On March 8, 2016, we conducted a “Library Snapshot Day” in the DePaul University Library to find out more about what happens (and how often it happens) during one day in the life of the library.
Library Snapshot Day has been conducted across the country since the program was launched in New Jersey in 2009. Typically coordinated across all the libraries in a state on a single day, the last state-wide Library Snapshot Day in Illinois was conducted in 2011. In academic libraries, Snapshot Day has proven a great opportunity to talk with faculty, staff, and students about library use, to get a sense of the wide range of activities occurring in our libraries on any given day, and to appreciate the ways in which our physical and digital spaces, services, and programs come together to meet the needs of the DePaul community.
During our 2016 Snapshot Day, conducted the week before winter quarter finals, we found our students busily working to complete their final papers and assignments, both individually and in groups, and making use of print and digital collections from DePaul and other libraries, as well as services provided by our partners in Information Services and the Learning Commons. With over 7,000 DePaul community members visiting the libraries in Lincoln Park and the Loop on March 8th, we found steady use of library collections, digital materials, and information technology, as well as for services such as research assistance and group study spaces. We also spoke with several students using the Richardson Library that day, who spoke about how the library “has facilitated a better learning environment for [them] and [their] classmates.”
Among the highlights of what we found during one day in the life of DePaul’s libraries:
- more than 150 reference questions were answered;
- library research guides were viewed 670 times;
- 166 books were checked out, and another 128 were requested through interlibrary loan;
- 109 reservations were made for group study space, totaling 195 hours of requests for access to space designed to support collaborative learning; and,
- more than 3,000 unique visitors accessed the library’s web site.
Snapshot Day is only one way in which we assess the use and impact of the resources made available through the DePaul University Library, and prioritize our future plans for library services, collections, technology, and spaces. If you’d like to hear more from our students, please view our short Snapshot Day video on the library’s YouTube channel. If you’d like to learn more about how the library was used on Snapshot Day, please see our Snapshot Day 2016 infographic. And, if you’d like to learn more about how the library can help you, on Snapshot Day or any day, please contact your liaison librarian.