A Study of Seat Choice in Public Library Study Room: A Case Study of National Library of Public Information
Date Issued
2014
Date
2014
Author(s)
Kuo, Fang-Tzu
Abstract
The study room of public library is highly required by readers in Taiwan, so its’ planning and management should be well considered. In terms of planning, libraries generally take the seating capacity of study room, aisle space between tables, seating space, and types of tables, etc into considerations. In management aspects, large-scale libraries usually use seat management system to assist librarians managing seat assignment. However, researchers found that readers would prefer different seats in response to environmental, social, and personal factors, and this interaction between human and environment was little regarded. These findings revealed that if libraries do not take readers’ seating preference into consideration, the study environment and seat management system will be difficult to meet readers’ expectations. In order to find a seat management system that meets readers’ needs and to improve study environment, a survey investigation was made in the study room of National Library of Public Information. The purpose was to explore the reader-preferring seats and their features, examine which kind of seats were preferred, analyze whether seat preferences vary from different readers, and investigate the feeling of readers toward study room. It was found that popular seats, which were in the corner or beside French windows, were quiet, less readers moving around and with high privacy. The features of preferred seats corresponded to what readers emphasized. In addition, the seats readers preferred were in the inner region, back of the room, facing the entrance, and end seats beside wall. Readers with distinct backgrounds such as gender, age, occupation, and education had consistent seat preference. Also, what should be improved with highest priority was reduce the distractions of readers moving around. Based on these results, there are some suggestions for libraries on planning seat management system and improving the study environment of study room.
Subjects
public library
study room
seat choice
seating preference
seat management system
Type
thesis
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