The HBLL needs your help

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The new touchscreen directory in the library provides an intuitive and helpful location for visitors and students to learn more about the library. (Photo by Sarah Hill.)
The new touchscreen directory in the library provides an intuitive and helpful location for visitors and students to learn more about the library. (Photo by Sarah Hill)

The Harold B. Lee Library needs students to send in feedback about the new touch screen directory on the main floor.

Only one has been put up as a trial run. The student feedback will help determine what to add or if there is a demand for more directories like it.

“It’s sort of an experiment,” said Roger Layton, communications manager at the library. “We’re trying to collect all the information that we can to see what people are interested in.”

The digital directory contains all of the information from the old, printed directory plus details that were difficult to place on a printed map.

As students navigate through each floor, they can access study room, office and even locker locations. A touch of the finger will reveal which rooms are being used and which are available. Computer availability is also a new feature that a paper directory could never offer.

“I loved being able to use the touch screen,” said Jessica Thomas, a public health major from Las Vegas. “It made finding what I needed really easy.”

When submitting feedback, all that is required is a name, email and comments. As students do this, the library can figure out services and places that people are searching for that may be difficult to find.

So far, the feedback has been very informative as to what students are looking for, but the programmers behind the project want more.

“The more we get, the better we can make it and the more successful it will be,” Layton said.

One idea that has come up is to have the playlist for the music zone on the directory. Another has been to show where noisy and quiet zones are as well as where you can and can’t eat food.

Layton expects that they will collect feedback throughout the semester and then rework the directory to incorporate the new ideas. The digital directories could end up replacing all of the main paper directories.

The directory is located on the main (third) floor of the library by the first set of elevators.

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