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Book-a-desk: the story so far

After being suggested to the university by WBS student Raphael Nahoum, a new desk booking service, book-a-desk, has been trialled in the Library floor 3 extension during term 1 to help students book and locate a study space quickly and easily.

Student feedback

Over 500 students have signed up to the trial and shared their experiences of booking a desk via Hear Now polls and made suggestions to streamline the process. As a result of this feedback, a number of improvements have been made, including changes to the layout of the online booking page to reflect more closely the floorplan of the space, making booking and finding your seat quicker and easier. Changes to the process for registering as a user have also been made, resulting in a maximum one hour delay between registration and usage.

One of the most common issues raised by students taking part in the trial relates to other students occupying the desks without using the booking system. To try and rectify this, the area has been prominently labelled as book-a-desk space and library staff are on hand to notify students of the system if they haven’t booked. A new screen has also been installed to display a live view of the space highlighting booked and vacant desks and existing screens around the library prominently advertise the scheme.

Get invovled!

Thank you to those students who have already signed up and provided valuable feedback to help us tailor the service so it works better for everybody. The scheme will continue to run throughout term 2 so we can continue to monitor its effectiveness, particularly during busier times when it can be more difficult to easily locate a study space.

If you would like to get involved and help us develop the service further you can find more information about book-a-desk and sign up on the Library website.

book a desk

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