Service Excellence UX Study

Today's Hours: 8am - 10pm - All service hours

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
The library is committed to ensuring that members of our user community with disabilities have equal access to our services and resources and that their dignity and independence is always respected. If you encounter a barrier and/or need an alternate format, please fill out our Library Print and Multimedia Alternate-Format Request Form. Contact us if you’d like to provide feedback: lib.a11y@uoguelph.ca