This report presents data from 53 academic libraries about their overall capital spending plans. In particular, it looks at how they plan to alter or redevelop their academic library spaces, change space allocations and characteristics such as seating space, collection space, classroom space, group study spaces, information commons, makerspaces, wellness spaces, multimedia centers, library cafes and much more.
The study also looks at plans for energy savings, and rehabs of heating and air conditioning units for the library.
In addition, the report looks at efforts to track the movement of patrons in the library, and how libraries predict usage levels for various library spaces and services, including efforts to track foot traffic with sensors, IP or WIFI access by library location, and resources use by type of information vehicle.
Just a few of this comprehensive 113-page report’s findings are that:
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54.72% of survey participants were using tracking sensors in their library
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25% of academic libraries at institutions with more than 8,000 students FTE expect to save substantial amounts of floor space over the next few years by decreasing space devoted to print collections.
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Close to 19% of survey participants planned to increase the amount of space devoted to Makerspaces/3D printing.
Data in the report is reported in the aggregate for the entire sample and broke out by many institutional criteria such as enrollment size, tuition level, Carnegie class and other variables.