Susanna Cowan and Michael Howser from the University of Connecticut presented “Make No Assumptions: Incorporating the Student’s Viewpoint to Improve Library Spaces, Services, and Resources” and outlined what survey techniques they used to find out what students wanted at the Library. What they wanted to know from users was “What would you change? What do you want?” …
They recommended that you first define who your users are, and determine who you want to target.
For their project, which included focus groups, a survey, observational studies, and monologues, they recruited via email so that they could get users outside the library. Their goal was to get both qualitative and quantitative data from their survey. “Assessment 360″ was their code name for their project.
Focus Groups
One goal was to improve the Learning Commons. What did students want more of? Less of? It turned out that students had no idea what the Learning Commons was, and that the term didn’t really mean anything to them.
Based on the focus groups they held, what did students want?
- They wanted plugs.
- They most often used the printing facilities, and wanted free printing. They also used the tutoring and writing centers.
In retrospect, what shouldn’t librarians ask in this kind of situations?
Closed questions and questions about service quality, especially when there are librarians present!
Technology Survey
For their technology survey, they based theirs on Char Booth’s survey, and sent it out to all students, not just the Storrs campus, and used SurveyMonkey.
They asked whether students wanted mobile tools, browser toolbars, and other tech tools. They found that there were a lot of “fairly likely” answers – not a lot of answers at the extreme ends of the scale.
They noted that it’s more difficult to code data that is entered into text box, but that it’s good to offer more choices in multiple choice answers. It’s also harder to analyze the text than it is to work with the quantitative results. Focus groups are also labor intensive to transcribe and code.
Observational Studies
They also did studies of how students worked, using Nancy Foster’s methodology as a basis.
What they discovered was that students did not use the library’s web site. If they wanted the library’s web site, they Googled the library. If they wanted the library’s hours, they Googled “uconn library hours.”
They pointed out that the observational studies are not usability studies — they’re two different types of studies, so don’t ask about usability when you are trying to observe how students research. Also, don’t ask about databases: just ask “how do you start a new research project?”
Monologues
Gave students some Flip cameras and a series of prompts to get students to describe their workspaces and how they work. While students wanted comfortable furniture in their study spaces, they also wanted big tables where they can spread out and — of course — plugs. Students like to spread out!
On Facebook…
It turns out that, yes, students check Facebook, especially between classes during the day, but when they come back at night, when the librarians have left, they aren’t on Facebook, they’re working.
Surprises
- Students don’t go to the library web site.
- Access to Library resources needs to be available through Google.
- Help and guidance comes from their professors first! We need to work with faculty to get that extra push.
Amanda Izenstark
Reference & Instructional Design Librarian
University of Rhode Island