1. Deep Dive into Space Lenore O’Connor & Medwenna Buckland LENORE
Asia-Pacific Library & Information Conference 2018
LENORE
Introduction
Us –
LSM, Library Assessment Coordinator
Background 
First of a series of 'deep dives' into key areas of service development 

2. Background MEDWENNA Questions we were asking
Ways students engage with Library space, also specific questions around; 
Safety (how many people in the building, relationship to door counts) 
Collections (right mix of physical collections and learning/research spaces) 
Planning physical and technological solutions to meet needs 
Also, where were people sitting? Were different types of seating in the right place? 
Process:  
Mix of traditional and more contemporary data gathering and analysis methods (lit review and site visits) 
Most value gained out of using UX methodologies (observation, head counts, occupancy studies, and graffiti walls) in an iterative process to follow where the data led, broken into 2 'chunks' across the year: 

3. First occupancy study (session 1) What we did:
MEDWENNA
First occupancy study (session 1) 
What we did: 
Occupants marked on floor maps  
Incoming people counted for 1 hour with clickers 
Seat occupancy translated to a percentage of available seats - lower occupancy than expected 
What we found: 
Individual seating most popular. People reluctant to share group tables 
Hack and settle – most people will find a way to get the study space they need with what's available e.g. moving flexible furniture, turning a PC desk into a study desk, setting up a group space as an individual (or pair) space 
Head count consistently related to total door count for the day (12% at 1pm and 3pm) 
Around 1300 people in the library at one time (1pm or 3pm) 
Actual number of people entering each hour was 16% higher than main door sensor count, 4% higher than stair sensor count and 12% lower than lift sensor count. 
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

4. MEDWENNA
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

5. What’s your favourite furniture in the library?
MEDWENNA
Second occupancy study (session 2) 
What we did: 
Repeated occupancy study/matched times of day for comparison to session 1 
Butchers’ paper for free feedback and voting for furniture with sticky dots 
What we found: 
73% of seats occupied at peak time, but most configurations (tables) occupied 
e.g. 91% of individual carrels, 98% of round tables but 56% of seats at round tables 
Silent areas fill up first 
Sundays busier than Saturdays 
Average headcount at 12am (midnight) = 113 people, versus door count of 9. 
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

6. The big surprises We had More available seats than expected Pc desk usage far outweighed actual pc usage What people say they want does not always reflect what they actually use…
Lessons learned
Get your maps right first!
Group Configurations matter
Be flexible, Keep asking why
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The big surprises 
Occupancy % was lower than expected – led us to look at group seating makeup more closely (2 people sitting at a table with 5 seats) 
People sitting at PC desks outweighing people actively logged in and using PCs (something we'll unpack in phase 2)  
What people said they liked is not always borne out in actual usage e.g. wing chairs were wildly popular according to the dot vote, and at 90%-100% capacity in open spaces, but only around 30% in postgrad spaces where we assumed they would be appreciated (gives a sense of privacy and concentration for reading) 
Lessons learned 
Get your maps right first! Define areas carefully (which do you want to compare and why?) 
Configurations important for group furniture 
Identify issues to track – unattended belongings? 
Be flexible, keep asking why! 
Next steps 
Technology and spaces review 
Furniture moves – have done some initial adjustments, as well as adding an additional 400 powerpoints but always more required, is a continual process. The challenge remains to get the balance right to suit as many types of study as possible 
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

7. Want to know more? www.mq.edu.au/library Contact us:
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Thanks & close & questions