Public libraries exist to provide equitable access to information, which requires continuously working with communities to understand their needs. My Capstone is part of SPL’s efforts to involve community members in their website redesign process. This project asks, “Who, taking into account language and digital access barriers, does not use spl.org, and why?”. To answer this question I analyzed data from SPL surveys and worked with branch libraries and community centers to design and run qualitative research sessions. My deliverables include data towards my research question and recommendations for conducting future SPL design research projects.

Mobile technology and digital communication channels are ubiquitous in today’s undergraduate classroom. What impact have they had on the personal relationship between students and their instructors? I conducted a pilot study within the Information School, surveying and interviewing both undergraduates and their instructors. Results indicated that the personal relationship remains authority-based, with both actors striving to maintain the divide, but digital communication opens a new space in which undergraduates and instructors interact, potentially on the professional level. Further study could illuminate this space, guiding higher education toward a better understanding of classroom relationships.

In online news, as in many forms of media, the appearance of content influences the reader, possibly even more than the content itself. Our experiment investigates this possibility further by researching how certain content-supporting attributes, such as links and pictures, affect how judgments are made about unfamiliar news sources, independent of any informative content. Studying how people evaluate the credibility of news sources is important because our society is increasingly turning to online news sources, while simultaneously becoming more adept at creating them. We hope our research will provide new insights into what factors influence what consumers of news believe.

A new addition to AWS, not much user research has been conducted on Kinesis, the company’s data streaming service, to understand its users’ needs and challenges. Presently, one major design question that exists is how can Kinesis’ entry points and onboarding experience be redesigned to help drive more engagements across different user personas who may interact with Kinesis. Through this project, in which our team has taken this design question through a user-centered and lean design process, we strive to help make Kinesis a better product for its users, thereby increasing its impact and prominence within the AWS family.

Seattle Public library is interested in purchasing technolgies for the youth which can be used for learning. One of the projects is the Minecraft club. It is a learning sessions for youth to learn the process of designing characters, prototyping, and creating a story out of the character. In implementing the project, there are information gaps in the management and implementation process. The first one is between librarians familiarity with the content and the purpose of the project. And the other one is between librarians facilitation skills with technology and youth development. To fill these gaps, our capstone group will look at the curriculum of the 3D printer club and try to find ways to revise the curriculum which will make a successful session for the children.

The experience of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is often stigmatized and poorly understood by those without anxiety. Further, there are very few interactive media forms that focus on the experiences of GAD. Of those that do, the vast majority fall within the horror genre intended to induce anxiety and provide shock-value without representing an overcoming of such experiences. Fragments uses the HTC Vive Virtual Reality Headset as an exploratory medium for representing a fictional experience through anxiety. Using dramatic storytelling, thorough domain research, and principles of immersive play, we aim to present a positive, fantasy adventure about a personal experience of overcoming anxiety. Fragments will simulate the physical and emotional responses of anxiety to help those without anxiety understand these experiences and critique the stigma toward anxiety. Our audience will be traversing a world rife in metaphor and symbolism that can encourage those with or without anxiety to discuss together.

In an ideal classification system each item has a precise location, but most systems contain misfits that end up classified as other. Why do items end up classified in this way? In this research project, I consider the nature of items that defy neat categorization in different types of classification systems. Are these things fragmentary, or unusually complex? What are the consequences in browsing and search? The classification theory literature suggests that these systems are not value neutral. Even used within the contexts of their intended use, they often require compromises that may not be clear to the users of these systems. In addition to looking at formal classifications such as DDC, I examine the concept of other in data collection systems such as medical records, as well as the negotiation of sub-genres in music. While other often poses challenges, I also consider instances in which it may increase engagement.

Collection development policies guide the evolution of library collections while considering the needs of the populations served. The existing University of Washington Libraries’ subject policies for astronomy and physics were last updated in 1986 and never ratified. The procedures outlined therein are woefully out of date and, in particular, have nothing to say about electronic resources, which are cornerstones of modern academic work. In order to bring these policies into the 21st Century, our group examined existing collection policies at the University of Washington, interviewed the astronomy and physics collections’ users, and studied astronomy and physics policies from comparable institutions. The resulting documents, including a formal policy statement and a public-facing LibGuide, will direct collection acquisitions, maintenance, and evaluation in these fields for years to come while providing the flexibility to adapt to the fast-paced environment of research science.

Kitsap Regional Library, as part of its Vision 2020 Strategic Plan, seeks to build community through a series of community conversations where participants will be given the opportunity to share their aspirations for their communities and identify community needs. This project will operate within the spirit of this initiative by identifying the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer-identified (LGBTQ) youth population in the area, a population that has historically been underserved in our broader society and whose needs have not been overtly sought after and met by this institution, and determine what existing or new library services might help to address those needs. A combination of surveys and personal conversations will be administered to gather input from youth on their various information needs. From there, an intervention will be designed to address an identified information gap, which will be available for future use and implementation by Kitsap Regional Library.

The instruction librarians at Gonzaga University’s Foley Center Library provide learning opportunities to students on campus in classroom settings. Since 1988, they have extended those services to distance students. More recently, they have aligned themselves with programs offered online by the university to provide asynchronous and synchronous instruction opportunities for students attending school online. With these desires in mind, this project has focused on investigating web conferencing technology and developing a webinar template for the instruction librarians to use in conjunction with online library orientation activities in order to better serve the distance students at Gonzaga University. This enables distance students to connect with each other as well as the library and librarians. The program allows students to tailor their own learning experience, adding another layer of unique interaction to their education. Using this innovative program method, instruction can occur online in a community-oriented setting.