Attempting Elegance

It’s the first week of the semester.  As I noted on Twitter (and therefore FriendFeed) yesterday, one of the recurring side effects of that is that the emergency exit alarms go off all the time.

See, we have a structural problem:  The lobby of Crumb Library was designed to have four entrances.  Four sets of doors, two on each side of the lobby.  In order to not need four sets of security gates, we have permanently closed off one set, replacing them with a glass wall, and a second set is an emergency exit.  Two sets of doors remain, one on the east and one on the west side of the lobby.  (We’re a popular cut-through across the Quad for just this reason, but it does provide steady traffic for the Minerva’s Cafe, which sits just off the lobby by the traffic pattern.)

It’s the emergency set that are the problem.

They are always a problem.

Those of us who have watched them be a problem are baffled by it.

I mean… really.  Yes, there is a giant lit EXIT sign.  I know.  It’s required by law.  It makes people think this is the way out of the building.  Yes, it looks just like the doors that people normally come and go through, but, well, that’s because it is, and was designed that way.

There are also three foot-wide STOP signs on the doors, at eye level, in red, octagonal in shape… all of the traditional STOP indicators.

And yet people walk on through.

Daily.

So we end up putting up temporary signs for the first part of the semester, in a vain attempt to steer students away until they learn.

People have suggested that we lock the doors.  Can’t do that; Emergency Exit.

People have suggested we take down the EXIT sign.  Can’t do that; Emergency Exit.

People have suggested we use velvet rope to block it off.  Can’t do that; Emergency Exit.

People have suggested clearer signage.  We’re at a loss as to what would be clearer than what we have.

Mostly, I think the problem lies in two things:  One, most people don’t read ANY signs, even good ones.  And Two, lots and lots of our users leave the library talking on their phone or chatting with friends.  And they’re not paying attention to anything but what they themselves are doing in that moment.

Makes you fear for the ones talking and texting while they drive, doesn’t it?

So I guess this is all just to say that I want to make the best possible library experience for our users… but sometimes I think the users are just gonna have to pay attention to their world.  There’s only so much I can do for them.

Of course, any brilliant ideas on how to solve this problem are totally welcome.  I’m tired of listening to the alarm go off!

ETA: You can all stop suggesting we buy new gates and open the doors. That is not a practical option. Try again!

My campus bought digital signs for implementation across our faciities, as part of the increased effort to ensure that we’re all prepared in case of emergency.  Each campus facility can program their own signs for daily use, but in case of an emergency — severe weather, violent incident, etc — Campus Police and other empowered individuals can push warnings to our signs, thus notifying the occupants of all buildings of the emergency.  It’s pretty nifty technology.

We started up our signs largely through the work of two individuals, Marianne Hebert and Keith Compeau, who created a bunch of initial slides about library services, history, information… and then we let them run for a few months, adding and removing content as they needed to.  Last week they started doing assessment, and stood in the lobby asking students to fill out a short online survey using our instruction laptops, which were set up on tables.  They also asked if students would be willing to have their picture taken and posted on the digital signs with a quote about what they liked best about the libraries.

I just sat at the reference desk and watched that new set of slides roll past, and I’m smiling in fascination.  As a baseline, there was one mention of Google Scholar, and two mentions of coffee.  The data point that has me grinning is that there were also a half dozen mentions of favorite books and favorite call numbers.  There were even more references to “a quiet place to study”, to “actually work on a paper”, and to “not be distracted.”

Libraries are changing.  Our services are evolving.  But on a lot of levels we’re still doing what we’ve always done — we connect our users to resources, and help them succeed in learning.  Just, now, with the addition of the internet.  And coffee.