary and how they would use it. These are student's self-esteem, student's competence, other people, library staff and library contents. Also some su ggestions on how to improve the library services are given.