ACRL/NY User Experience Discussion Group

Minutes, 9/11/09 (First Organizational Meeting)

Present: Katrina Frazier, Maureen Weicher, Caroline Fuchs, Kathryn Shaughnessy, Diwata Fonte, Lou Acierno, Terri Corbin-Hutchinson, Eileen Gatti, Luise Trabucchi, Roseanne Humes, Marsha Spiegelman, Stephanie Gross, Susan Werner, Carrie Netzer Wajda (discussion group chair)

9:00-9:30 Introductions and networking

Opened the meeting at 9:30 with an introduction to the User Experience discussion group by ACRL/NY board members, followed by brief explanations of our knowledge of and interest in UX design.

Comments from the group:

• Assumptions we make about our students’ behavior
• Finding out what other schools are doing to research their students *
• Use of icons to convey information on library websites
• How to design better library websites
• Assessment and surveys *
• Seeing how students interact with physical spaces – one member described how the library “didn’t exist” when it did not have a physical campus presence
• Integrating web resources into curriculum using web pages
• Site interactivity – Steven Bill’s Designing Better Libraries site
• UX doesn’t have to be complex – depends upon the user’s experience of a product
• How do we create a new library experience?
• What makes people show up to events (or not)? What makes them come to the library (or not)?
• Academic libraries are falling behind the public library sector; how can we learn from them?
• Greeting library patrons – placement and terminology of reference/patron services
• Determining the message of the library
• Conflicting messages about the library
• The pace of rapid technological change – adapting to rapid change and identifying technologies that will stand the test of time
• Would like to learn more about UX generally
• Getting past library cultural divides and making our libraries an “experience” without being gimmicky
• How to ask the right questions – using their words instead of ours, doing research and managing the process *
• Identifying issues specific to distance learning programs
• Faculty collaborations – LMS/Blackboard – getting our faculty online
• Renovations and (more broadly) maximizing limited library resources to improve the library experience for our users
• Marketing library services more generally
• Institutional problems (legal issues with surveys or interacting with research boards)
• Online tutorials. Are they effective? For whom?
• Website analytics *

[Asterisks indicate topics touched on by multiple people]

Proposed meeting 2x a semester or possibly 2x a year; definitely not monthly. Carrie Netzer Wajda will follow up with a quick poll or survey to determine times and interest. Next meeting: discuss where to locate group resources online (wiki?)

Proposed and resolved the group would like to start a Facebook group; Carrie will put it together and send out invitations. Proposed that if successful we will start an additional group on LinkedIn.

Reminder that to be active participants in Discussion Group meetings, attendees do need to join ACRL/NY chapter.

Meeting adjourned 10:30 am.