Sources: Useful, Usable, Desirable: Applying User Experience Design to Your Library

Useful, Usable, Desirable: Applying User Experience Design to Your Library. By Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2014. 176 p. Paper $65 (ISBN 978-0-8389-1226-3).

It’s all about the user. This point is made clear in Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches’s new book, Useful, Usable, Desirable: Applying User Experience Design to Your Library. The conversational tone of this book adds to the growing body of publications on the user experience. It serves as a step-by-step guide to developing a welcoming library based on a number of library “touchpoints,” or key components, that affect the user experience, such as the library website, signage, furniture, restrooms, policies, and collections. Although many of the recommendations (such as ensuring that furniture is intact and keeping restrooms clean) are common sense for any public service manager, the book stresses the importance of the local environment and the need to focus on the members of the local library community.

The title of the book refers to what the authors call the “trinity” of good user experience. The book is organized in a clear and easy-to-use format, allowing the reader to move from section to section as needed. Chapters are devoted to physical space, service points, policies and customer service, signage and wayfinding, and online presence. Additional chapters provide a general review of attitudinal and behavior research and the importance of organizational culture. The appendix offers a scoring sheet as a method for assessing library service. A rating scale may appeal to some librarians, but the list used on its own would be equally beneficial.

Schmidt and Etches are not newcomers to the user experience field. They have collaborated on projects, and both are actively engaged in work. Schmidt is the head of Influx Library User Experience, a design firm dedicated to integrating user experience design into libraries. Etches is the head of Discovery and Access at the University of Guelph Library and also a part of Influx.

This book is recommended for those new to the user experience concept and serves as a useful introduction to creating and maintaining a positive user experience. The parting words capture the objectives of the authors: “Every decision we make affects how people experience the library. Let’s make sure we’re creating improvements” (158).—Jane A. Carlin, Director, Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington