Information is Not Enough: Shaping the User Experience

Great session, all about changing libraries to adapt to changes in our customers, or the "civilians" as Joan Frye Williams puts it. Confirms for me that MPL is moving in the right direction.

See Powerpoint at http://www.accessola2.com/superconference2007/thurs/400/jfw.ppt

• LIBRARIES' CHANGING LANDSCAPE - WHEN INFORMATION IS ABUNDANT:
  Why is information not enough? It used to be enough, when information was scarce and librarians were positioned as gatekeepers, and our professional practices were based on the concept of scarcity. But now, information is abundant and ubiquitous - the information landscape has changed, and our customers have changed.
  
  CHANGING LANDSCAPE - HOW DO "CIVILIANS " EXPERIENCE OUR LIBRARIES?
  Joan Frye Williams refers to everyone outside the library world (our customers, and non-users) as "civilians" who are not trained in library jargon or Dewey and are turned off by traditional library rules and environments. They are not like us. They do not want to be like us. Only librarians like searching. Civilians like finding. We cannot change the civilians. So we have to change to align ourselves with the civilians' realities.
  
  USER EXPERIENCES IN LIBRARIES - WHEN CIVILIANS WALK IN OUR DOORS, WHAT DO THEY THINK?
  1. Is this my kind of place? Do I belong here, do I fit in, do they want me here?
  SOLUTIONS TO GET THE ANSWER "YES":
  
• Warm and welcoming. MPL - Angus Glen exemplifies this concept, and all our branches are moving towards it.
  
• Nicer than home.
  
• An aspirational place, a place that is so desirable a destination that it makes civlians feel proud to be associated with it.
  
• Customers shouldn't have to guess where to go - provide easy wayfinding and signage in civilian language, not libary jargon. At MPL - how can we improve wayfinding and signage?
• Treat civilians like guests in your house - it's OK to talk, OK to eat and drink, etc. All our "no" rules send a message that "we don't trust you to be responsible". At MPL - what message do our Rules of Conduct send?
• Set up library space so that the customer can succeed (rather than a way that makes the customer feel stupid and we feel smart).
  
• Key message - we will save you time.
• Browsable collections that support serendipidous discovery and learning. MPL - on the right track with merchandising.

2. Does the Library integrate well with my busy life? Is what I get back from the Library worth my time? Customers make decisions based on convenience. If a service is not convenient, they will opt out. Librarians tend to be perfectionists - always have to find the perfect answer. For civilians, good enough is good enough.
SOLUTIONS:

• Civilians want search engines. They don't want OPACs and multiple ways of searching. They want us to expose our resources to the search engine of their choice.
• Civilians want our content podcast/webcast, so that they can use it and share it with their friends when it is convenient to them.
• Civilians communicate through text messaging, and do not want to leave their routine to communicate with us through a different channel. We need to insert our message into their routine, into the devices they are checking anyway, e.g. a hold notification by text message.
• Alternative information services - IM Reference in real time, with instant turnaround - Anticipated Reference (Hot Topics) - Extreme Googling (exhaust the civilian's tool of choice before going to electronic resources) - Roving - Reference appointments (rather than just walkup services).

All these ideas are relevant to ispressotogo http://ispressotogo.blogspot.com/index.html

3. Am I trusted to participate? Do they want me to contribute my perspective?

SOLUTIONS:

• 2.0 services - invite civilians to share their discoveries and expand on our content.
  
• In the creative idea economy - don't force civilians to come into our world. We should hang out online, go to where customers are online and add to the discussion, taking our skills and inserting them where people are gathering. Give civilians an opportunity to see how the library fits into their life.
• We need to get used to outcomes we don't control.

MORE STRATEGIES MOVING FORWARD:

• Listen to the civilians.
• Serve the community as a whole, not just the current customers. Understand what they value, and fit into that.
• Resist perfectionism - it holds us back. Library culture needs to be messier. Fear of error holds us back.
• Provide options that the customer can choose among - rather than the one right way.
• You cannot lead the people if you do not love the people.
• Our original deal (the gatekeeper) is off the table now.

Great concepts for 2007 strat planning.