The extent of the BSJ's user community and its informational needs depend on "environmental characteristics" (Wood 13), such as geographical location (15), the economic structure (15), and demographics. The BSJ, which is part of the FSJ campus, is located six kilometres east from its parent campus of the University of Alberta. The city of Edmonton does not consider the FSJ's neighbourhood as being part of the university district, but defines it within the western boundary of the Bonnie Doon district. One hundred students live on the FSJ campus itself in a residence connected to the FSJ main building. The other students live elsewhere in Edmonton (University or Bonnie Doon areas) or are video-conference students. We may assume, therefore, that electronic access to the library will be preferable to a majority of students, even though students benefit from two shuttle buses which ensure connections on week-days every half hour between the two campuses (Faculté, "Horaire"). Despite the presence of a direct public transport route, the relative isolation of the FSJ campus may dissuade some French students from the main campus to frequent the BSJ. All the more so that they have access to French language resources at the main campus library. However, the BSJ is located at the heart of the francophone business and cultural community and close to the associations mentioned previously. The BSJ, therefore, maintains an intimate "relationship to local professional/cultural/historical groups" (Wood 15) from the mere fact of its close geographical proximity.

As for the economic structure (Wood 15) of the BSJ, it is situated within the University of Alberta Library system and its consortial agreements. The University of Alberta Library's budget for 2001-2002 information resources totals ten and a half million dollars, which will be sufficient to assure the University of Alberta "Library's ranking as number one in holdings/student in Maclean's" (University, Operating Budget 12). The strategic objectives of the parent institution's budget is to purchase "more electronic resources, which will reduce the barriers that accompany print sources" (12). The BSJ, therefore, has to align itself also with purchasing more electronic resources. This may be a useful direction to take, especially when considering developing a nursing collection, which will involve costly online medical textbooks and research databases. The BSJ may consider collaborating with the J. W. Scott Health Sciences Library on the main university campus in making French medical resources available in portable digital assistant (PDA) format through the Scott's PDA project. This may be useful for students who need to commute regularly between two distant campuses and may free up shelf space.

Besides the primary and secondary users, whom we have previously identified, the tertiary community is more heterogeneous and requires a demographic analysis on the basis of its linguistic characteristics. According to the 1996 Census data⁵, there are 18 385 people (Canada, Statistics, "Ethnic.") with uniquely French origins (i.e. dating back to grand-parents) in Edmonton, while 21 220 people⁶ speak French as a mother tongue (Canada, Statistics, "Mother."). However, only 7 075 people speak French at home (Canada, Statistics, "Home."), which includes people who speak French along with another language. Two percent of the University and Bonnie Doon areas' population are of French origins according to the city of Edmonton's Corporate Planning and Policy Section (2). Nevertheless, the fact that one speaks French does not imply a functional level of literacy necessary for enjoying most of the resources at the BSJ. In fact, Lucie Lapierre reports that 52 percent of francophones are illiterate in French. In terms of age, the university area houses mostly young adults (1), whereas Bonnie Doon contains "a larger share [19%] of people aged 65 and older" than the City of Edmonton's (1). In both areas the population decreased by a little over one thousand people in five years. Bonnie Doon's trend corroborates Edmonton's Allocation Study Summary Report, which predicts, for the year 2025, that the city's population older than 65 years of age will "increase significantly" (24).

The demographic reports' implications for the library concerns tertiary patrons. Given Lapierre's 52 percent illiteracy rate, one could say that there are 48 percent of all Edmonton people who speak French as a mother tongue who would be able to benefit from most of the resources at the BSJ. The library, therefore, collects at present for potentially 11 034 people, or 11 994 after population change adjustment (see note eleven). Since approximately thirty percent of Edmonton's population is older than 65 years of age, 3 598 literate francophones would fall within that age category. The BSJ must therefore collect with that population's interests in mind and build its historical and archival collections with the help of that population and for its sake. As for the French illiterate portion of the community, it would be worthwhile for the BSJ to attract more users by collecting resources to help this segment of the population and by cooperating with associations that aim to refrancize those who are illiterate in their mother tongue.