WCU Stories      December 9, 2024

By Cam Adams

The vast number of resources Hunter Library at Western Carolina University has is profound. But thanks to a grant, navigating the treasure trove of knowledge will be a bit easier for students.

COMET department head Beth Thompson received a $18,688 grant from the State Library of North Carolina for two touchscreen kiosks in Hunter Library. The kiosks will include several different features, including mapping of the library.

“Right now, we just have a PDF, and it’s not interactive, so this will be an interactive mapping software, and then we also are going to have, through that same mapping software, the ability to find a book and it will zero them in on where it’s located,” Thompson said.

Along with the kiosks, visitors will also be able to access mapping on their cell phone, but the kiosks will give more information on hours, locations and more. Students will be able to reserve study rooms on the kiosks, and Thompson hopes they can advertise event info on them as well.

Thompson is aiming for the kiosks to be up during the spring as the library’s web services department works on the app that everything will be run through. And it’ll be quite the collaborative effort, too.

“(North Carolina State University has) been working with us and giving us guidance over equipment, also gave us their app code for the kiosk,” Thompson said. “We also have student workers who are helping work on that app and really doing some great work on it, too.”

Like NC State, which also installed a kiosk in its library, Hunter Library will also be doing user experience studies with the kiosks.

“They’ve talked about their research that they did their user experience in and said that it was very valuable to their students,” Thompson said. “It’s something that we can point the students to or independently the students can go to it.”