Photo gallery:

http://flic.kr/ps/2rfYv3

Preliminary Findings:

Furniture & spaces:

• variety and clear zoning are key
• don't be afraid to pick the wrong thing
• let students dictate what a space will be - don't try to set the vision for the space on your own
• be willing to let things evolve
• saw a lot of graduate commons or study areas that were enclosed
• faculty lounge/commons
• more whiteboards!!
• lockers all sizes; no key needed - 1st come, 1st served
• color used for way-finding and for defining certain spaces or floors
• changing needs of spaces based on time of day
• research commons space - don't need to build a physical space, showcase the ongoing work that students are doing throughout their careers in the library; this provides ownership and engages other students and faculty
• Presentation rooms, group rooms, very few locations with individual study rooms(!) - most had individual study areas
• Variety of group room sizes - some were built for 4,6, or 8 and some were more like conference rooms that could hold 15-20
• Open group study spaces as well as study space behind walls 

Service Point Combination:

• circ combined with tech desk/ILL/Info
• reference combined with tech desk
• roving reference
• ask us desk - circ, tech, reference
• traditional circ; reference moves to research services; tech equipment and service desk on a completely different floorcombining too many services made staff feel unhelpful and created a back log of patrons
• express check-out area in addition to a circ desk that combined equipment and traditional circ
• circ and reference combined - equipment available for loan at another desk
• ask us touch screen in every room
• off-site tech assistance - creating a culture where immediate assistance is not available
• reference combined with student advising and teaching basic library lit classes
• heavy use of students - real push for grad students - many put up decent pay for grads with more expectations
• GA Tech information associate position - made it voluntary for staff to migrate into this role but also offered the new position with a pay raise
• many reference desk areas seemed to be consultation areas

User studies/Assessment:

• test spaces in the library for furniture - all universities had this to varying degrees
• engage your student advisory committee
• single out students for the advisory committee prior to the start of their college career (GA Tech model: have them make 4 yr commitment with ask from respected admission/scholarship person and dean)
• team effort to get the feedback
• engage faculty advisory
• set up user study with faculty to gain buy-in - Link model of testing the space with certain faculty and then communicating those results with everyone (also worked with their equivalent of CTE fellows)
• find non-threatening arenas to gather information - GaTech radio show 
• take comments to dept head meeting then post online the responses
• GA Tech implementing their own version of Counting Opinions for continuous feedback

Multi-Media:

• separate room at all locations
• many of these rooms had a student run help desk - relied heavily on students for software support
• 15-20 computers (variety of macs and pcs) all with high quality headphones, decent work space, and necessary software
• 1 room dedicated to collaborative multimedia projects - Duke & NCSU
• 1 sound proof room - Duke only
• Music Rooms - NSCU only

Outreach/PR/Events:

• Need for an outreach strategy - some level of order for connections
• need many FT people who solely do the above to help shape and make the space all that it should be

Long Range Planning:

• Vision statement for space both immediate and long term
• understand that good customer service doesn't always mean being able to fix/correct/provide an answer for someone
• don't underestimate the student - they are adults, let's assume they can handle policing each other/bring their own laptops/respect one another/understand consequences 
• understand what story you are trying to tell with a space. what do you want the space(s) to do? communicate that to architect and they will handle details
• spaces as ecosystem - once you make changes in one place that will affect behavior in other spaces
• New additions require new staffing patterns (redefinition of core competencies; dedicated positions rather than one person doing simultaneous things)
• In design process, have all necessary stakeholders involved at beginning of process (e.g. Tech people involved before integrators come in)
• Design for flexibility (post and beam construction, mobility, track systems, dropped ceilings, wire hangers)
• Use cases and case studies and room and user typologies are good tools for design process.

Tips:

• whatever space you renovate, the space next to it will look bad - if we can, modify a little on all floors or at least be aware of that divide
• lcd display of classes - no need to have the classes after the first 2-3 weeks of classes
• all spaces had a computer availability screen
• student assistant help site - blog for student workers to share their tips and tricks
• student schedule available for public to see - added info on who had expertise with what
• line needs to drawn and understood by all on what the library provides and what the library provides training for

Bissett Renovation Survey Results Summary:

Quick note on Bissett renovation survey so far: 44 responses so far and mostly positive. Of those who used Bissett before, range of satisfaction unsatisfied 2, somewhat unsatisfied 4, neutral 14, somewhat satisfied/sat 10, v sat. 7). After renovation nearly all respondents v satisfied 31, (somewhat) satisfied 7, neutral 2.

For individual components most v satisfied or (somewhat) satisfied. Some issues with noise and climate control still and just wanting more booths/tables or wanting to move or have more people at them (few people mentioned). Also ottomans and beanbag chairs (seems to be a love/hate divide; two person said possibly not conducive to studying and couple love them). Single issue responses on iPhone charger, better keyboards, LCD screen too far away, need for Mac adapters (we have them but at circ desk), desire for plants. Overall though overwhelmingly positive response

Sample Vision Statements:

Hunt Library - HuntLibrary-vision.pdf

Ga Tech Clough Commons - clough_brochure.pdf - gives you a good sense of their guiding principles

Emory University - http://web.library.emory.edu/about/mission

Duke's Visioning Workshop - DukeLibrariesVisioningSynthesisfinal.pdf

Duke - DukeResearchCommonsFinalReport.pdf