The Library in the Life of the User
Exclusively for OCLC Research Library Partners, this meeting presented information about how ethnography and design thinking can help to bring insights into the life of the user outside the library that can help us to think about providing more meaningful support based on what students and others really do, the importance and significance of convenience and satisficing, and the importance of understanding real and not imagined workflows. #orlp
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The Library in the Life of the User meeting was held in Chicago, Illinois on 21-22 October 2015. It focused on presentations from library leaders, design and ethnography practitioners, and librarians to help bring insight and provide more meaningful support into the life of the user.
As user behaviors and user expectations change, it is vital that libraries understand these important shifts, and effectively reposition services in order to most usefully serve their constituencies. Ethnographic work and design thinking have underlined the importance of understanding actual behaviors, and provided some techniques to do this in rapidly changing environments. It has made libraries more aware of the need to be visible and engage with their constituencies. And it has highlighted the importance of understanding workflow and incentives as services are reconfigured in a network environment. It thus provides an important context for understanding how behaviors and technology are increasingly infused.
Ethnographic approaches in libraries have formed an important and influential strand of work in recent years, beginning with the formative and influential large scale study on student behavior at the University of Rochester beginning in 2004. An important outcome of this work has inspired other institutions to pursue their own lines of inquiry, recruiting staff with ethnographic/anthropological or user-centered design backgrounds. Findings have been illuminating and inspiring, helping us to overcome preexisting assumptions about patrons, based on what we saw inside the library. Ethnography and design thinking can help to bring insights into the life of the user, outside the library that can help us to think about providing more meaningful support based on what students and others really do, the importance and significance of convenience and satisficing, and the importance of understanding real and not imagined workflows.
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
#orlp
| Time | Program |
|---|---|
| 12:30 p.m. | Registration |
| 1:00 p.m. | Welcome and Introduction to the Day The Library in the Life of the User: Some contextual Remarks – Lorcan Dempsey, OCLC Research
|
| 1:45 p.m. | Beyond Access: How User Research in Online Communities Can Empower Libraries – Aaron Shaw, Northwestern University |
| 2:30 p.m. | Discussion |
| 2:45 p.m. | Break |
| 3:00 p.m. | Ethnographers, Designers, Architects: Approaches, Forms, Value and Outputs Why Ethnography?– Andrew Asher, Indiana University Redesigning the Experience: Applying Human-centered Design Strategically to Libraries at the University of Cambridge – Paul-Jervis Heath, Modern Human – Shirley Dugdale, Dugdale Strategy
|
| 4:30 p.m. | Discussion |
| 5:30 p.m. | Evening Reception at the Newberry Library |
Thursday, 22 October 2015
| Time | Preliminary Program |
|---|---|
| 7:30 a.m. | Continental Breakfast and Registration |
| 8:30 a.m. | Panel l: Merging Research and Practice The Academic Library, Teaching, and Learning: The Bad, Ugly, and Good in Three LibValue Studies Traversing the Invisible Fence between Research and Practice in LIS |
| 10:00 a.m. | Break |
| 10:30 a.m. | Panel ll: Reports from the Field Getting to Know You: Tales from the Field– Margaret Burri, Johns Hopkins University "A Day in the Life" Mapping Project – Andrea Twiss-Brooks, University of Chicago Understanding the Research Practices of Humanities Doctoral Students at Yale University – Denise Hersey, Yale University |
| noon | Lunch |
| 1:00 p.m. | Visitors and Residents: A Mapping Exercise – Lynn Silipigni Connaway, OCLC Research – William Harvey, OCLC Research
|
| 2:30 p.m. | Findings from the Visitors and Residents Project – Lynn Silipigni Connaway, OCLC Research
|
| 3:15 p.m. | Beyond Ethnography – Joan Lippincott, Coalition for Networked Information |
| 4:00 p.m. | Mixed Methods and Mixed Impacts: What's Next for Library-based User Needs Research – Stanley Wilder, Louisiana State University |
| 4:30 p.m. | Discussion and Concluding Remarks |
Start Date
21 October 2015
End Date
22 October 2015
Location
Chicago, Illinois (USA)