When Designing Better Libraries debuted in 2007, I invited multiple colleagues to participate. This group of folks included Brian Matthews and John Shank.
Over time, those folks went on to their own blogs and other endeavors and today the sole contributor to Designing Better Libraries is Steven Bell.
Steven Bell is currently Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services at Temple University, and was previously Director of the Library at Philadelphia University. Steven is the author of two regular columns published by Library Journal, From the Bell Tower and Leading From the Library. With John Shank he is co-founder of the Blended Librarians Online Learning Community. Bell and Shank are also authors of the book Academic Librarianship by Design. More information is found at his website.
Ummm … you appear to be omitting a large part of the library community. Two words: PUBLIC LIBRARIES! Two more words: SCHOOL LIBRARIES!
DBL is a blog that is library neutral, just as design thinking is library neutral. It is for librarians from all sectors. You should notice that our posts are not exclusive to academic libraries – despite the composition of our blog team. We will focus on discussion ideas, techniques and practices that can be adopted in any library. But we appreciate this comment, and in time as we find our voice and our audience we will be open to inviting other bloggers to join DBL. We can certainly be looking to other sectors for these individuals. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Thanks for this blog!! Terrific resource….there’s a LOT in business world about user-centered design, but nothing really (except for the the U of Rochester work) in libraryland.
At MPOW (which operates more along a business model with clients, and formal marketing efforts, etc.) we have actively sought and connected to user-centered design prof.development opportunities outside the library world–a good organization to be aware of is the Usability Professionals’ Association. Just attended the NYC chapter’s event–with presentation links (interesting stuff about user experience innovations–going beyond traditional usability testing): http://www.nycupa.org/