Forming an Opportunity Belief
My Belief:
My belief is that an opportunity exists with informing students on how busy libraries are. Specifically, how many seats are occupied on each floor of the library. The unmet need is the information of how many seats are available on each floor of the library, which equates to how busy the library is. All students who study on campus deal with the issue of finding study space and need this. This is something that has always been needed because of the need to do work in a productive way. When I am in the library at a busy time, I always see people walking around looking for a seat and table to study at. Sometimes, I spend quite a bit time walking around to find a place to study, and at times I even need to leave if I absolutely cannot find any space. If I know about the availability of study space in the library to begin with, I am able to better judge if I should go there to study or not. Furthermore, if I know how busy each floor is before entering the library, I do not need to waste time walking around each floor of the library to find space, I can just go to the floor that has most availability. To meet this now, the only thing people can do is rely on other friends to tell them how busy the library is if they are there, or just to walk around themselves and find a study space. Out of all the students on campus, I believe that around 50% have used a library, with probably 30%-40% of the students using the library regularly. So, there is around a 35% need for this service from the students at UF.
Interview 1: My Friend
How often do you use the library?
She uses the library everyday and claims to have used the library almost everyday since she entered UF. As a microbiology major on the pre-med track, she has many hard classes that she spends long hours studying for. She says she loves using the library since it has no distractions or anyone to interrupt her studying.
Is a service that tells you how busy each floor of the library is helpful to you?
Yes, she claims this service would be of great benefit. Valuable study time is spent just searching for a desk and chair to study at.
When did you first start realizing this would be a useful service?
For my friend, this has always been the case, now that she were to think about it. However, she says it would be most useful during exam weeks at the ends of semesters or during the busy hours at night more than any other time in the library.
What do you currently do to find an appropriate study space?
She currently relies on herself to walk around and find a space if she does not know anyone studying at the library. If she has other friends planning on studying at the library, then she asks them to save her a seat or table with their backpacks or by spreading out their stuff.
Interview 2: My Roommate
How often do you use the library?
He don't use the library that much. Maybe a few times a semester, only when he has a lot of work to do or there is a group project to work on.
Is a service that tells you how busy each floor of the library is helpful to you?
My belief is that an opportunity exists with informing students on how busy libraries are. Specifically, how many seats are occupied on each floor of the library. The unmet need is the information of how many seats are available on each floor of the library, which equates to how busy the library is. All students who study on campus deal with the issue of finding study space and need this. This is something that has always been needed because of the need to do work in a productive way. When I am in the library at a busy time, I always see people walking around looking for a seat and table to study at. Sometimes, I spend quite a bit time walking around to find a place to study, and at times I even need to leave if I absolutely cannot find any space. If I know about the availability of study space in the library to begin with, I am able to better judge if I should go there to study or not. Furthermore, if I know how busy each floor is before entering the library, I do not need to waste time walking around each floor of the library to find space, I can just go to the floor that has most availability. To meet this now, the only thing people can do is rely on other friends to tell them how busy the library is if they are there, or just to walk around themselves and find a study space. Out of all the students on campus, I believe that around 50% have used a library, with probably 30%-40% of the students using the library regularly. So, there is around a 35% need for this service from the students at UF.
Interview 1: My Friend
How often do you use the library?
She uses the library everyday and claims to have used the library almost everyday since she entered UF. As a microbiology major on the pre-med track, she has many hard classes that she spends long hours studying for. She says she loves using the library since it has no distractions or anyone to interrupt her studying.
Is a service that tells you how busy each floor of the library is helpful to you?
Yes, she claims this service would be of great benefit. Valuable study time is spent just searching for a desk and chair to study at.
When did you first start realizing this would be a useful service?
For my friend, this has always been the case, now that she were to think about it. However, she says it would be most useful during exam weeks at the ends of semesters or during the busy hours at night more than any other time in the library.
What do you currently do to find an appropriate study space?
She currently relies on herself to walk around and find a space if she does not know anyone studying at the library. If she has other friends planning on studying at the library, then she asks them to save her a seat or table with their backpacks or by spreading out their stuff.
Interview 2: My Roommate
How often do you use the library?
He don't use the library that much. Maybe a few times a semester, only when he has a lot of work to do or there is a group project to work on.
Is a service that tells you how busy each floor of the library is helpful to you?
He says not really, but if he used the library more, maybe. It would be helpful, but the amount he uses the library to study is too low for him to have this service be a need.
When did you first start realizing this would be a useful service?
He could've always seen this as useful service. He probably realized this during my freshman year when he lived on campus. That is when he used the library the most since he lived so close to it.
What do you currently do to find an appropriate study space?
He can stay at home and study, or go to his girlfriend's apartment. He said they usually study well together since she does not like distractions when she studies, so they study together and finish our work quick.
Interview 3: Random Person in Turlington
How often do you use the library?
He said that he was a senior and used the library occasionally, probably close to a few times a week.
Is a service that tells you how busy each floor of the library is helpful to you?
He said that he was a senior and used the library occasionally, probably close to a few times a week.
Is a service that tells you how busy each floor of the library is helpful to you?
He said it would be extremely helpful, as he is a senior and likes to finish his work as early as possible so that he can do fun things to enjoy his last year. Rather than wasting time going to a busy library and waiting to find space, he would rather know before he goes in the library of how busy it is and where to look.
When did you first start realizing this would be a useful service?
He realized it this year when he valued his time a lot more since he realized it could be spent doing things more fun that are not studying.
What do you currently do to find an appropriate study space?
He just walks around until he finds space.
Reflection:
I learned that this may not be as much of a need as I initially thought. I think my estimates are accurate regarding how many people use the library, but not as often as I thought. The first iteration was expected and not surprising, probably because I know my friend very well and I had a good idea of what her answers would be. However, I am surprised by the second and third iteration. With my roommate, I did not expect him to say that he does not go to the library that often, I thought he goes pretty frequently. As for the senior in Turlington, I was surprised he was in the library at all, as if I had a few classes to focus on and did not want to spend time int he library, I would just stay at home and study.
Summary:
I believe that the original opportunity has slightly decreased from 35% to 25% or 30% of the students needing this service. This is a more accurate measure as I did not earlier evaluate the individual situations for why people would not need this service. I think that entrepreneurs should absolutely adapt to their customers and their needs. Entrepreneurs make money off of the customers and ultimately their success is based on the customer's needs and business. Their feedback is crucial to being analytical and understanding of how the company or product and service need to evolve. As long as the fundamental ideas behind the product or service are not changing, customer feedback should be considered.
I think your idea for a way to know ahead of time if there are seats available at the library is a good concept. I can see how there is an unmet need since I myself have asked friends to save me a seat or wandered around looking for one. I agree that this idea would depend on how many people actually go to the library on a regular basis and during peak times like before midterms and finals. I think your interviews showed how much the need can vary, and your summary recognizes that.
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