Before all the freshers arrive and the new term gets into full swing, we have taken a moment to stand still and reflect on life in your library this past academic year.
Through a series of observations and data collection exercises throughout 2013-2014 we have been able to see what has been keeping you all busy in our spaces. By analysing data like this we can learn from your experiences and plan how we can best continue to support you on your journey.
So what does the data tell us?
Despite the temptation of all that Christmas shopping and mulled wine, Monday 9th December 2013 was the busiest day in the library with a whopping 4,069 visitors on that day alone!
For all you romantics out there, the library was also the go-to place on Valentines day. The 14th February 2014 was the busiest day for book issues. #truestory #andtheysayromanceisdead
We can see that you love coming to ask us questions on Mondays between midday and 1pm (especially in March!) and if you can’t chat to us in person, telephone is still your preferred alternative mode of contact.
So what has been keeping you busy in our spaces?
Well firstly we can see that you like to use technology in our learning spaces and that the ground floor social learning space is particularly popular.
We can also see that despite the growth in electronic material, many of you still like to study with physical text books with nearly 40% of you working this way.
We know lots of you like to study at home but the library is still very popular, with visitors increasing by nearly 5%. Many of you are also night owls with visitors to the library between 9pm and midnight increasing by over 30%!
There’s no denying that we do love a stat here at Learning Services, but we’re also interested in your individual learning journeys and in 2013-2014 we undertook a series of student diary mapping exercises which helped us add extra layers to the data.
We would love to hear your individual stories about how you use our learning spaces this coming academic year. If you would like to get involved in the next round of student diary mapping, or want to give us any feedback at all about library faciltities please do get in touch: [email protected]
Helen Jamieson, Customer Services Manager
