January 8, 2021

The Drexel Libraries, in conjunction with Drexel Environmental Health & Safety, has expanded its online seat reservation system to include seats and spaces made available by Colleges, Schools and other departments on campus.

The Libraries originally began using the LibCal Seats online reservation tool in September 2020 to manage its informal learning environments in the W. W. Hagerty Library and Hahnemann Library once the physical locations reopened in the fall.

This winter, the Libraries is pleased to extend this service to assist partners from Colleges, Schools, and other campus departments to manage their informal learning environments, including labs, studios, study lounges and hallway seating.

Benefits for Students: ‘One-Stop Shopping’

The Libraries’ seat reservation tool offers currently enrolled students (as well as employed Drexel faculty and staff with a current Drexel ID Card who wish to reserve a space) a convenient, ‘one-stop shop’ to locate and reserve seats within informal learning environments across campus that are designed to accommodate requirements for social distancing and safe shared occupancy.

• Easy-to-use interface: Simply reserve the desired seats or spaces through the Libraries’ website and check in and out through email or a QR code.
• Contactless: Browse and reserve a desired seat or space via a smartphone or other personal device, such as a laptop or tablet
• Makes planning ahead simple: The centralized seat reservation system allows members of the Drexel community to plan out their time on campus so they can be confident the seat they want is waiting and ready for them between classes and appointments:

Benefits for College & School Administrators

The reservation tool also makes it easy for college and school administrators to manage the use of their spaces. The Libraries can support unique spaces and reservations in LibCal seats, from individual seats in study rooms to seats in labs, studios and other unique learning environments.

The Libraries can also provide robust usage data in real-time that give an overview of seat occupancy and pending reservations, showing how many seats and spaces are booked or occupied and where those seats are by location. The check-in/check-out process also helps with contact tracing, if needed.

Other benefits include:

• Customizable communications: Tailor email confirmations and reminders for each seat or space
• Customizable terms of use: Inform students of different requirements for use of different spaces
• Customizable availability: Set different operating hours and maximum reservation lengths for each space
• Detailed seat/space information: Add as much or as little info on each seat as needed, including photos, written descriptions, Accessibility

View an illustration of the information provided to help students select a study space.

View all available seats and spaces.

Currently, the online seating reservation system lists DUL managed informal learning environments available for use in W. W. Hagerty Library and Hahenmann Library, as well as spaces managed by University Facilities, Office of the University Registrar, Drexel Student Life, Westphal College and the College of Engineering. The Libraries is eager to support other groups on campus by adding their spaces to this system.

To learn more about managing your unit’s informal learning environments through the LibCal seats system, please contact John Wiggins, the Libraries’ Director of Services, at jww27@drexel.edu