Engaged Libraries: Our Impact

Often as librarians, we center our user data collection based on the experience users have with our products and services – were they able to access a computer? Did they attend our program? Did they find the book they were looking for? What days of the week are they most likely to visit? These augur well for measuring their ease of use, accessibility and overall satisfaction, but do not take into consideration the context of why our users interact with us. What motivates them? What emotional experiences, social needs or cultural traditions are they trying to fulfil when they connect with us? This began our focus for week 2: using human centered design to identify the unmet needs of our users to collaboratively and iteratively solve their problems. This focuses on using the ideas that our users have, to transform what we do for them. It relies on empathy and iteration in our data collection – asking deeper questions of our users and learning from their thoughts and experiences to help us serve them better.

This specifically relates to my work as a librarian in my library’s research, planning and development department: often we design process maps to guide service delivery, but we rarely ask users to detail their experiences interacting with our processes: what they think we could do to move the user experience from generic to more intuitive, effective or even enjoyable. Human centered design (HCD) encourages us to place the user at the core of the design and delivery process – rather than treating users as passive recipients of library services, we can involve them as co-creators. By following the five HCD stages – understand, synthesize, ideate, prototype and implement – we can develop services that are not only functional, but are genuinely responsive to user needs. This not only leads to more effective and meaningful services, but builds trust, transparency, and a deeper sense of connection between the library and its communities of users. By shifting from a process-centered to a people-centered approach, we move beyond simply making services functional—we make them desirable.

Of course, AI is undeniably a focal point, as its use is embedded into nearly every aspect of our daily lives, from how we communicate and shop, to how we learn and seek out information. One comment by our lecturers resonated with me: users often come to the library when they know what they want, after they’ve already conducted their own searches, most likely using tools like Google, ChatGPT, or other AI-driven platforms. By the time they reach us, they usually have a specific question or information need in mind, and they’re often looking for confirmation, refinement, or support. This behavior reinforces the importance of the Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach in libraries. We can no longer assume that users come to us as a first step in their information journey but understand exactly what they require from us. At the same time, we as professionals must become more familiar with the wide and evolving range of AI tools available. It’s not enough to simply acknowledge that AI exists—we need to understand the capabilities and limitations of different tools, how users engage with them, and how these interactions shape expectations for all information services, including those we provide in libraries.

Moving from the operational to the strategic, we delved into the UN Sustainable Development Goals, looking at how our libraries are aligned and contribute to sustainable environments, technologies, resources and services. We conducted a most interesting activity, where we looked to see if our libraries’ mission statements are aligned with the SDGs, and we critically evaluated and wrote down how we think our libraries contribute to each of the 17 goals. This helped put into perspective the impact we already have and in what other areas we could place more emphasis. I am excited to share this activity with other librarians back at home, who can place their daily operations into more of a strategic framework, to see how their contributions affect the bigger picture.

Finally, we took a very interesting and enjoyable trip to Chicago. At the Mac Arthur Foundation, we met with a unique and dynamic librarian who reinvented herself and her titles as the need arose in her career. She now works as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Cultural insights at the prestigious marketing firm AMP. Her advice to us: be in tune with youth and culture; constantly reinvent yourself; be curious; find out what motivates consumers – what are they feeling and thinking; create lasting impact; create a distinct brand strategy; engage in thought leadership.

We also visited the headquarters of the American Library Association (ALA), where I learned an interesting fact: the ALA underwent a significant transition, relocating its entire operations from a dedicated building to just two floors in a new location. Despite this downsizing, the organization’s commitment to advancing the profession and its continued impact across the United States remains undiminished. ALA holds a prestigious and influential position in the field—it serves as the accrediting body for library and information science degree programs in the United States and actively advocates at the federal level on behalf of the profession. This level of authority and visibility sets a noteworthy and aspirational benchmark for library associations around the world. During our time at the iSchool at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), we also learned that, in addition to a master’s degree, school librarians in the U.S. are required to obtain a professional educator license to be fully qualified—further underscoring the rigorous standards of the profession.