Using Evidence-Based Library Space Planning for Long-Term Student Success

Abstract

Recent ethnographic research of physical academic library spaces demonstrates that students often utilise these spaces quite differently than the library’s staff may have originally intended. Student feedback in library remodelling efforts improves design outcomes and helps to foster a sense of student engagement with the larger academic community. This article reports the results of a library building space study at the William Allen White Library building, Emporia State University. The study had three objectives: 1) To learn more about the present utilisation of the library building by students in terms of its physical space; 2) To discover how students’ library space preferences for individual and group study, recreation, cultural programmes/events, and other aspects of academic life are influenced by the current library building space; and 3) To provide qualitative and quantitative evidence from students for more informed decisions about future library building projects.