Have you seen students walking around the library with clipboards this fall and wondered what the heck that was about? We’ve been documenting where and how people are using library spaces in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library. A lot has changed since the building opened in 1964, and this is part of a broader study to identify user needs.
The project is being spearheaded by the User Experience group, who seek to build relationships with our user community of faculty, students, and staff to understand how they work with our physical and virtual space and develop tools and programs to enhance their experience with library content and services. We accomplish this by facilitating design processes that put the stakeholder front and center, focusing on using user feedback through surveys, interviews, and other means.
In addition to documenting how space is used, we also hope to get to the heart of user preferences and motivations. For example, why is one library space favored over another? Librarians will also be leading in-depth inquiry on targeted areas of focus including technology preferences, late night usage, and the print periodical collection on M-level. If you would be interested in contributing, please contact Steven Heslip, UX Director, at heslip@jhu.edu.