Design Thinking and Libraries

Today we were informed that Steven Bell of Temple University will be the speaker at our staff retreat on May 21. 5 years ago Steven was the speaker at our retreat held at New Jersey City University when he spoke about blended librarians. Rich Sweeney distributed a list of his publications concerning innovation and design in relation to libraries. The following paper was of interest to me:

Bell, Steven J. "Design Thinking." American Libraries 39.1/2 (2008): 44-49. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 9 Apr. 2010.

I will quote two sentences from this paper:

"What can librarians do to create experiences that are memorable? That's where design thinking may help by providing a framework for identifying problems that prevent the delivery of great user experiences."

I was thinking about how over recent years the gate count of the NJIT library has dropped as enrollment has increased. There are legitimate reasons for this:

1. The student center was greatly expanded providing more study spaces
2. There are large lounges in the Honors College and Biomedical Engineering Department both located in Fenster Hall
3. Since the price of laptops has decreased, more students have them and don't need to use the computers in the information commons as they once did.

What service does the library provide which is not available anywhere else on campus?

• Group Study Rooms

During exam periods, it is almost impossible to get one. How can the Robert Van Houten Library provide more group study rooms to attract more people to the library?

Bound periodicals which take up most of the space on the second and third floors are now used minimally. I would love to see most of the bound periodicals consolidated so that the entire third floor can be devoted to those rooms of various sizes. I would insist that the bound periodicals be placed in a storage area that is readily accessible for users.

Problem - Design innovations cost money which is very scarce these days.

1. We would need space and compact shelving for these lesser used bound periodicals
2. There would be construction costs entailed with creating new group study rooms.

When I first came to NJIT Joel Bloom told us "We are as good as our weakest point." For all these years lack of funding has thwarted much of the strategic planning in the library.

Just my thoughts on a Friday afternoon.