Study spaces at ISEG: Enhancing individual study in the library

The aim of this project is to understand the challenges that academic libraries are going through in this new digital era, where their main purpose is changing, from a place to store books to a more human centered space for people to gather, work and study. Particularly, it aims to understand how the current ISEG library can evolve and become a more relevant space for ISEG students for the times to come. Through a literature review, this project aims to understand how libraries around the world have been adapting, what philosophy they have been following to redesign their spaces to become more relevant and useful for their communities, and what conclusions have already been found for the renovation of libraries and study spaces to the current reality. A quantitative questionnaire was also used to gather more information for the project, allowing a deeper understanding of the current situation of ISEG's study spaces and its library. Through an online questionnaire, with 76 participants, it was possible to collect information on the study habits of ISEG students, understand their current needs in relation to the existing study spaces, and identify what are the needs for new services and resources. The analysis of these results confirmed that the library study spaces need to be updated, the library spaces at ISEG are used mainly to study and work, and not to access books or information, which reinforces the need to renovate these spaces, converting them into spaces more dedicated to study and work. At the end, potential solutions for the current ISEG spaces are presented, suggesting the best ways to adapt the ISEG library, based on all the information collected in literature and as well as based on the student’s opinions gather from the project questionnaire.