Participatory action research in learning commons design planning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to document the process the Auraria Library went through to plan research methods to produce information for their learning commons project. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an overview and the results of one library’s planning methods using user-centered and participatory action research (PAR) principles. It includes a literature review and data gathered from several information gathering sessions. It also discusses useful resources and ideologies found outside the field of library science, such as “placemaking” and the concept of “third place.” Findings – Adopting values that honor user-centered, evidence-based decision making is a change that must include the whole library, as well as its users. When enough time is spent to include a broad spectrum of feedback you can get a lot of valuable evidence, even during a planning period. The Auraria Library serves three institutions of higher education, the Community College of Denver (CCD), Metropolitan State College of Denver (MSCD) (a four-year undergraduate institution), and the University of Colorado Denver (UCD) which has graduate and undergraduate programs. The population of students is close to 40,000 and almost entirely commuters. The CCD has been federally designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution, which requires 25 percent of the student population to be Hispanic and MSCD is on the way to receiving this designation also, according their web sites[1,2]. According to the official web site of the Auraria Higher Education Center over 80 percent of the students hold jobs, the average age for students ranges from 27 to 29 and “students range in age from 16 to 80, and include a significant minority population[3]. Many hold full time jobs and may be married with children.” The library must respond to a student population which is urban, commuter, and often pulled in different directions by family and work. Introduction