Heat Map Visualizations of Seating Patterns in an Academic Library

Library seating surveys record the use of seats in a library. They estimate library usage and are used to plan library spaces for future use. This paper describes a seating survey in an academic library, which aggregated data from 112 seat counts to generate heat maps to visualize occupancy. Triangulation of the seating survey data with another survey on users ’ perceptions of space in the library, revealed an interesting contrast between highly-occupied areas that were perceived as quiet, and less occupied areas perceived as crowded and noisy. Discussion of this finding is framed in terms of Bennett’s (2009) model of a technology-driven paradigm shift in academic libraries from places for solo work to places for group learning