Human Centred Design for the Future of Libraries
Last week in Liberty IT, my Incubator colleague Sinéad and I ran a human centred design workshop in our Dublin office for librarians from across Dublin.
Called “The Digital Library”, the aim was to provide the librarians with the opportunity and means to take a step back from the day job and think about how the people who use their libraries could benefit from digital technology in the near future, in a structured and fun workshop.
Why is an innovation team for a global insurance company running workshops about libraries?
A question my boss may have initially asked me aswell!
We have a great relationship with our local library, and have ran tech talks for local schools there. I was an avid user of libraries when I was younger and have started going back with my own kids. Over the years, and from our discussions with Lilian Whelan, the head librarian, I’ve learned that libraries do so much more than lend out books; offering services and physicals spaces to support a huge range of groups from the community.
They also have been traditionally early adopters of new technology; when the internet first started rolling out in earnest, the local library was one of the best places to get access and decent speeds. Similarly, Lilian’s library currently has a 3D printer that anyone can use for free.
We ran the workshop as part of the community work we love to be involved with in Liberty, but also for slightly less-altruistic reasons; it was a fantastic opportunity to run another human-centred design workshop with a group of people we didn’t really know, in a domain that touched pretty much all sections of society; young people, families, retirees, startups and more.
It was a great learning opportunity for us, and another chance to practice the workshop techniques and exercises that we use with our business customers.
Setting the tone
Before we launched into the exercises I gave a quick talk about emerging technology and some of its impacts, to hopefully set a tone and mindset of thinking about the topics and themes a bit differently. I used some of my favourite items from my usual tech talks, such as driverless cars and their potential consequences (no more traffic cops!!) and also machine learning and artificial intelligence (we can automate doctors!!). I love showing people the Google Duplex demo; it really opens their eyes to what’s coming down the road.
We had also asked the attendees to do a little bit of homework before they came – to think about and prepare a short talk each on what libraries in 2030 may be like (we do the same with attendees of our InsurTech 2030 workshops in Liberty). This is a great way to get people thinking a little bit ahead and to get them talking and interacting at the event.
We asked everyone to jot down key themes and items of interest on post-its as people talked; we ended up with a huge amount of post-its on a wall that helped inform and inspire the rest of the day.
What struck me most from this part of the workshop was the sheer range of services and uses libraries have, with the potential for even more.
A human centred approach
We typically talk about ‘users’ in work; I try to only say ‘customers’ to focus minds on why we do what we do – to help our customers. ‘Patrons’ are what the libraries call them; but regardless of what we choose, they are all humans – people with goals, problems, hopes and dreams.
Although the theme of the day was digital and using technology, it was focused on the people first and then the tech second. I explained to the participants that what they’d be doing is thinking about what journeys their patrons could go on in their libraries using technology.
Personas
We started with the classic approach of defining personas – descriptions of people to help define ‘goals’ and ‘pains’. I gave the example of a 12 year old girl who walks into a library; she thinks she wants to learn how to code but has no idea how to start, or even where to look for information.
30 minutes later the attendees, split into three groups, showcased their knowledge of their library patrons by sharing impressively detailed personas:
- Seán, a recently retired labourer who has a business idea and wants to learn more technical skills
- Naomi, a 14 year old student who wants to study, but also have somewhere to hang out with peers (and somewhere to charge her phone!)
- George, also a retired labourer (there was no cheating, just a co-incidence!), not interested in working again but also wants to learn more about new technology
Crazy-Eights
The ‘Crazy-Eights’ are one of my favourite exercises — everyone is asked, individually, to come up with eight solutions to their persona’s problem(s). The beauty of asking for eight solutions is that it makes people think beyond the most obvious solution. Asking them to do this piece individually also helps the more introverted to have their chance; if left purely as a team tasks the more extrovert personalities may dominate the conversation and ideation.
Storyboarding
Once the teams have decided which solutions they want to pursue they then move onto storyboarding — where they draw out the actual journey of the person using the solution. This is great to make people think about how exactly it will work. It’s easy to say “A chatbot will answer any questions the student has” — but how did the student know about this service, how is it accessed, what happens afterwards?
It’s also a great opportunity to brush off those stick-people drawing skills!
User quotes
Finally each team was asked to create a “user quote” — basically an imagined quote of someone who has just used their solution. This makes people think further of how the solution feels, how it could impact the person using it.
Solutions
So what was dreamed up? All three teams ended up with various versions of digital-screen based services that patrons could interact with either via speech or touch. They also however included non-digital elements like coffee areas, meeting areas, chill-out areas, and areas people can eat and drink.
This only further emphasised to me the human element that’s so important in the libraries, and also pretty much any other service related domain. By using technology to enhance the experience, but not overpower it, patrons/users/customers journeys could be significantly improved.
Final thoughts
I really enjoyed the workshop and think I learned just as much as the attendees did, if not more. Taking the time out of our daily jobs and tasks can have long-term benefits that will ultimately improve the work we do, and improve the lives of our customers (users! / patrons!).
If you’ve any thoughts or comments, let me know below or you can get me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out Liberty IT here. Thanks, Andy
