A class project by library technician students is seeking to find out how libraries should be used in the future.
“So far the project is going well,” said Stephanie Latour, a second-year student in the program.
The project, part of the program, has been continuing for a month.
“We are almost done with the survey, collecting results and creating presentations that would be useful for the library. With this information, we will be able to modernize the library for students and faculties,” she added.
There are rules to follow in creating the survey and all the different ideas each group brings would be helpful to the library.
The students used different techniques for the survey. Some groups were handing out questionnaires by hand to make sure that people actually do the survey while others sent links to the various faculties in order to get students to participate.
“We are looking at what exactly students want, based on the general population,” said Emily Tousaw-Gurnsey, another student in the program.
“We are collecting information from other schools like the University of Ottawa on what renovations they have done in their library.”
When all the surveys are completed, they would come up with a database of information, which they will present to the librarian at Algonquin.
The program coordinator of the library and technician program, Helena Merriam, said that the reasons behind this survey is to help Algonquin’s library re-imagine its purpose.
“Libraries are evolving, or continue to evolve but what can be done here to improve users services?” asked Merriam.
The purpose of the survey is to get students to develop a working plan with an external plan, which is the library.
Some of the survey questions are targeting what students want to see if the library was able to change, or what are they looking for in terms of space and resources?
“We are trying to get students to be creative and to think big,” said Merriam.
The project is expected to be completed by the end of the semester.