BY Meg Mcmahon

The Context

In the Fall of 2023, Tozzer Library, Harvard's Library for Anthropology, started the thought process around a refresh for their lower level. The Librarian for Tozzer Library, Susan Gilman, and the Librarian for American Indigenous Studies, Julie Fiveash, reached out to the URC and asked for a meeting to chat about user research for this project. 

The Methods

Our initial meeting discussed the audiences currently using Tozzer Library: students, faculty, and staff. From the audience discussion, we decided on the weight and kinds of feedback Susan and Julie would like from each audience. For the student audience, we had three methods: a Tiny Cafe, touchstone tours, and a focus group for Indigenous students at Harvard. For faculty and staff, we used a short survey. 

Tiny Cafe

A Tiny Cafe is a research method where participants complete small usability questions in 5-10 minutes in person. The incentive for this labor is cafe snacks and beverages, hence the name Tiny Cafe. I learned about this method from the NC State University Libraries, though it has a long history of being used in libraries. 

We held the Tiny Cafe in Tozzer Library and promoted it to the Anthropology department, to target our desired audience. At the cafe, we had dot voting opportunities and open questions for students. Dot voting is a surveying method where each participant is given 2-3 stickers (dots) and asked to vote for their preferences to a question. These questions were informed by our goal to understand student needs regarding space, ambiance, and furniture. We had more than 30 graduate and undergraduate Anthropology students complete our Tiny Cafe. 

Touchstone Tours

A touchstone tour is a research method where the participant takes the researcher through the space and explains their thoughts and feelings about the space. We recruited from the Tiny Cafe for this part of the study. Thankfully we had 13 students participate. Snowball recruiting worked well, especially because the incentive was a Harvard Library umbrella (an incentive students seem to love).

I had each student walk through Tozzer’s lower level with me while recording their comments on the space. This is the first time I conducted a touchstone tour and I think that it is an extremely rich form of data collection. Students also seemed to enjoy this method, which makes me more interested in conducting it in the future. 

Focus Group 

In the meeting with Julie and Susan, we talked about how important it was to create a space for the Indigenous community’s feedback on Tozzer Library. To create an intentional space we decided to have a focus group only for Harvard’s Indigenous community. We promoted this focus group with the Harvard University Native American Program. 

Only one student signed up for the focus group, so it turned into more of an interview. Regardless, the feedback often matched what we had found in the touchstone tours and the Tiny Cafe. 

Survey 

A survey was chosen for faculty and staff because it was the research method that was the most flexible in location and time of completion. The survey included questions similar to those found in the Tiny Cafe, regarding space, ambiance, and furniture.

The Results

Participants envision Tozzer’s lower level as a quiet study space for groups or individuals

Results from all methods concluded that participants see Tozzer’s lower level as a quiet space for study. Their preference for furniture backs this up, with individual study pods or nooks receiving the most votes. Furthermore, the top three space types they would like to see in Tozzer Library are Individual Study Space, Group Study Space, and Quiet Space. 

Students desire space sectioning and signage 

Students in the walk-through noted that at times it was hard to know where designated spaces were in Tozzer's lower level. 

The entrance to Tozzer’s lower level is imposing  

Students upon entering the Tozzer stairs to the lower level feel like they are going the wrong way to this location. A student put this experience this way: 

“I think for first-time people and even for people who frequent the space, the staircases make it feel like you're in the wrong area of the building. Since there's no signage and it's not super easy to see when you first come in, especially from the top floor.”

Furthermore, students feel like the wall of books is imposing when walking to the lower-level study area. One student said: 

“I think [the stacks] just create a block of wall as soon as you enter. So you don't know where you're going anymore. It throws you off.”

Students expressed that carrels and chairs could be updated 

Throughout the tours, students expressed interest in roller chairs for the carpet. Also, students expressed their interest in the carrels to be updated to more modern designs, without file cabinets. 

The Conclusion

The methods used to find recommendations for Tozzer were rich and did help us get our desired participants. These are the recommendations we concluded from the research: 

• Create clear zones in Tozzer. For example, if the back right corner by the elevator is an individual study space, the furniture should be for individual study and signage should be used to indicate that. 
• Another consideration is to have space broken out by level, where the lower level is individual study, and the upper level is group study. 
• Add more signage in the stairwell to help patrons know they are going the right way to the lower level. 
• Create an open space at the entrance of the lower level, where patrons can see the study space from the entrance of the lower level. 
• Provide study carrels that allow students to easily use the whole table. 

Overall, I was very happy with both the Tiny Cafe and touchstone tours as ways to help with space-related research questions for a library. If I were to do it again, I would see if there were more ways we could promote the event to the Anthropology department.