Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

When Students Drive Design: Creating A Family Study Room For Students Who Are Parents, Jennifer F. Paustenbaugh, C. Jeffrey Belliston

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences

The paper focuses on a user-centered design project in the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University (BYU). BYU students who are parents comprise about 25% of the student population. University leaders have a goal for students to graduate in fewer semesters. Some students—especially females—drop out of school upon becoming a parent. Other students delay graduation by taking fewer classes in order to attend to their parental duties. Student parents who use the library frequently did not feel welcome when accompanied by their children. Oftentimes the parents elected not to use the library as the study resource it was …