The document discusses the importance of user experience (UX) research in libraries, emphasizing the need to move beyond traditional attitudinal methods like surveys and focus groups to more reliable behavioral research methods. It argues that understanding actual user behavior, rather than what users say they want, can lead to better library services and user satisfaction. The author highlights various UX research methods and their relevance to libraries, advocating for a more user-centric approach in service design and delivery.

1. IN FRONT OF OUR VERY EYES:
THE VALUE OF UX
RESEARCH METHODS
Andy Priestner | @andytraining
LIASA, 4 October 2017

3. There is no perfect anything for EVERYONE
Stop trying to create the perfect library service
Stop trying to create the perfect spaghetti sauce

4. There is no perfect anything for EVERYONE
We need to identify and respond to these
different groups and provide a library service
that is varied enough that it works despite that
diversity of expectation and behaviour.

5. The world has mostly moved on but libraries have not caught up yet
The world is now pursuing
variability, exploring differences
of experience and opinion and
celebrating diversity
The world only used to pursue
universal truths and absolutes
(I said mostly - politics is an obvious exception and is as binary as it ever was!)

6. Example: FOOD AND DRINK IN THE LIBRARY
Libraries often seek one binary solution – Yes or No:
• Banning food and drink or allowing food and drink
Asking users doesn’t solve the problem:
• Want food and drink / don’t want food and drink /
don’t care
Alternative approach – embracing complexity:
• We allow food and drink in certain areas within
certain parameters to ensure the food and drink
preferences and behaviours of all our different
user groups are supported

7. preferences AND behaviours
only meeting expressed needs can be a big mistake

8. ‘The mind knows
not what the
tongue wants’
Howard Moskowitz
(market researcher
and psychophysicist)

9. ‘What people say
what people do
and
what people say they do are
entirely different things’
Margaret Mead
(anthropologist)
1901-1978

10. Is anyone here
looking for
love?

12. Shayan Zadeh (co-founder and co-CEO of Zoosk)
“There's a gulf between what people say they want,
and what their behaviour reveals about what they
actually want.”
Zoosk chooses to watch what their customers do,
instead of just focusing on what they say.

13. Zoosk actively ignore what people initially state as
their preferences.
Instead they track user behaviour – searches and
profile views - and this feeds into an algorithm which
dictates which recommended profiles are shown.
Zoosk have noticed that the profiles users view and
the people they choose to go on dates with are often
completely contrary to the preferences they initially
stated.
What is going on?
• Peer and societal pressure
• People don’t know what they want until they see it
https://flic.kr/p/drRjwm
https://flic.kr/p/drRjwm

14. What has this got to do with libraries?

15. Well...
unfortunately most librarians
only really conduct:
attitudinal research
(what our users think and say)
rather than
behavioural research
(what our users actually do)

16. Also we feel most comfortable
using the least reliable
attitudinal methods available…
Attitudinal research can be
valuable but we tend to
conduct it very poorly
Step forward…
surveys and focus groups

17. What are the problems
with surveys?

18. problems with surveys
• self-reporting is unreliable
• only filled in by a percentage of users (mostly pro or anti users)
• leading questions
• qualitative questions are not answered
• there are far too many of them
• they do not represent a real or full picture of experience
Let’s take a look at a typical library survey…

19. What we ask…
• How would you rate the library?
• How would you rate library staff?
• What library services need to be
improved?
• Would you use the new <blank> service?
• What do you think of our training
programme?
• Have you got any other comments?
What they say
‘Very good’
‘Good’
‘More books’
‘No’
‘Great’
<blank>
What they are probably thinking
I get most things I need… I think
I’m not really sure what they do
beyond shelving, but they’re nice
I can’t think what else to put here
No idea! I’m gonna put ‘No’. Or
maybe ‘Yes’. No, I’m putting ‘No’
I didn’t even know there was one
I don’t really think about the library
all that much

20. “Users don’t think about
libraries all that much.
They use them but they
don’t think about them.
They have got much more
interesting things to think
about than how to help us
improve our services.”
Andy Priestner

21. What are the problems with focus groups?

22. Imagine the worst library
you can possibly think of.
Double it!
Focus group questions:
‘Is the Department of
Engineering library service
fit for purpose?’
‘Are any changes needed
to its services, spaces or
staffing?’

23. problems with focus groups
• context and options are often not offered
• pleasing the convenors
• groupthink
• introverts are not heard (or are just not there!)
• people are completely awful at predicting their future behaviour

24. But most importantly focus groups and surveys are attitudinal
research methods – what people think NOT what they actually do

25. The solution is to open your
eyes to what is actually
going on in your libraries
and on your digital
platforms: conduct more
behavioural research into
the experience of your users

26. The hardest thing
to see is what is in
front of our eyes
- Goethe

27. UX RESEARCH:
literally user experience
research
attitudes AND behaviour
trying to get into the
shoes of our users more
https://flic.kr/p/7rzrY7

28. User Experience is everything that happens to your users when
they interact with your service in any way (physically or remotely)
It includes everything they see, everything they hear, everything
they do, as well as their emotional reactions.
https://flic.kr/p/dt2Smp

29. How do users actually
feel when they interact
with the library
website, spaces,
collections, WIFI,
furniture, signage and
staff?
These can all be
termed
‘TOUCHPOINTS’.
And you have to ask
yourselves whether
each touchpoint
results in a GOOD or
BAD user experience

30. Website
Collection
WIFI
Furniture
Staff
Psychic experiment:
Which of your library touchpoints
are currently failing users?
Total
Fail
Some
Fail
Signage

31. What are the main UX methods?

32. behavioural UX research methods
• observation
• behavioural mapping
• shadowing / journey mapping
• usability testing
• touchstone tours

33. OBSERVATION and
BEHAVIOURAL MAPPING

34. METHOD:
Spend concentrated time observing how
people actually use and move about the
library.
Record and map the results over several
hour-long sessions to gather insights into
potential improvements.

35. Books as furniture…

36. Entranceway activity…

37. Food and drink requirements…

39. Behavioural map: routes and destinations

40. 10 maps combined show the most popular
seats, services and routes through this library…

43. Desire lines should dictate layout…

44. Design guidelines for spaces with
different study intensities

45. USABILITY
TESTING

46. METHOD:
Observe and record how a user navigates a
digital library platform (e.g. website,
catalogue, discovery layer) while
performing simple search tasks.
Identify confusing/failing elements.
Conducted remotely or in person.

47. • Finding the Library on the University website: ‘I
can’t find it anywhere, its like they’re
deliberately hiding it.’
• Opening hours page: ‘so complicated – I think
it’s been designed to induce distress’
• The discovery layer: ‘it feels like the librarians
are maliciously offering bad content’
• Jargon: ‘I don’t know what any of that means.
Jeez! Stop with the acronyms!’

48. USER JOURNEY
MAPPING

49. METHOD:
Observe how a user completes a common
library task or activity e.g. Finding a book,
booking a study room
What do they find difficult? How long does
it take? What makes them give up?

50. Students wore eyetracking glasses so we
could see exactly where they looked as
they tried to find a book on a reading list
• optimistically browsing shelves
• ignoring signs
• reluctance to use catalogue
• giving up on task
• self-doubt: ‘I can’t library’, ‘I’m not very
good at libraries’
• importance of colour

52. ‘Work like a
patron day’
…to discover
how it feels
to walk
around in
their shoes

53. TOUCHSTONE TOURS

54. METHOD:
Ask a user to give you a tour around the library.
What do they show you? What do they say? What’s
important to them? What do they/don’t they like?

56. UX research also incorporates attitudinal methods
that go much deeper than surveys and focus groups

57. attitudinal UX research methods
• user research interviews
• cognitive mapping
• card sorting
• cultural probes
• love and break-up letters
• grafitti walls
• photo elicitation studies
• generative research (e.g. LEGO)

58. USER RESEARCH
INTERVIEWS

59. METHOD:
Conducting 1-2-1 interviews with users in order to
understand their preferences, issues and priorities
Not a conversation. Letting the user have the floor
and detail their experience in depth.

60. Going beyond what they initially tell you - about
detail, empathy, culture and context
If you don’t dig deep enough you may as well just
do a survey
Example: recent design workshop at the University
of Wolverhampton
• 3 happy Chinese visiting students
• 3 PhD students angry about the PhD room
• 1 PhD student who didn’t like the discovery layer
• 1 Professor with database authentication issues

61. COGNITIVE
MAPPING

62. METHOD:
Asking a user to draw a map of either the
library or their wider study experience.
Drawing brings out different aspects to
verbal or written research techniques.

63. Drawing brings out
different aspects to
verbal or written
research techniques.
Focus is on the the
drawing not the user so
they feel more
comfortable
Different coloured pens
used to denote priority
Not about artistic skill
just simple expression

64. LOVE AND BREAK
-UP LETTERS

65. METHOD:
Learning about the experience of a user
through the medium of a handwritten love
or break-up letter to a product or service.

67. ’It’s not me. It’s you…
the lack of comfort I feel. Are
you hot or cold? Comfy or
hard? Make up your mind!... the
lack of space when I just want
to study and spend time with
you… the lack of reception and
poor WIFI when all I wanted
was a connection with you… I
could go on but I’m done with
trying to make things work’

68. however well you conduct attitudinal research
you must supplement with behavioural methods

69. common
barriers to
UX research
https://flic.kr/p/2j4Ryz

70. I already know what users are doing
It’s an invasion of user privacy
People won’t agree to help
It’s boring
It takes too long
I’m not a researcher
I’m too busy to do it
BARRIER/OBJECTION MY RESPONSE
You probably don’t. I am routinely surprised.
If you explain why you’re doing it, people are generally fine
Recruitment is an issue, but more people will help than you
imagine, plus ad hoc is better than pre-arranged
It’s actually pretty fascinating and addictive
Should be done quickly, UX is not about gathering final
proof, but identifying actionable insights to test (fail fast, fail cheap)
You don’t need to be, these methods are easy to conduct
Is what you’re busy doing more important than learning about user
behaviours and preferences?

71. Why does UX matter now?
Yes, it’s interesting, but so what?
https://flic.kr/p/5cQ6tF

72. • because today’s users are very
different (the world is changing more
rapidly) and there is much more of a
disconnect between them and us
• student experience is on every
University’s agenda
• methods are engaging and
participative
• relatively inexpensive
• pragmatic, evidence-based approach
• can use reliable data to design
services and products that are more
relevant and much needed
Why UX..?

73. ‘the library in the life of the user
not the user in the life of the library’
Lorcan Dempsey
Also… UX takes a more holistic approach

74. WHAT CHANCE UX
IN SOUTH AFRICA?

75. Culture of Tradition Culture of Innovation
Infrastructure Immobility Infrastructure Agility
Library Staff Focus Library User Focus
Fear of Failure Acceptance of Failure
UX ADOPTION IN LIBRARIES: institutional character & the opportunity for UX adoption
UX ADOPTION
SUCCESSFUL UNSUCCESSFUL

76. surely user-centricity should be the core mission of libraries?
https://flic.kr/p/nSDsAZ

77. RICHER AND DEEPER
KNOWLEDGE OF
USER EXPERIENCE

78. If you are interested in holding UX research training days at your
institution please get in touch: info@andypriestnertraining.com
Thank You.