Wayfinding

I viewed a Blended Librarian webcast this afternoon on Designing Library Experiences for Users. The Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh worked with a company called Maya Design to develop an information architecture in the broadest sense including library space, services, and organization. For more information see http://www.maya.com/web/what/clients/what_client_clp_dyninfo.mtml.

The group from MAYA Design used a variety of methods to collect information about library use patterns from a customer perspective by “walking in the customers shoes”, interviewing, and shadowing patrons. The planning group then developed 9 personas and focused on four in particular to design user experiences for each persona. The personas they focused on were Teen, Searcher, Explorer, and Non-User.

One of the outcomes is that they used “wayfinding” to give library users more visual cues in the environment as to what services are available. For example, their reference desk now has a sign saying Ask a Librarian with bullets underneath to briefly describe what kind of help is available.