Seating Patterns and Improvements in a Small College Library

“Good Fences Make Good Neighbors”: Territorial Dividers Increase User Satisfaction and Efficiency in Library Study Spaces

“…Although students seem to like studying in an area bounded by partitions, our results indicate that they prefer to sit at tables with partitions lower than those of carrels, in congruence with previous studies (e.g., Eastman & Harper, 1971;Loder, 2000;Webb et al, 2008;Young, 2003). It could be argued that although there seems to be a need for territorial markers on work surfaces, students may find carrels restrictive because while studying, they psychologically seem to enjoy the presence of others.…”

“…Regarding their preferences for different seating arrangements, respondents rated the chair-table arrangement as being more suitable for studying (M = 3.55, SD = .94) than the study carrel alternative, which was considered "neither suitable nor unsuitable" (M = 3.00, SD = 1.21; t(77) = 3.30, p b .001). That the chair-table arrangement was preferred to the study carrel arrangement is in congruence with the findings referred to earlier (e.g., Bennett et al, 2005;Eastman & Harper, 1971;Loder, 2000;Webb et al, 2008;;Xia, 2005;Young, 2003). The armchair-coffee table arrangement, which was used as a buffer in the table drawings was rated as "somewhat unsuitable" (M = 2.79, SD = 1.13).…”

“…Our pilot observations and the results of the first study indicated that students seemed to prefer to sit by themselves at tables in academic libraries though the tables had multiple seats available. When choosing to sit at a table already occupied by one person, students seemed to prefer to sit diagonally in relation to (rather than next to or across from) another user; and when provided with some alternative seating spaces (in the form of drawings), they seemed likely to prefer tables with welldefined territorial markers and that provided more privacy, in congruence with the related studies referred to early in the paper (e.g., Bennett et al, 2005;Gal et al, 1986;Holder & Lange, 2014;Kilic & Hasirci, 2011;Loder, 2000;Webb et al, 2008;Xia, 2005;Young, 2003). Providing privacy may help control crowding, which was found to be one of the five most important space attributes, along with the amount of space, comfort, noise level and cleanliness of library study areas (Cha & Kim, 2015).…”

“…For example, Gal et al (1986) have found that students only sit next to others at a table when the tables have high partitions; otherwise they prefer to take only the diagonal seats. Other studies have suggested that students seem to prefer to sit at tables as opposed to carrels (Bennett et al, 2005;Eastman & Harper, 1971;Loder, 2000;Webb et al, 2008;Young, 2003;Xia, 2005), which were described by one student as "They box you in" (Bennett et al, 2005, p. 17). Still, in other studies, carrels and/or carrel areas have been found to be popular (Vaska, Chan, & Powelson, 2009), but less so when alternatives are provided (Applegate, 2009), and seem to be preferred under certain conditions, for example, being near a window, in a well-lit area or having low partitions (Applegate, 2009;Kilic & Hasirci, 2011;Loder, 2000;Shill & Tonner, 2004;Vaska et al, 2009;Young, 1993).…”

Heat Map Visualizations of Seating Patterns in an Academic Library

“…They can also provide insight into specific behaviors. For example, students entering a library room will seat themselves away from other students (Fishman & Walitt, 1972); students require a spaces ranging from carrels for quiet study to tables and collaborative spaces to study with other students (Loder, 2008(Loder, , 2010; and seating preference is shaped by users' mental models of a library and their knowledge of how to move within a library in order to find preferred environments (c.f. Mandel, 2010;Van Beynen, 2010).…”