Using Google Forms to track library space usage

ABSTRACT

This article is a response to the excellent “Using Mobile Technology to Observe Student Study Behaviors and Track Library Space Usage” by Susan Thompson. Thompson reviews the literature regarding user counts on mobile devices and describes the California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) Library's evaluation of SUMA, Counter+, and CloudOn. After trialing these mobile technologies, CSUSM selected CloudOn. At New York University Abu Dhabi, we use Google Forms to conduct user counts on an iPad and Google Sheets to evaluate these data. We find that Google Forms are easy to set up, modify as necessary, and present the data in easy-to-manipulate spreadsheets.

KEYWORDS:

• Library building use
• library space assessment
• mobile technology
• observation methodology
• space usage
• tablets