Or why we changed our user strategy

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”

Georgina Cronin User Experience Librarian

Cambridge Judge Business School

Why the Star Wars theme ?

At work we kept calling the conference R2D2 so we ran with it

Overview of our Users

• High-fee paying• High expectations• Time-poor• Competitive• Confident• Tech-savvy• Demanding

Are we stereotyping?

• High-fee paying• High expectations• Time-poor• Competitive• Confident• Tech-savvy• Demanding

Some paying more than others, some paying substantially less

UG students very low expectations

Varies between user groups

Not all. Exaggerated personality type

Perhaps more confident than most students but again varies considerably

Not as many gadgets or as much awareness as you’d imagine

Some users don’t use our services no matter how hard we try

Designated Support Librarians (DSL)

UGMBA MFinEMBA MPhils PhD

MEG ANGE CLAUDIA NATASHA SARAH

Identify user group traits and assign each a designated support librarian...

Why DSL missed the target...

• Some didn’t like a single point of contact

• Some groups didn’tnotice the difference• Too many emails

• Too generic

• It’s not their course that defines them

Next: User Experience (UX)...

Apply UX principles/approach

• Usability• Observation/Ethnography• Service & Space Design• Personas/User Types

Personas/User Types

Benefits• Better understanding of

our users• Visualising a concept • Empathising with a real

experience• Offering a framework that

can be updated to suit new needs

Drawbacks• Personas can be too

simplistic• Creation of a stereotype

rather than a “real” person• Over-reliance on theory

rather than IRL experience• “Hidden” users can be

forgotten

values, beliefs and priorities which underpin our UX strategy...20

We represent the real face of the library service…and must constantly act as its

(galactic) ambassadors1

99% of people still think we just ‘Stamp, Shelve and Shhhh’

We must seek to dispel these stereotypes!

2

We are living in ‘the age of the individual’ so we must respond with a highly tailored service3

Our approach to customer service must incorporate choice & flexibility…and sweets!4

Users expect greater personal control and autonomy, so we must help them seize that5

Our users will try to find rogue droids themselves,so when they do ask us for help

we must be as visible and approachable as possible when they need help

6

We need to get better at selling a few planets rather than the whole galaxy (far, far away)

7

We can learn a lot from tabloid newspapers, in terms of content hooks, images and headlines8

We need to be present on each and every communication platform, as all the individual

communities add up to our user base9

We must offer seamless access to services wherever our users are and whatever device they’re on10

We must target as much communication as we can and avoid generic emails 11

Broadcasting does not lead to engagement We must promote our services regularly

through having conversations12

We should continue to develop true awareness of the real needs of our users rather than

assuming that we know what they need13

When teaching our users, we must tell stories in preference to delivering facts14

Hang out where our users are and deliver services at the point of need15

Offering a responsive, agile service is key – itcreates expectation, but also engaged users 16

‘Embrace the informal’ – if we dress too formally it promotes the impression

of barriers and discourages interaction17

Our content should make an emotional connection with our users to foster learning and prompt them to think about us/engage with us more

18

We should always seek to innovate and improve our service –

for the sake of our users and our reputation19

We have an exciting opportunity to engage with our users more effectively, and to earn

recognition and respect (maybe even gold medals?) from our users and our employers

20

“Do... or do not. There is no try”

Thank you!

Georgina Cronin

@senorcthulhu

Image credits

All Star Wars characters and images owned by Lucasfilm Ltd. No infringement is intended and images are being used for educational purposes only. We will comply with any requests to remove content.

Other images:http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/4229524412/https://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/8601954407/http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/3951143570/NASAFamous Monsters of FilmlandFan PopNokiaArt StreiberJeffrey Brownhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/3842546304/Chris McVeighhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/4354438814/https://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/4333068306/NASA/ESA