Behavior studies show that more and more people visiting libraries want to find materials and information on their own. This presents a challenge for librarians: how can they best help these self-directed readers? While many libraries use traditional strategies with book displays and bibliographies, today’s readers need more. This webinar will share the latest results of patron browsing behaviors and offer innovative practices to help you engage patrons with passive programming ideas and self-directed pathways. #BeyondBookDisplays

1. Helping Readers Help Themselves
BEYOND BOOK DISPLAYS:
#beyondbookdisplays
Library Journal Webcast
March 17, 2015
Nancy Dowd @nancydowd Project Lead, LibraryAware
Kate Lawrence @bykatelawrence VP, User Research
EBSCO Information Services

2. About Us
I am passionate about libraries and dedicated to ensuring the rest of the
world knows their value. I am an author, speaker and blogger and have been
with Novelist for three years. – Nancy Dowd
Special thanks to Deirdre Costello, Sr. UX Researcher at EBSCO,
the lead researcher for the study talked about today >
I am an explorer. I have been a UX practitioner for 25 years.
User Research is my favorite role – by far. My journey has taken me
from health care to online travel; now I am embracing my inner
librarian here at EBSCO, since 2011. – Kate Lawrence

3. Public Libraries:
The 2014-5 EBSCO Study
Debriefs
Recreate user session
with research team;
distill findings
Affinity Mapping
Synthesizing the
findings down into
a set of affinities
Stakeholder Reviews
When people come to
“walk the walls” the
opportunities for
services and products
emerge from the
findings.
User Sessions
Conduct user-driven
sessions (not interviews)
that start with a single
question

4. 5 Key Takeaways: Public Library Study5 Key Takeaways: Public Library Study
My Library Timeline
“Library Math”
Social Media Matters
A Safe, Self-Directed Zone
Recommendations &
Buy vs. Borrow

5. • How EBSCO’s findings contrast with the Pew Report library user types
• Participants have fond memories of using the library as a child; many
times that evolved into using the library with children
• Life changes were a catalyst for re-starting library usage; children
(& commute) also key reasons to stop using library
• Among non-users, there is still support, awareness of underutilization
of library services
My Library Timeline

6. “Library Math”
• The calculations and algorithms that patrons employ to determine if
reserving an item or waiting for it is worthwhile
• User is calculating: # of copies x borrow time = wait time
• Why and how libraries can communicate key information (metrics) via
marketing materials that can influence the outcome of patron library math
• Which placement of marketing materials is most noticed by patrons in the
library, and what activities users want to know about most

7. • Social media channels are a large part of how participants found out
about everything, from news to activities;
• Twitter, then Facebook are significant discovery tools
• Social media is not just an informer, but a platform for dialogue
• Social media is a tool to be leveraged by libraries to broaden the
narrow user interpretation of libraries = books; consider leveraging
social media to promote activities that aren’t necessarily book-related
on social media
Social Media Matters

8. • The library is a safe zone to practice skills, to bring children (and let
them ‘practice’ independence)
• Patrons appear to feel inside a vault of respect & privacy at the library
– more relaxed about privacy concerns within the safety of the library
• Goal is to empower self-guided pathways; the way we consume news
points to a desire for self-curated content from a variety of sources
• Most participants had a mission in mind when they walked into the
library
A Safe, Self-Guided Zone

9. • Trust is an essential component of seeking out & accepting
recommendations
• Participants had trusted sources and voices. “I get recommendations
from a system that gets me: Amazon, Kindle, Goodreads.”
• “I rely on the echo chamber” effect. I keep hearing about it, but a single
mention isn’t enough for me to act.
• Buy or Borrow? “I buy, because library rules don’t work for me. I want
what I want when I want it.”
• Religion about both sides. Library math – supports the “buy”
Recommendations & Buy vs. Borrow

10. STRATEGIES
Avid Readers

11. STRATEGIES
Casual Readers

12. STRATEGIES
Self Directed
Pathways
Photo Credit: dr1v3r12.tumblr.com

14. Book Display

15. End Caps

16. Stacks

17. STRATEGIES
Starting here.
Photo Credit: Literary Hoots

20. Thank you Emily!
http://www.literaryhoots.com/

21. Providing
a Pathway

22. Start here.

23. Endcap

24. Shelf
Talkers

25. Take Away

26. Shelf Talkers
Ideas

27. Shelf Talkers
Ideas

28. Shelf Talkers
Ideas

29. Schoollibrarydisplays.blogspot.com

31. Email and Social

38. STRATEGIES
Social Media

45. More Strategies

47. Form Based

48. Interest
Groups

49. Opt-In
eNewsletters

50. Thank you!
ndowd@ebsco.com
klawrence@ebsco.com