Do They Really Know What They Need? Prototypes and Different Research Methods as a Means of Testing Students‘Feedback – A Case-Study

Abstract Adopting a demand-oriented perspective helps librarians to understand their users better. Involving them in ongoing changes has the potential to have a lasting positive effect on the satisfaction of existing users and the recruitment of new ones. Three case-studies, which involved creating new learning spaces at the University Library of Hildesheim lead to the understanding that librarians need to employ attitudinal and behavioural research techniques to reach that goal because users – as it turns out – often do not really know what they need until they get a chance to try it.