{"id":9,"date":"2007-01-26T03:23:09","date_gmt":"2007-01-26T03:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbl.lishost.org\/blog\/the-dbl-philosophy\/"},"modified":"2007-01-26T03:23:09","modified_gmt":"2007-01-26T03:23:09","slug":"the-dbl-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/stevenb\/the-dbl-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"The DBL Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Designing Better Libraries<\/strong> is about a great deal more than arranging spaces and selecting furniture.\u00c2\u00a0 Design, as we conceive it, is a way of examining library services and reengineering them to make them more accessible to patrons.\u00c2\u00a0 You may ask, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t most librarians already knowledgeable about methods for identifying and implementing services and resources that contribute to a better library?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed, they are.\u00c2\u00a0 But we are entering a time when our traditional techniques for developing new services may be inadequate for serving a new generation of library users with their own unique search behaviors and service expectations.\u00c2\u00a0 To address these changes, we advocate a kind of design thinking informed by processes developed by major design firms and design schools that emphasizes a novel approach to devising and implementing new ideas in libraries.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

A good example of library service change informed by design thinking can be found at the University of Rochester.\u00c2\u00a0 Librarians there began a program of new technology implementation with a special design approach that focused on a core dictum of design thinking:\u00c2\u00a0 understand the user.\u00c2\u00a0 By employing the help of an ethnographer, librarians developed a process by which they gathered data about their users and how they search for and use information throughout their daily routines.\u00c2\u00a0 After analyzing the results of the study, they were better able to select appropriate services, technologies, and resources that suit users\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 needs.\u00c2\u00a0 This approach, common in the business world, is radically different from the traditional library approach in which librarians choose technologies based on their perceptions of user preferences, but in which no design process is utilized to solicit user input.\u00c2\u00a0 In the turbulent and transformative times we face, merely identifying useful technologies will be insufficient to stem the potential tide of marginalization from overwhelming libraries.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

In order to secure the position of libraries as relevant and meaningful partners and service providers, we support adopting strategies from industries that, like libraries, are facing competition from the Internet such as print newspapers, for example.\u00c2\u00a0 In DBL<\/em>, we will explore these strategies and their merits for designing a better library user experience.\u00c2\u00a0 We will broadly consider various ways we should think about what we design and who we design for, including design for:<\/font><\/font> <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n