Reservations about the Reservation System: Using the Springshare API to Build a Better Room Reservation Front End

Abstract

For the last half decade, the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) University Library has used the Springshare LibCal room reservation system in order to allow students to reserve study rooms. We have 50 study rooms that are separated into three categories based on size. In Fall 2019, we had over 15,000 reservations made in the system. As most libraries, our study rooms are a big draw to our space.

While the LibCal is standard in libraries and comes with a robust set administrative features, we had always found the default grid for room reservation problematic for our users. This is for several key reasons.

• Reservations are difficult to use on mobile devices • Scrolling is necessary for accessing the next three days worth of reservations • Users must rely on email in order to manage reservations • Difficult to make a reservation quickly