Space and occupancy sensors

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K.

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May 28, 2025, 4:25:38 PMMay 28
to ARL ASSESS
Hello All,

Reaching out to ask if anyone has experience with occupancy sensors. Right now we just record gate counts, but that tells us very little about where people are spending time inside of the library. 

I am looking for something that's cost effective and could be hung from the ceiling or easily placed. We are an old building, so preferably nothing that requires drilling holes into walls. 

Does anyone have a particular product or solution that they like (or hate that's helpful too).

Thanks in advance, 
Katie 

Assessment Librarian 
University of Texas Arlington 

Colleen Bell

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May 28, 2025, 4:42:08 PMMay 28
to K., ARL ASSESS
Hi, Katie. The only one I'm aware of is Occuspace (https://www.occuspace.com/), and only because a colleague at another institution is looking into it. I have no direct experience with this (but I'm interested).

Colleen

 

 If using assistive technology, message ends here.


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Colleen Bell, MLIS (she/her/they/them)
Assessment Librarian | Library

 

University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford Campus
local: 4396 | office: G193d

 

collee...@ufv.ca | library.ufv.ca

 

 

University of the Fraser Valley is situated on Stó:lō Temexw, the sacred territory of the Halq'eméylem-speaking Stó:lō people. Since before the first sunrise, the Stó:lō, or “People of the River,” have walked upon and nurtured the lands upon which I work, learn, and organize. As a settler, I acknowledge that I am an uninvited guest on these lands; as such, I have a responsibility to honour the original peoples through the work that I do, both as a librarian, or caretaker of knowledge, and as a unionist, through which I seek to eliminate the systems of oppression that foster social injustice.

 


From: K. <klpie...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2025 1:25 PM
To: ARL ASSESS <arl-a...@arl.org>
Subject: [EXTERNAL][ARL-ASSESS] Space and occupancy sensors
 
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Rebecca Ione Pernell

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May 28, 2025, 6:08:11 PMMay 28
to K., ARL ASSESS, Colleen Bell
Hi there, we use  sensors at the entrances to our main library to monitor building occupancy and entry stats. Our only complaint is that occasionally, for our overnight location when every count matters, we'd like to re-set the count to a known quantity and this is not presently possible as the counts can only be reset to zero. 

Density also sells new wireless sensors to monitor occupancy of rooms/workspaces/tables but we haven't tried them yet. 

Best wishes, 
Rebecca
---

Rebecca Pernell MSLS (she/her)
Associate Director & Head of Access Services Dept.
Stanford University Libraries



From: 'Colleen Bell' via ARL ASSESS <arl-a...@arl.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2025 01:42 PM
To: K. <klpie...@gmail.com>; ARL ASSESS <arl-a...@arl.org>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL][ARL-ASSESS] Space and occupancy sensors
 

Kathleen Reed

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May 28, 2025, 6:26:51 PMMay 28
to Rebecca Ione Pernell, K., ARL ASSESS, Colleen Bell
Hi Katie,

We use Density.io at Vancouver Island University. I've found them excellent for keeping track occupancy. They just introduced a new sensor called "Waffle" that I think does what you're looking for.


Cheers,
KJ

-- 

KJ Reed (they/them)

Professor and Chair, Studies in Women and Gender 

Assessment and Data Librarian

Vancouver Island University

Snuneymuxw, Quw’utsun & Tla’amin unceded territories

kj....@viu.ca

Becker, Louis

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May 29, 2025, 9:04:58 AMMay 29
to K., arl-a...@arl.org

Here at UTK, we’ve been using https://lambentspaces.com/ to get hourly estimates of people counts in various zones of our buildings. The counts are estimated from wifi connections and security cameras, so we haven’t needed to install additional hardware. But the library’s access to this is a as part of a campus-wide facilities contract, so it may or may not be an option for you.

 

Louis

 

Louis Becker
Assessment Programs Librarian and Assistant Professor

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
306 Hodges Library
1015 Volunteer Blvd.
Knoxville, TN 37996

lbe...@utk.edu
Office: 865-974-3525

 

 

From: K. <klpie...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2025 4:26 PM
To: ARL ASSESS <arl-a...@arl.org>
Subject: [ARL-ASSESS] Space and occupancy sensors

 

You don't often get email from klpie...@gmail.com. Learn why this is important

Hello All,

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David K. Larsen

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May 29, 2025, 11:42:51 AMMay 29
to K., ARL ASSESS

I’m attaching information from a webinar from last October on how Purdue is using Occuspace.  There was a webinar yesterday on use of Occuspace at Georgia Tech.

 

To access the archived webcast recording, please visit:
https://youtu.be/oXXivl5RQmA?si=i7U0KyuEgTxTBmWc

To access the presentation slides, please visit:
https://www.choice360.org/webinars/designing-academic-libraries-for-student-success/

 

We don’t use Occuspace at Chicago, but I am interested in occupancy sensors.

 

Best,

 

David

--

David K. Larsen

Director of Access Services

University of Chicago Library

lar...@uchicago.edu  | 773.702.8626

Pronouns: he/him/his

 

From: 'Colleen Bell' via ARL ASSESS <arl-a...@arl.org>

Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2025 3:42 PM
To: K. <klpie...@gmail.com>; ARL ASSESS <arl-a...@arl.org>

David, Thank You for Joining The Webinar: Optimizing Libraries for Our Next Generation Students!.eml

Martha Kyrillidou

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May 29, 2025, 12:16:29 PMMay 29
to Becker, Louis, K., arl-a...@arl.org
Hi Louis, do you have any insights on how you have used the data from this system -- what you see and how you interpret and act on the information for any decisions you have have made so far?  What has been the impact of such decisions?  Have you tried to connect what is happening in the libraries with the flows of the people as they come into and go out of the building?

Last, have you tried to push intercept survey questions to get some additional insights on the behaviors of the people coming in and going out of the library?

Thank you!

Martha Kyrillidou, PhD, MEd, MLS | QualityMetrics, LLC | Helping Libraries Achieve Success

I work flexibly - so whilst it suits me to email now, I do not expect a response or action outside of your own working hours.



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