Abstract
The developmental journey of individuals through their academic years profoundly shapes their character, a progression influenced by various factors, notably their interactions within their environment. According to this belief, one of the important and effective meanings of the relationship between man and the environment from the point of view of designers and psychologists is attachment to place.
University libraries, because of their important and decisive role in education and research, are referred by students, faculty members, and staff. The need for solitude in such study spaces has always been the concern of architects and designers. But today, educational research environments, especially universities, have rarely been able to provide suitable places for students' attitudes and behavior and gain success in responding to all their needs. Concerning the acknowledgment of these concepts in the library domain, there has been no exhaustive study conducted utilizing their documents and analysis. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to evaluate the role of solitude in the promotion of place attachment in the library of the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.
Based on the available evidence and based on the main research framework, indicators of attachment to place and solitude are presented.
Then, utilizing objective observation and tailored user questionnaires, multiple factors influencing students' attachment to the library are explored using qualitative methods to understand the preferred level of solitude in these spaces.
The library uses quantitative and qualitative methods to compare the amount of privacy in the library spaces with the users' need for privacy in that space. The questionnaire content was reviewed and SPSS software was utilized for both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the survey.
Using the correlation method, the study explored how providing optimal privacy in the library setting can impact students' attachment. The findings revealed that ensuring optimal privacy in the library environment can influence students' attachment.
 The level of attachment of patrons to different spaces of the library varies from person to person. People choose places based on their needs and preferences and become dependent on them, which is caused by their individual, social, and cultural characteristics. Meanwhile, some people are attracted to active and collective learning environments according to the amount of privacy they want, and others may prefer a calm and quiet study environment with visual privacy.
Libraries, as public spaces, may appear ideal for studying, solitude, social interactions, and engaging in dialogue. However, issues and discontent can arise because of constraints on maintaining personal space, privacy, and solitude, leading to reactions against forced social interactions.
This research is divided into three parts. In the first part, based on the available evidence and based on the main framework of the research, the indicators of attachment to place and solitude are presented, and then with the help of objective observation and the design of targeted questionnaires by users, various factors are presented on the students. The attachment to the library is presented using a qualitative method. The second part, to investigate the level of privacy in library spaces, compares the level of privacy in library spaces with the users' need for privacy in that space with quantitative and qualitative methods.
 In the third part, with the correlation method, it has been investigated that the provision of optimal privacy in the library environment can affect the students' attachment. Therefore, in this article, we have tried to answer the following questions.
- What are the factors affecting people's attachment to the library and reading in it?
- How is the desired solitude achieved in the library environment and what factors does it depend on?
- To what extent can the provision of privacy in the library environment affect students' attachment?
As mentioned before, the main goal of this research is to find the relationship between the two concepts of attachment to a place and the concept of solitude. To explore the hypothesis, first, assess individuals' attachment levels to different library study spaces and the privacy offered in each area. Next, analyze the connection between these variables. Therefore, in the first stage, the level of people's attachment and the provision of optimal privacy have been measured separately.
Based on the available evidence and based on the main framework of the research, the indicators of attachment to the place and solitude have been presented, and then with the help of objective observation and the design of targeted questionnaires from users, various factors have been presented on the attachment of students to the library.
To check the desired level of privacy of the spaces, it has been checked with a qualitative method. The library uses quantitative and qualitative methods to compare the amount of privacy in the library spaces with the users' need for privacy in that space. In this way, the content of the questionnaire was checked and SPSS software was used for quantitative and qualitative analysis of the survey.
With the correlation method, it was checked that providing optimal privacy in the library environment can affect students' attachment. The results of the research indicate that providing optimal privacy in the library environment can affect students' attachment. If privacy is provided, the basis for the formation of goals such as personal independence, reducing emotions, the possibility of self-evaluation, and controlled communication with others will be provided to the patrons of the central library. The provision of the mentioned items has led to the improvement of the emotional relationship between the person and the environment, which creates the basis for the creation and development of attachment to the place of the library for the person.