1.
Library Spaces:
The Pandemic’s Final Frontier
Joan Lippincott, Associate Executive Director Emerita
Coalition for Networked Information
2020 Assessment Practices and Metrics
for a 21st Century Pandemic:
A NISO Webinar Training Series

2.
Participants today
Please share in the chat box
 Name, institution
 Any space-related assessment priorities in
your library

3.
Topics
❖ Space and the pandemic
❖ Space assessment basics
❖ Mission-driven assessment
❖Learning
❖Research/Digital scholarship
❖Community, inclusion
❖Wrap-up

4.
Closure as assessment
opportunity
 “What would you do, as an assessment librarian, if in
one afternoon your entire main library suddenly closed
for more than a year?”
 “Demonstrating library value was easy when suddenly
the library was unavailable, but it created heartbreaking
hardship to the university community. The opportunities
for reconfiguring services, collections, and the facility
are unprecedented and must be fully leveraged.”
 Paper at LAC2020

5.
Closure as assessment
opportunity
 What institution were those quotes from?

6.
Space and the pandemic
 Library spaces are closed or space use is
greatly limited
 Advances of decades of change are
particularly threatened
 Collaborative, social spaces
 Technology-rich environments
 Open stacks

7.
Space and the pandemic
 Was the library space pivot much less successful than
the digital collections/services pivot?
 Some (partial) successes
 Reconfiguration of equipment loan
 Access to wifi
 Reconfiguration of public spaces
 Re-purposing of library spaces
 What should we document and assess about these
changes?

8.
Space and the pandemic
 Pandemic has heightened awareness of the
community/social/engagement aspects of
campus life
 How do libraries use this awareness as an
opportunity?
 How can this assist the library in being
considered high priority for building/renovation
funds when available?

9.
Pandemic and space
 University of Michigan Library study preliminary results
 “What is more difficult?” 66% undergrads named work/study
space
 “Expressions of loss, now that the Library’s physical
spaces and collections are not accessible. This was a
consistent theme for undergraduate and graduate students,
who expressed by the hundreds that the Library provides
them with motivating spaces to focus on their individual and
collaborative work. This was also a theme for many faculty
members, who described the importance of being able to
browse the collections to find needed materials for their
work.”
 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P18R0ihRdmMF6PrdgMbi8Z_8dmU_a_CKhTzT12F0GLQ/edit#

10.
Pandemic and space
 What should we be thinking about assessing now?
 Adaptability of library spaces
 Public
 Staff
 Method
 Area by area analysis by selective factors
 Moveable furniture
 Air circulation
 Automatic doors, lighting

11.
Pandemic and space
 How will you demonstrate the value of
library spaces and promote the
continuing investment in library spaces
as an institutional priority?
 What data should we be thinking about
collecting as students and faculty return
to campus? Your thoughts?

12.
Library space assessment basics:
Standard data collection
 Gate counts
 Counting use of seats
 Counting use of equipment
 Counting use of software
 Counting use of group study rooms

13.
National initiatives
 LibQUAL+
 Space becoming more important to users
 ACRL Project Outcome
 Basic toolkit including some questions on space
 acrl.projectoutcome.org › projectoutcomeflyer_2019_v2
 ARL Library Impact Pilots – Space
 https://www.arl.org/research-library-impact-pilots-2/library-
spaces/

14.
Standard methodologies
 Whiteboard questions
 How would you improve this space?
 Is this space meeting your needs?
 Sandbox/experimental spaces
 Furniture with questionnaire
 New equipment with interviews

15.
Assessment basics
What do we know about what
students like?
 Surveys including LibQual
 Focus groups
 Diaries/photo studies
 Light
 Power and wifi
 Both solo and collaborative spaces
 Lots of writing surfaces

16.
Assessment basics
What do we know about how
students work/spend their time
 Diaries/photo studies
 Focus groups
 Some students spend many hours in the library
 Individual students have individual behavior patterns

17.
How do you use basic space
data?
 Trend lines, including during pandemic
 Benchmarking
 Capacity issues
 Assessing continued need for equipment
 Your thoughts?

18.
Mission-driven
assessment
Focusing on learning
needs
Wilmeth Active Learning Center – Purdue U.

19.
Assessment in these areas is
complex
 The impact of space alone is difficult to
isolate
 The impact of what we think of as “space”
may be a combination of the physical
facility, technology, programs, and
expertise

20.
Thinking about what matters
 For libraries, “studying” has been the
clearest link to space and learning
outside the classroom
 Do we want to broaden and/or deepen
the links to learning?
 Support of specific programs
 Support of capstone projects or
undergraduate research
 Support of creativity through new media

21.
How do students perceive their use of
different types of spaces?
 Taylor Family Digital Library,
U. Calgary
 https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/c
gi/viewcontent.cgi?article=21
30&context=iatul

22.
Library spaces and learning
What do faculty need in order to
create new types of assignments for
their courses
Class assignments determine what
kind of learning activities students
engage in for much of their time
outside of class

23.
What kind of spaces do students need for
particular kinds of work?
Duke University - The Edge

24.
Needs Assessment:
Lead Users
 “We found that even at the undergraduate level, lead users
are attempting to discover new modes of visualizing and
communicating their work. In this instance, the lead user
was a member of the library’s student advisory board and a
chemical engineering major seeking to visualize chemical
engineering data. There exist many visualization spaces on
campus but they are typically housed in secure
departmental labs, so we designed a suite of spaces and
services available to everyone in order to support digital
scholarship, whether through visualization, high
performance computing, or even retro-technologies.”
Ameet Doshi and Elliot Felix. Lead Users: A Predictive Framework for Designing Library Services and Spaces
LAC 2016

25.
Thinking about institutional context
• Looking at spaces at the
institutional level
– Ex: Can students easily find
collaborative spaces in
which to work?
• Looking at specialized
facilities at the institutional
level
– Ex: Is the Engineering
makerspace open to all?
• Analyzing new programs
offered by colleges or
departments
– Ex: Are more departments
incorporating use of GIS in
student assignments?

26.
Thinking about institutional interest
in assessment
• What is important to your institution?
– Student success
– Persistence at the institution
– Establishing a sense of community
– New learning goals
– Undergraduate research

27.
Thinking about institutional interest
in assessment
• National Survey of Student Engagement
(NSSE)
• AAC&U Liberal Education and America’s
Promise (LEAP)
• National Institute for Learning Outcomes
Assessment (NILOA)

28.
Partners in assessment
Campus
– Office of Undergraduate Education
– Center for Teaching & Learning
– Office of Institutional Research
– Faculty in departments with “methods”
classes
– Campus initiatives
– Office of Undergraduate Research
– Student Success Center
– ESL Office

29.
Faculty testimonials
https://sites.dartmouth.edu/mediaprojects/testimonies/

30.
Library Stories: NC State
• “The Visualization
Studio makes possible a
rich presentation of
knowledge and a more
interactive environment
for its communication,”
McManus says. “I was
immediately struck by
the creative potential it
offered students in my
ethnographic research
methods course.”
lib.ncsu.edu/stories

31.
Research/Digital Scholarship
spaces
Needs assessment
 Environmental scan (campus)
 Areas of need
 Learning/Research
 Technology
 Expertise
 Available library staff skills/expertise

32.
Needs assessment for digital
scholarship
 Background reading
 Faculty interviews and survey
 Library staff interviews
 Peer institution interviews
Brenner, Aaron. Audit of ULS Support for Digital Scholarship. University of Pittsburgh, 2014.
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/25034/

33.
Focus on digital scholarship
https://www.cni.org/events/cni-workshops/digital-scholarship-planning-2020-webinar-series/assessment-needs-and-ongoing

34.
Ongoing assessment of digital
scholarship program
 Data gathered
 Event attendance
 Space headcounts
 Room reservations
 Describes how they use data
 Ongoing assessment of
program in relation to
strategic priorities
https://www.cni.org/events/cni-workshops/digital-scholarship-planning-2020-webinar-series/assessment-needs-and-ongoing

35.
Digital scholarship
 How important are physical spaces?
 An opportunity to assess
 What to measure?
 Access to equipment
 Access to expertise
 Access to programs
 Building community
 Your thoughts?

36.
Digital scholarship
 What data is being collected and
disseminated?
 What data is included with overall reference,
consultation, instruction transactions?
 Which staff are included?
 What else should be documented?
 Number of projects (how defined?)
 Grant funds received

37.
Digital scholarship
 University of Calgary study
 Mellon-funded
 Faculty completed assessment
 What did the library contribute to their project, e.g.
collections, space?
 What did library staff contribute to their project?
 https://www.cni.org/topics/assessment/redesigning-the-researcher-library-
experience-case-studies-key-questions

38.
Documenting digital
scholarship contributions
https://www.cni.org/topics/information-access-retrieval/making-library-contributions-visible-the-grants-menu-at-uvic-libraries

39.
Libraries and community
 The library as a safe gathering place
 The library’s role in welcoming
underserved groups
 Do we know what matters and how to
assess whether our spaces provide a
sense of community?

40.
Community, inclusion
 A sense of belonging
 Correlation with persistence and improved grades
 Under-studies topic in libraries
 “Mapping the Sense of Belonging in Library Spaces”
 Ted Chocock, College of Southern Nevada
 Studied community college & research university
 Qualitative methods
 Paper at LAC 2020

41.
Does this space provide a sense of
community for undergrad commuting students?
Odegaard Library – University of Washington

42.
Which sub-
populations should
you study?
What kinds of spaces
would encourage
students to spend more
time learning outside of
class?
Family Study Space, Robarts Library, U. Toronto
https://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/family-study-space-robarts

43.
Space assessment - 1st
generation students
 Qualitative study
 3 progressive interviews with students
 Photos and diary
 Questionnaire/demographics
 “Students perceive the library as a place of enduring
academic knowledge that is signaled through the historic
architecture and the grandeur of design, and supports their
academic success.”
 The library fosters a social and academic community
beneficial to her work.
 “…a lot of students who use the library know that the true
learning that they get for their degree comes from here, from
their research and the time they spend studying.”
Karen Neurohr and Lucy Bailey, “First-Generation Undergraduate Students and Library Spaces.” Assessing
Library Space for Learning. Ed. By Susan Montgomery. Rowman & Littlefield, 2017.

44.
How one library promoted a
sense of community
 Architectural
elements
 Artwork
 Gathering places
 Social events
https://www.cni.org/events/cni-workshops/digital-scholarship-planning-2020-webinar-series/diversity-equity-and-inclusion

45.
Bringing the community into
the library
 School and summer
programs
 Introducing under-
served students to
technology
 What is the impact?
 On the students
 On the university
https://www.cni.org/events/cni-workshops/digital-scholarship-planning-2020-webinar-series/initiatives-in-teaching-learning

46.
Wrap-up
 Don’t miss this unique opportunity to
gather data
 Consider what is important to your
institution
 Think about what data (quantitative and
qualitative) you’ll need to tell the library’s
story as we emerge from the pandemic

47.
Discussion
 Are there other space-related topics you’d like
me to discuss?
 Do you have some good practice in library
space assessment to share?

48.
Thank You!
Joan Lippincott
Associate Executive Director Emerita
Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
joan@cni.org