Using Academic Courses to Generate Data for Use in Evidence Based Library Planning

The Auraria Library, which serves the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver and the Community College of Denver, collaborated with several academic courses on its campus to investigate some aspects of Participatory Action Research and Service Learning. The goal was to have students (the largest library user group) formulate questions, analyze data and provide suggestions that would help the library make evidence based decisions. The projects would provide student produced information that would be used to renovate the library. Unexpected benefits included the valuable relationships that developed between the Auraria Library, students and teaching faculty.