Sustainable space assessment: From data collection to visualization and decision-making

Purpose:Libraries need a tool for understanding observational space count data that’s as flexible as the spaces they’re trying to assess. Tabular results and interactive maps can provide a detailed window into library... [ view full abstract ]

Purpose:

Libraries need a tool for understanding observational space count data that’s as flexible as the spaces they’re trying to assess. Tabular results and interactive maps can provide a detailed window into library space at one point in time, but what happens when changes are made to the area in response to the assessment results? This short talk draws on examples from libraries at the University of Washington to compare techniques for tracking and comparing changes over time. 

Design, methodology or approach:

At Foster Business Library, a focus on reconfiguring one particular space led to detailed interactive maps that could be manually compared, while at the Bothell Campus Library, a focus on changes to seating capacity and types of seating led to a dashboard that featured changes over time and projections into the future over more detailed results about the present configuration.

Findings and Conclusions:

Based on these two case studies, the talk will provide attendees with a model for setting up sustainable, continuous assessment that adapts to changes to the space at the data collection point and at the point of visualization and analysis. The presentation will also highlight ways to interpret and query results to reveal insights into space usage. Attendees will learn about options for effectively visualizing space data as the spaces themselves change over time.