Redesigning Spaces for Effective Learning: Challenges Facing Riyad Nassar Library in Meeting Users' Perceptions and Expectations

ABSTRACT

In 2017, the Riyad Nassar Library of the Lebanese American University – Beirut, Lebanon – conducted a student survey as part of its assessment plan to evaluate all functions offered to its stakeholders including space design. The results of said survey are discussed in this paper to ensure if the executed redesign of the library space, carried out during the last 5 years, helped in meeting students' perceptions and expectations. The authors will discuss the methods used to assess space change such as survey, behavioral observation and statistics as well as the challenges faced by the library during this process.

KEYWORDS:

• academic libraries
• learning spaces
• library design
• study spaces
• surveys
• user perceptions and expectations

Notes

1 Count done 3 times per day (at 10:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 03:00 pm.)

2 Flow was counted for one week while behavioral observation for two weeks which makes the data analysis not adequate for the entire BO period.