Visual representation of nature in the library

Abstract

Recent changes regarding the atmosphere of the educational environment such as library to cater to the academic needs of students has been taken into account in many universities. Modifying the library's traditional image with the use of photographs, paintings or any visual objects which depict nature may make a library more conducive for learning environment. The investigation is aimed at identifying and evaluating the most preferred learning environment of a library that caters to their academic needs in the context of preferred form of visual representation of nature among university students. Questionnaires were administered to 120 students of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The survey was conducted in the library of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai. The collected data was analyzed to show the most preferred visual representations of nature. The findings indicated that the subject of plants, colors in nature and paintings with nature as subjects are the most preferred visual representations of nature among students. Another significant result of this study indicates their preference for specific type of color and attribute of nature and type of word. This research is significant because it can help designers to identify which components, attributes and type of visual representation of nature are important that can enhance the general educational environment of libraries.