Considerations for creating library learning spaces within a hierarchy of learning space attributes

Abstract

University libraries struggle to keep up with rapidly changing technology and the associated change in teaching strategy. Most administrators and librarians are often not trained to assess space needs and struggle to reassign library spaces for non-traditional library use. As such, they often embark on expensive and time-consuming feasibility studies, using (typically) hard-earned monies to complete the research or to pilot a new space. What academic research library administrators and staff lack is guidance for discovering and planning needed renovations and improvements in aging library facilities. The purpose of this research project was to develop a set of considerations that can be used by library staff to self-analyze existing academic library spaces and identify areas that can be effectively improved for student benefit. The end result is a series of hierarchical self-analysis space considerations with a structured framework based on Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The results of this research use evidence-based design to facilitate important conversations, and provide an organized quick reference checklist of various considerations for library administrators and facility managers as they navigate the world of twenty-first century pedagogy and student learning.