Service Excellence UX Study

In May 2016, the UX Team conducted research to understand student and faculty experiences with library services.

Research Questions

• How are students and faculty interacting with the library?
• Can students and faculty easily access resources
• Do students and faculty know who to contact at the library to get help?

Methods

• Semi-structured interviews with 12 faculty members and 10 students

What did we Learn?

• Undergraduate students primarily use the library for study space
• Faculty primarily use the library to access our collections and course reserves
• Most users are unaware of the library's suite of services
• Most users do not know who to contact at the library
• Faculty who have established a personal relationship with a library staff member rely on that relationship for recurring support and information about the library. Other faculty members reported a lack of awareness of the available resources and services

Recommendations

Students recommended:

• Install more electrical outlets
• Provide a workshop to assist them in finding materials
• Extend library hours to 24 hour service
• Make e-books more user friendly
• Change the closing alarm to be less intrusive

Faculty recommended:

• Expand systematic review and statistical support offerings
• Increase collaboration with faculty to enhance students’ research skills
• Update the website so that is is more targeted towards faculty
• Discontinue purchasing e-books  
• Provide more targeted communication to faculty