Working Within The System And Listening To Users: Faculty And Students Define Library Space And Service Needs

The redesign of the first floor of the Evansdale Library at West Virginia University is now on track. An interior designer from the university has been assigned and completion is expected by fall 2009. However, we wanted to know what our students and faculty had in mind for our space. We will have wasted much time and energy if we do not know what the users want and will use. We collected data from an online survey and conducted a series of focus groups in the fall with undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. This was the first time we had the time, expertise, and administrator support to collect and use data from students and faculty to recreate space in the library. The redesign of the space should be more functional and pleasing to the users since their needs were considered and will be incorporated where possible.