Customer Service Group UK: Adapting library and learning environments to student behaviour 17.11.15
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Presentation from University of the Arts London on UX project at CSGUK Annual Conference. Leo Appleton, Associate Director Tania Olsson, London College of Communication Jayne Batch, Central Saint Martins Sandra Reed, Resources and Systems
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Customer Service Group UK: Adapting library and learning environments to student behaviour 17.11.15
- 1. Adapting library and learning environments to student behaviour: student involvement through user experience at University of the Arts London Leo Appleton, Associate Director Tania Olsson, London College of Communication Jayne Batch, Central Saint Martins Sandra Reed, Resources and Systems
- 2. Six Colleges, one service • Camberwell College of Arts • Central Saint Martins • Chelsea College of Arts • London College of Communication • London College of Fashion • Wimbledon College of Arts
- 3. Why user experience ? • UAL Library Services is committed to user engagement • Previous methods have included; ‘Tell us what you think’, LibQUAL, NSS, PTES, PRES, FE Survey, feedback from course and programme boards, SU sabbatical officers • Focus on student behaviour and usage of space • Planning for new build projects
- 4. Partnership: LCC MoLib project
- 5. Partnership: CSM love your library campaign
- 6. UX partnership: involving students • Employed students from in-house temp agency to work on the project • Offered a range of ways students could get involved • Offered incentives for involvement
- 7. Methodology • Mapping • Observing • Love letters • Touchstone tours • Focus groups • Reflective logs
- 8. Mapping
- 9. Observing
- 10. Publicity
- 11. Touchstone tours
- 12. Focus groups • Observer feedback: informed focus group themes • In depth and reflective theme driven discussion: • Types of space • Silent or quiet / group / IT • Layout of space • Environment • heat / light / signposting • Proportions and amount of space • Behaviours in space • Staff support
- 13. Love letters
- 14. Reflective logs
- 15. Reflective logs
- 16. The numbers • 32 Reflective logs • 34 Love Letters • 99 Touchstone tours • 108 Static observations • 534 Maps
- 17. Project outputs / outcomes • Inform student responsiveness policy, processes and initiatives • Recommendations for consideration when planning new library building projects • Methodology for future UX projects and activity • Student reflective journals • Cross-UAL and college-specific reports • Responsive changes to current physical layout to library and learning spaces • Embedded culture of responsiveness through UX
- 18. Future planning Each college site has now been asked to think about: • What are our students saying? • What changes can we make now? • What requires further planning?
- 19. LCC actions: way finding
- 20. LCC actions: Silent Zone
- 21. LCC actions
- 22. LCC actions
- 23. Next steps • Student involvement in new build visioning • Observation team involved in UX methods • Future plans for UX activity • Short-term recommendations implemented in all libraries • Long-term recommendations being discussed • All recommendations informing new build planning
- 24. Thank you for listening • Leo Appleton l.m.appleton@arts.ac.uk • Tania Olsson t.olsson@lcc.arts.ac.uk
Editor's Notes
- LA We use all the standard methods of gathering feedback and continue to use LibQUAL, NSS, PTES, PRES, FE Survey, feedback from course and programme boards, SU sabbatical officers. These are all essential for evidence gathering, but we wanted a more dynamic way of measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of our spaces. Using UX techniques allowed us to; observe existing student behaviours within the Libraries and Learning Zones in order to optimise their current usage by responding to the ways in which students currently make physical use of their learning spaces. To encourage existing students to reflect on their current usage of UAL Library Services, in order to better understand how students use them To embed a responsive approach towards developing library services through proactive partnership and discussion through student user groups To inform future Library space planning projects through observation and discussion with students To inform future developments of services and facilities
- TO We already have a history of working in partnership with students. In 2014 students on the BA Spatial Design course at the London College of Communication were set a brief to redesign an area of the library. The idea was to encourage student to think about sustainability around library resources.
- TO In 2014 students on the BA Graphic Design course at Central Saint Martins were given a design brief for a ‘love your library’ campaign. This gave students valuable professional experience in designing an innovative communication strategy, and gave us the chance to collaborate directly with a CSM course and to provide a platform for the student voice. So we already aware of the benefits of partnering with our students
- TO We began to look at the scope of our project, assessing the usage across 6 sites, across all our opening hours. We were aware from the beginning that this is something that would require a dedicated team and looked to our UAL temp agency to supply us with 12 members of staff for the two week project. Our students are very engaged with the library service and it was easy for us to get 12 enthusiastic students to join the project ( also, we paid them). We also needed students to signs up to specific elements of our project; tours, reflective logs and focus groups. Our temp students were great at getting their peers involved, but we did also offer voucher incentives.
- LA UX as a methodology uses a range of methods and techniques which are often described as anthropological and ethnographical in that they encourage objective observation and reflection of user behaviour within a given environment or system. The UAL Library Services UX project used the following methods for gathering intelligence within the overall methodology: Mapping, Observing, Love Letters, Reflective Logs, Touchstone tours, Focus Groups. We ran a half day work shop to set out what was required for the 3 techniques our students would be working on, Mapping, Observing and Touchstone tours. This also gave the student temps an opportunity to try out the techniques.
- LA Observation of student movements within library spaces – this is achieved through placing observers at vantage points throughout the libraries and Learning Zones, and at specific times of the day to observe and map how students move through given learning spaces. This is a popular way to see if signposting works, or whether students use particular preferred routes through the library and of there are particular physical paths of least resistance within spaces. It is also a good method to see where the popular or unpopular destinations are. We specified 3 vantage points and asked the observers to spend 15 minutes in each. The were given different coloured pencils and asked to draw one line per library user. Green was reserved for groups.
- Observation of static spaces – this technique places observers at particular vantage points (i.e. communal areas, silent zones, photocopy areas) to see how the area or space is naturally used. This achieves some of the objectives of the space observations, but also allows the observer to see which natural behaviours occur within given areas. For static observations students were asked to look at how what was happening in a specific space and to note their observations under the headings, setting / acts / activities/ actions / actors / space / objects / time / goals / emotions.
- We offered a £10 voucher incentive for students to take part in the touchstone tours.
- LA Touchstone tours involve walking around the Library or Learning Zone with the user being observed in order to question and discuss the user’s regular experience of the space. This allows for individuals to present their subjective views. Obtaining a critical mass of these within a given learning space can help to establish well used and underused areas of the space as well as common likes and dislikes. It is also a useful channel for getting suggestions for service improvements from users.
- TO Focus groups are a useful method for generating deep and reflective discussion with library users about a given topic or theme. The UX project used this method in each of the libraries and a focus group with up to 8 participants in each was conducted during the second phase of the project. The 12 observers were convened for an initial focus group, which was designed to illicit feedback about the observational techniques (i.e. for future UX activity) and also to generate some discussion about their observations of student use and behaviour in and around the library and Learning Zone space. Post-its etc and general discussion. The focus group allowed the project team an insight into the key themes which had emerged from the observations and these themes formed the basis of the subsequent focus group discussions. Users of all libraries were invited to take part in a library specific focus group and all were successfully subscribed to.
- TO Love letters was a technique that we used as part of the focus groups. Participants are invited to write either a love letter or a break up letter to the library. It was a great way to get them to start thinking about the space before starting to focus group discussion.
- TO All the focus group participants were subsequently invited to keep a reflective journal of their learning and studying behaviour over a three week period in June and July 2015. Reflective logs allow the participants to capture their different behaviours and preferences, and each was asked to particularly consider what made a learning space conducive to their studying, with a focus on the learning spaces provided in the libraries and Learning Zones.
- TO Our students were encouraged to include photographs and drawings in their logs.
- LA There was a lot of data to work through so we engaged with our students again to
- LA The results and findings of the UX project have been broken down and reported back at a local level. Each of the six college libraries (and CSM Learning Zone) have received a report detailing key themes and suggested short and long term recommendations for service and space improvements. Each of these reports also includes comprehensive sets of evidence generated through the various phases of the UX project.
- TO – 5 mins to go Each college has been asked to look at implementing the recommendations from the report. As part of this we needed the sites to think about what our students are telling us, what changes can we make now and what changes can we make for the future. UX gave me lots of qualities information to consider. Actions were also informed by feedback already gathered in past surveys. Being part of the project team gave me an advantage over my peers as I received the information as it was being gathered. I also had an overview of feedback across colleges which meant I could consider what all our participants were saying and relate that to LCC.
- TO Lots of individual voices and some conflicting thoughts and suggestions but there were key themes. Common across all LS spaces people not sure what they could / should do where. LCC left Silent Zone old signage – right new banner explaining what can do where. Enclosed Silent study area tucked to the back of the space, so not known / used by some students. Incorporated into library tours for new students, so now rather than pointing towards enclosed silent study, up the stairs towards group study we take them there. Use of enclosed silent study has increased & we have reviewed booking of group study rooms. Students also wanted rules & us to enforce them – hence drinking, no eating. New UAL LS branding so all signage reviewed before produced new signs. Future planning: we will be looking at maps for all LS spaces – could be added to college aps. With LCC in terms of space our Silent Zone emerged as needing the most work. Not surprising - Learning Zone refurbished 4 years ago. Students did mention broken tables but we already had that in hand. SZ space is the more traditional lib space - stacks, lib collection / study tables & chairs, are of computers & scanners.
- Students talked about SZ being drab , dark, discussion re colour - some wanted more, others might find that distracting. Mostly it was about the light - common theme in all of the search and sites. Students suggested mixing up space, making it less intimidating. Move of journals to the front of the space to make space more welcoming adding new books and comfy furniture to that space to give it a bit of colour too. Although students talked about not knowing what to do where they also said they didn’t want to be told what to do & for the furniture to do the talking – comfy chairs back to back, study tables separate Already planned some of this – tables - we planned to change all of them as they were old & wooden. We had thought about grey tables, but changed to white to make it brighter. Validated our choices. The moves meant we could add in a few more study spaces to address the fact that people wanted more of them. We plan to add even more tables as there is now more space. We had not thought about chairs but our observers said how people said they were uncomfortable. this was news as we don't sit on them. Once we did it was obvious they were, so we changed all of them including operator chairs - lucky I found out about to before the end of the budget year when I had money left. Bean bags less formal - very well used.
- Clear message student want a bit of everything depending on what they are doing – making their own spaces – bean bags end up in quiet corners
- New Special Collections cabinets – cream – see collections inside. Students like our exhibition spaces. Validated plans.
- LA