History - uol-library/spacefinder-ui GitHub Wiki

Problem Statement

Students do not always find the right study spaces to suit their diverse needs. The University of Leeds has a multitude of study spaces but no real means (beyond existing websites) of promoting them. Our students second biggest challenge on campus is 'the ease of finding suitable study space', second after 'Ensuring suitable study/workspace is readily available' (based on Library Survey 2021/22).

Initial research at Cambridge

One of the main findings of research carried out at Cambridge before the original application was launched found that students have a wide variety of preferences in terms of the spaces in which they choose to work. Common choices included their accommodation and libraries, however there were a significant number of students who were looking to work in alternative spaces. Students who chiefly worked in libraries did so because they felt that they were more focused and effective in such an environment and encountered fewer distractions. They also found that libraries offered a valuable change of setting that helped them to differentiate their study activities from the rest of their lives. For some students going to a library was not unlike the routine of going to work in an office each day.

Traditional library environments were not found to be conducive for studying for everyone. Students who preferred to study in their rooms valued the familiarity, quiet and convenience that went along with this, and appreciated the ability to be able to stop for breaks for hot drinks and to eat their own food. These students primarily used libraries to collect books and journals, and occasionally to study for short periods of time between lectures. Many students found that neither their accommodation nor libraries were conducive to study. These students were looking for quiet spaces that had an inherently different feel to libraries, and therefore often ended up working in common rooms or other quiet areas. Students throughout the research were also actively looking for group working spaces in which they could talk and collaborate with others. On many occasions, these types of study sessions ended up being held in local cafés, or rooms in colleges.

Spacefinder development at Cambridge

The idea behind Spacefinder is that an application can show students exactly where spaces are relative to their current location in the University, and also detail their attributes and their suitability for different study activities and preferences. The proposed benefits of Spacefinder are:

  • Promote the richness and choice of working environments available to them in university libraries.
  • Help to communicate that different study spaces exist in libraries, and therefore maximise their usage.
  • Allow users to book collaborative working spaces.

Spacefinder project outcomes at Cambridge

Some key learning outcomes are as follows:

  • Library services/products that recognise a wider landscape of learning and experience extending beyond the University’s physical buildings are very highly valued.
  • Minimum viable products offer incredibly quick buy-in without the cost of lengthy development time.
  • Students have very individual needs when it comes to workspaces, and we need to ensure that our services recognise this and provide a choice of environments. Through Spacefinder we met this need by offering a search platform that actively took different preferences and circumstances into account.
  • Libraries offering an innovative product can transform expectations and perspectives on the University’s values and approaches, and therefore help us build new relationships.

Perhaps more significant than any of the above is the fact that they did not arrive at Spacefinder by gathering information on professed user need, but through ethnographic research into user behaviour. Only by exploring and researching behaviour and experience can we develop products and services that are truly valuable to our users. Students would never have told us that they needed a space finding tool, but this project clearly proved that they did.

Development points identified for improving the product (2021)

  • Accessibility: functionality to add alt-text to images, at the point of upload and/or retrospectively
  • Accessibility: work needed on colour and contrast
  • User interface options: filter to search for spaces 'Open now', 'Open before 9am', 'Open after 7pm'. 'Open on Sundays', etc./similar
  • The opening hours parameters search option is the request we've had most frequently from users (students) since launch.
  • 'Use my location' doesn't work for on iphone.
  • A small point on the UI is that the search option doesn't really function as a search. It should be able to do a text search because of the search icon, but it functions more as a filter.
  • Study space availability : live capacity data
  • Moving the product into an app format