Participatory Design in Redesigning an Academic Library: Capturing Users’ Work through Structured Observations

Abstract

This poster session focuses on one of the three sets of participatory design activities undertaken in the fall 2011 by a library-led project team to build an informational basis for a total redesign of McKeldin Library, the central library serving the University of Maryland, College Park. Graduate classes in anthropology and architecture also provided part of the information basis, all of which are now with an Architecture Studio to provide actual designs for a reprogrammed library. This poster session will present the data, findings and findings’ significance for the structured observation activity, to get a picture of how McKeldin Library is being used now.