Pioneer Library System November 21, 2008 From Customer Service to User Experience: Using Design Thinking to Exceed User Expectations Steven Bell – bells@temple.edu Associate University Librarian Temple University Pioneer Library System November 21, 2008

Even Our Students Know

Questions What are challenges we face Can design thinking help How is UX different from customer service What would a great library UX be

Our Environment

The Age of User Experience What Defines It? Make it simple Complexity/Confusion are deal breakers If you have to learn it – we have a problem Good design is critical Features get used if they provide a good user experience Source: EWeek.com - http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1914495,00.asp

Google Experience vs. Library Experience Simple Satisfies instant gratification No unnecessary features Millennial seal of approval Complex Takes time to learn Many features Added value Better quality Personalized help Just looking at this from the point of view of the user experience – clearly there are lots of pros and cons for each Simplicity – Complexity Conundrum – how to resolve the tension between the two yet encourage quality research and education

What Do Libraries Offer? Fear of Complexity

Marginalizing Trends Bell *2005 OCLC Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources report http://www.oclc.org/reports/perceptionscollege.htm

Marginalizing Trends *2005 OCLC Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources report http://www.oclc.org/reports/perceptionscollege.htm

Source: BusinessWeek IN Supplement June 11, 2007 http://www

From: Curran, Murray and Christian From: Curran, Murray and Christian. “Taking the information to the public through Library 2.0.” Library Hi-Tech Vol. 25. No. 2, 2007 pp288-297.

Only The Paranoid Survive Andy Grove, Founder of Intel, wrote this book about surviving competition and change Wrote about the “inflection curve” We have no control over the “forces of change” but we can control our strategy

Source: Moyer, Don. A Silver Bullet Source: Moyer, Don. A Silver Bullet. Harvard Business Review, May 2008 p. 132

What’s Broken At Your Library? Library anecdote – “This is broken” See Seth Godin’s blog or his presentation at GEL2006 Bell

What’s Broken - Activity This is a 2-4 minute activity Think about something at your library that you think is broken. Either something that doesn’t work or a solution that has no problem attached to it. Just jot down a description of that on a sheet of paper Also – why do you think it is broken?

Design Thinking

DESIGN Word Association Turn your sheet of paper over What comes to your mind when you hear the word DESIGN write it down

Do you think library workers are designers? Question Do you think library workers are designers?

What is Design Anyway?

What They Have in Common The Design Approach! empathic thinking identifying the problem before the solution brainstorming process prototyping process formative/summative evaluation

Work creatively to identify and develop the solution Identify the problem before the solution Understand the users Work creatively to identify and develop the solution Bottom Line – it’s how designers approach challenges Key Points:

Design Thinking Approaching library problems the way designers approach design problems. “Librarianship by Design” draws mostly from instructional design for influence How is it different? Thoughtful process to create new services Integrates needs assessment and evaluation User-centered not technology-driven 23

Design Thinking Empathic Design Prototyping process Formative and summative evaluation Use podcast example - everybody had different ideas; everybody wanted to do something; no one wanted to take the first step - so nothing happened. NOW - using DT - first - what do our users want - what will help them - how will they use it - how will they get to it.; NEXT idetify a prototyping project makes doing this for the first time more approachable for staff - we know this is just the start of pracess. 25

Technology Implementation Wiki Case Study Identify problem – possible solutions Wiki identified as technology with potential Learn more about wikis Practice editing a wiki Obtain a wiki account for experimentation Show staff but allow time for acceptance Identify compassionate pioneer Allow pioneer to experiment and discover Develop strategy for implementation Incorporate staff training/learning Implement Evaluation

User Experience

Designing A Better Experience: The Experience Economy Book about designing user experiences Moving from commodities to experiences Make it different and memorable It has to work

UX: What is it? A Definition: UX is the quality of experience a person has while interacting with a specific design.

Customer Service vs. User Experience CS UX Caring Nice Go extra mile Courteous Training Satisfied Patron Fast/Convenient Answers Rule Bending Holistic Totality of Experience WoW Factor (not broken) Memorable Loyalty Localized Design-based What kind of experience Understanding user This is the question I’ve been asking for some time – what is the great library experience – how do we create it – well we have to know what the objective is

UX: The WOW Factor One school of thought UX as highly unique UX as unexpected UX as impressive

UX: The Totality of the Experience Not just one fragmented experience More than one WOW Must be designed into the larger library service operation Creates equal expectations throughout library Refer to PQ anecdote – they hired a user experience specialist – but I said to her – if a pq db is great – but then student finds printer jammed – forget it – the great

From Customer Service to Experience Start with core values – design from there Focus on relationship design – build trust It’s more than customer service Must be useful and usable (simple/complex) Think about UX as the brand

Design a Better Library User Experience Design for local audiences Design for personal experiences Design for outcomes not features Design for success stories Design for user education Local – know what their assignments are – tailor resoruces – create instructional products that resolve specific informaiton gaps – critical to have faculty involved in this localization – particuarly in development assignmetns that point to local resources – and that make it less possible to satisfice with free internet resoruces – need to differentiate local from “everything else” Engaging – tough – we can’t turn library resources into video games – but need to reach student’s enherent desire for a challenge - and coonect to those added values that will make their lives easier (e.g., citation formatting – I know we could debate the pros and cons of that) Personal – reach out to patrons – this is about marking – about differentiating what the library offers Options – take a minute and show the STE video on “bad day” – you won’t get anywhere being a lib db pusher – focus on telling people about their option – then show jux2 - a low threshold way to get students thinking about different options –and why – at a level they can relate to – always opens up eyes. Outcomes – if you get into minutia about loads of features (e.g., limiters, ) you may lose folks – focus on outcomes – how better quality info can result is a better quality paper – don’t worry if they don’t use the features you would use – maybe even goes for controlled vocab – IF WE have GOOD integrated IL in place – over time – they will learn USER education – what we want – students who are wise info consumers can happen over time – give anecdoate – ACRL virt conf and fac member and librarian who collaborated – great – but too high expectations – students still didn’t search that well or do well on IL questions embedded in their cousre test – you can’t learn this stuff in one course – I asked – found out they had no tiered, integrated IL initiative – it’s really going to take the whole 4 years to impact on affective domain and create some true learning. 36

Next Steps Talk to the users Talk about the core values Talk about the design Talk about the “tolerance level”

Add Your Voice To The Conversation 38

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Further Reading “Academic librarianship by design is about more than confronting marginalization. It is about an approach to librarianship that is guided by creative thinking and contemplation about what we do and how we do it.” “We anticipate that it is only a matter of time before design thinking appears in academic library job descriptions along with traditional qualities such as being dynamic, creative, innovation, and forward thinking. From our point of view, design thinkers represent all these qualities.” Academic Librarianship by Design: A Blended Librarians Guide to the Tools and Techniques. ALA Editions 2007.

Questions? Discussion!