User Driven Design: Using Ethnographic Techniques to Plan Student Study Space

Provided with an opportunity to design a new study space for students during a library renovation, librarians and information technologists at Wesleyan University, a small residential campus, teamed up to learn ethnographic techniques and apply them by incorporating student input into the new space, rather than making decisions based on traditional methods. Using this approach produced enlightening information about students' differing behaviors and use of campus space that the team used extensively in planning the new design.