Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
The staff at Texas A&M University’s Evans Library recently got some ideas for an upcoming first-floor renovation from students in the Social and Behavioral Factors in Design class at the College of Architecture.
The 71 students in the class, led by Xuemei Zhu, assistant professor of architecture, studied effects of the library’s design on users and its staff and presented their findings on posters that were exhibited in the library March 10-13.
The students’ research yielded a wide range of results.
Anthony Legamaro and Ivan Trevizo hypothesized that users would prefer to sit in desks or tables nearer the windows at the library’s main reading area on the first floor to take advantage of the natural light and scenery.
Their observations supported this assumption, but they also found that the seating occupancy in an area defined as “the front window section” was higher than that directly along the windows.
“The reason for this may be due to inadequate usable workspace or window distractions,” they reported.
Amy Kircher and Christina French observed student use of study areas on the library’s third floor, noting the amount of time students stayed in cubicles, at desks located at windows, in the middle of rows of desks, and in aisles.
They found the window desk and middle desk areas were efficient and highly desired by students, whereas the isle desk and cubicle zones, were less efficient and therefore used less frequently.
They said their findings could be used to improve the third floor study area by creating a new furniture layout and removing excess cubicles.
Wondering if noise in the library affected study time, Lauren Hensley and Timothy Withers recorded the arrival and departure times of students on the library’s first floor and used a decibel meter to measure the level of sound within the observation area.
“Our findings reinforced there is a direct correlation between the intensity and unpredictability of noise in a study area and the likelihood that an occupant will be distracted,” they reported. “High traffic areas in libraries may benefit from the introduction of wide-band frequency white noise to mask more disturbing noises.”
Brandon Novy and Kyle Trepagnier looked at library visitors’ perceptions of personal space and how they established a “territory” on Evans’ first floor.
From observations and a questionnaire, the students concluded that the majority of library patrons utilize a similar sized “bubble,” a term defining as a user’s personal space.
“It was also determined that people would rather sit away from a walkway, since we noticed that those tables are usually filled up last,” they said.
Ronnie Hernandez and Ricardo Solar-Lezama examined the variance in noise levels within a quiet study area adjacent to a stairwell on the fifth floor of the Evans library annex.
Using a decibel meter to monitor noise between 10 p.m. and midnight, a peak occupancy time according to library staffers, they found noise levels ranging from quiet to that of freeway traffic heard at a distance of 50 feet.
“By simply adding porous, sound absorbing materials such as carpet to the top and bottom of the metal staircase, the noise could be noticeably reduced,” they reported. “Clearly, the shape and materials used is the main cause for the drastic decibel levels recorded,” they said.
“I greatly enjoyed interacting with students and viewing their posters on the design and performance of the Evans Library,” said Colleen Cook, dean of Texas A&M University libraries.
- May 4th 2009 -
