philosophy & beliefs

Philosophy

I focus my reading and research on a few topics of choice that usually apply to user experience in some form or function.  As a librarian I believe it is my duty as a service providing professional to be keenly in tune with the needs and wants of the individuals that I serve.

I consider myself a technologist and therefore examine user experience with that lens first.  Observing web design trends, interaction design, and other forms of online media help me to understand what the mainstream considers to be the tenets of successful user experience design.  Most importantly is the influence of proper information architecture.

Morville and Rosenfeld (2007) in Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (also lovingly referred to as the Polar Bear book) provided a four part fork in defining the term, but as simply as I can put it here Information Architecture (IA) is about the information environment, why and how that environment is traversed, and the manipulation of that environment to improve user experience.  If that sounds familiar, you’re probably a librarian.  The question I ponder is “do we, as librarians, care enough about IA for our digital information environments?”  I waffle on the answer to this, but usually I tend to think we don’t.

It’s my belief that we should.  We should care deeply and fully about the impact our digital information environments – our OPACS, our digital libraries, our websites – have on our users.  I think historically speaking, and with a rekindled spirit as of late, our profession has cared immensely about getting users in the door and about what they experience once in.  But virtually?  I think we could do better.

My Beliefs

You may find this reminiscent of the school of S.R. Ranganathan…

  • Libraries, their information objects, and their peripheral environments are for use.
  • Each user is unique; treat them as individuals and provide for their information needs as much as possible.
  • Librarians are caretakers, not rulers of information environments; let us create connections, encourage serendipitous finding, and enable information exchange.
  • Libraries are places for inspiration, discovery, and stories; share these stories and encourage the heart.
  • Librarians are mucked by stereotype; collaborate, innovate, and let’s continue to prove our worth.