Designing Collection Experiences:3. Discovery

Roy Kenagyrjkenagy@netins.net

www.whatwouldranganathando.orgOctober 8, 2013

Waterloo Public Library

The Collection Conversation

Availability: Are the texts that the reader would prefer to select presented when the reader would prefer to select them?

The collection as artifact

Frances Yates. The Art of Memory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966.

The collection as agent

Conversation Theory

R. David Lankes, Joanne Silverstein, Scott Nicholson, and Todd Marshall. "Participatory Networks: The Library As Conversation." Information Research 12, no. 4 (October 2007): available at: http://informationr.net/ir/12-4/colis/colis05.html.

Lankes et. al.: “Roadmap to the participatory library”

The library as system

Dee Andy Michel. "A File Structure Model of Library Search Behavior." Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1992.

CIRC & Reference: Law & Order pastiche

What are some of the issues in thinking of Circ & Reference as “the public library system”?

"A reference transaction is an information contact that involves the knowledge, use, recommendation, interpretation, or instruction in the use of one or more information sources by a member of the library staff. Information sources include printed and non-printed materials, Internet, FirstSearch, or EBSCOhost, machine-readable databases, catalogs, and other records. Also, count referrals to other libraries, institutions, and persons both inside and outside the library. The request may come in person, by phone, fax, mail, electronic mail, or through live or networked electronic reference service from an adult, young adult, or child. "

"Do not count directional transactions or questions of rules or policies.Examples of directional transactions are "Where are the children's books?"and "I'm looking for a book with call number 612.3." An example of a question of rules or policies is 'Are you open until 9:00 tonight?'“

~Scott Dermont, quoting the rules on IOWALIB, Oct 4, 2013

“Reference” includes reader’s assistance.

For each reference transaction:

Checkouts VisitsInternet

usesMean, Iowa libraries 16 11 2

Charles City 23 15 4Mean, Size E 23 21 4

Cedar Falls 13 8 2Mean, Size G 18 11 2

Waterloo 6 3 2Mean, Size H 12 6 1

Ratio of reference transactions to library activities

Calculated with data found in Iowa Public Library Statistics, FY12 (2011-2012), edited by Scott Dermont. Des Moines, Iowa: Iowa Library Services, May 29, 2013.

For FY 2012 In Iowa, the ratio of reference transactions to library visits was 1:11.

How do we communicate with the hidden 90%?

Kathy Sierra. "Presentation Skills Considered Harmful." Serious Pony (October 4, 2013): [blog]; available at http://seriouspony.com/blog/2013-10/4/presentation-skills-considered-harmful.

“And if they’re my users, then this presentation is a user experience.

And if it's a user experience, then what am I?

Ah... now we’re at the place where stage fright starts to dissolve.

Because if the presentation is a user experience, than I am just a UI [User Interface].

That’s it.

I am a UI.

Nothing more.

And what’s a key attribute of a good UI?

It disappears.

It does not draw attention to itself.

It enables the user experience, but is not itself the experience.

And the moment I remember this is the moment I exhale and my pulse slows. Because I am not important. What is important is the experience they have. My job is to provide a context in which something happens for them.”

Kathy Sierra, "Presentation Skills Considered Harmful."

The Implied Author

Wayne C. Booth. The Rhetoric of Fiction. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983.

The implied librarian

• Eliminate dumb contacts

• Create engaging self service

• Be proactive• Make yourself easy to

contact • Own your actions

across the library• Listen and act• Deliver great customer

service experiences

The Modern Library LadyThe Story of The Modern Library Lady, as told by the late Thelma Grover.

Jay Satterfield. The World's Best Books: Taste, Culture, and the Modern Library. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002.

• Staff aren’t the problem

• Design systems so that heroes aren’t required

• It’s difficult to find and pay people with both technical and people skills

Frances Frei and Anne Morriss. Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2012.

This browsing life

Why librarians need to take browsing more seriously.

Ronald E. Rice, Maureen McCreadie, and Shan-Ju L. Chang. Accessing and Browsing Information and Communication. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001.

Geoffrey O'Brien. The Browser's Ecstasy: A Meditation on Reading. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 2000.

User [and librarian] experience

Jakob Nielsen. "User Expertise Stagnates at Low Levels." NN/g Nielsen Norman Group: Evidence-Based User Experience Research, Training, and Consulting (September 28, 2013): [web site]; available at http://www.nngroup.com/articles/stagnating-expertise/.

Summary: Learning is hard work, and users don't want to do it; they don't explore the user interface [i.e., catalog] and don't know about most features.

Nielsen, Jakob. "User Expertise Stagnates at Low Levels." NN/g Nielsen Norman Group: Evidence-Based User Experience Research, Training, and Consulting (September 28, 2013): [web site]; available at http://www.nngroup.com/articles/stagnating-expertise/.

How to co-exist with browsers (after Jakob Nielsen)

• Fewer features• Visible features• Visible signifiers• Just-in-time learning• Teachable moments• Forgiveness• Low-commitment previews• Just plain usability

Brian C. O'Connor, Jud H. Copeland, and Jodi L. Kearns. Hunting and Gathering on the Information Savanna: Conversations on Modeling Human Search Abilities. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow, 2003.

Peter Pirolli. Information Foraging Theory: Adaptive Interaction With Information. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Language and representation

“Since most ordinary language is learned by demonstration rather than definition, and such demonstration requires immediate feedback, Information Retrieval systems must be built to facilitate the process of adaptive communication which typifies ordinary language usage.”

David C. Blair. Language and Representation in Information Retrieval. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1990.

Robert K. Merton and Elinor G. Barber. Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Historical Semantics and the Sociology of Science. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 2004.

The Collection MjConversation: Mj

give, make, and Mjtake in real time Mj

Give: attention Mj

Make: experience Mj

Take: meaning Mj

Weeding

From the reader’s point of view, your collection consists of the texts

you don’t weed.Minus the Collection in Use.

Weeding improves shelf availability.

Weeding creates opportunities.

MAÎTRE D (John Cleese): And finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint.MR. CREOSOTE (Terry Jones): Nah.MAÎTRE D: Oh, sir, it’s only a tiny, little, thin one.

The opportunity cost of just-in-case books

Annual retail rent per square foot $15.53 (national average; 2nd quarter 2013)

Volumesper

Format sq. ft. 1 10 100 1,000Adult hardback books 10 $1.55 $16 $155 $1,553

Paperbacks 20 $0.78 $8 $78 $777Current periodicals (per issue) 1 $15.53 $155 $1,553 $15,530Back periodicals (per volume) 10 $1.55 $16 $155 $1,553

Government documents 30 $0.52 $5 $52 $518Audiotapes 30 $0.52 $5 $52 $518Cake Pans 1 $15.53 $155 $1,553 $15,530

Compact discs 30 $0.52 $5 $52 $518Children's books (42" shelving) 9 $1.73 $17 $173 $1,726Children's books (66" shelving) 15 $1.04 $10 $104 $1,035

Children's picture books (42" shelving) 30 $0.52 $5 $52 $518

Annual cost by number of volumes

Volumesper

Format sq. ft. 1,000 5,000 10,000 20,000 Adult hardback books 10 100 500 1,000 2,000

Paperbacks 20 50 250 500 1,000 Current periodicals (per issue) 1 1,000 5,000 10,000 20,000 Back periodicals (per volume) 10 100 500 1,000 2,000

Government documents 30 33 167 333 667 Audiotapes 30 33 167 333 667 Cake Pans 1 1,000 5,000 10,000 20,000

Compact discs 30 33 167 333 667 Children's books (42" shelving) 9 111 556 1,111 2,222 Children's books (66" shelving) 15 67 333 667 1,333

Children's picture books (42" shelving) 30 33 167 333 667

by Volumes WeededSquare Feet Released

Space released by weeding

Benefits – space & otherwise

Collection Depreciation

Diminished... Mj

Demand Mj

Currency Mj

Condition Mj

Weeding Practices

How do you weed? How would you like to weed?

Weed the entire collection once a year.

That first year is a doozie.

Team Weeding

Team Weeding: MjFocus, Focus, Focus, MjFocus, Focus, Focus, MjFocus, Focus, Focus Mj

Determine Mjrhizomes Mj

Determine cutoff Mjstandards Mj

Create a pick list Mj

Assemble the worst- Mjcase collection Mj

Selector sort Mj

Team review Mj

Selector Mjreview Mj

Selector Mjfollowup Mj

Evaluation Mj

Determine rhizomes

Cutoff standards vary widely among rhizomes.

Determine cutoff standards

Demand, Currency, Condition

Demand cutoff standards

Demand standards are based on the same data as duplication standards.

Slote, Stanley J. Weeding Library Collections: Library Weeding Methods. 4th ed. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1997.

Time Since Last Arrival

Days/Months since last arrival

Duplicate? Weed?

Shelf Time Studies

• Weeding cutoff dates • Size of active/inactive collections

Shelf Time exercise: answers

CurrencyCREW standards

and/or1½ times median age of the

Collection in Use.

CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries, ed. Jeanette Larson. Revised and updated ed. Austin, Tex.: Texas State Library, 2012; available at https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/index.html.

Rod Pierce. "Definition of Median" Math Is Fun. Ed. Rod Pierce. Aug 23, 2013.

http://www.mathsisfun.com/definitions/median.html

Using median age to estimate currency cutoff age

1 ½ times the median age of the collection in use

Condition

Start with a sample of copies with 50 or more circulations, and work in either direction depending on the result.

Create pick list(s)

Pick list report(s)

• Copies that haven’t circulated in X number of months [Demand cutoff]

• Copies that are older than X [Currency cutoff]• Copies that have circulated more than X times

[Condition cutoff]

Create a combined list if possible

Assemble the worst-case collection

Have an aide or volunteer pull the pick list and shelve the copies in shelf list order in a staff work area.

Selector Sort

The selector responsible for the rhizome reviews and physically separates the worst-case copies into 4 ranges.

• Withdraw• Replacement• Further research • Free keepers

Team Review

Other staff review the selector’s decisions and comment on titles they would treat differently.

Selector Followup

Final disposition of the copies is completed by the selector responsible for the rhizome.

Evaluation

Review cutoff standards annually. Summarize findings to help in estimating replacement budgets and selection decisions.

Annual-weeding-as-inventory

Missing Items Inventory

• Weeding

• Circulation

• Shelf checks

• Reference Inventory

• High-Loss Tracking

Manage Mjshelf bias Mjthrough... Mj

Weeding Mj

Duplication Mj

Replacement Mj

Standing MjOrders Mj

New Editions Mj

Always MjAvailable Mj

Duplication MjFormulas Mj

Currency Mj

Condition Mj

Weeding/ Mj Inventory Mj

Demand Mj

Inventory Mj

Missing Items MjInventory Mj

High-Loss MjTracking Mj

Warehouse or Savanna?

3. Discovery Mj- 10/8 Mj

Merchandising Mj

Electronic discovery Mj

Programming Mj

Access Services Mj

Reader's MjAssistance Mj

Weeding Mj

Stack MjManagement Mj

The MjCollection Mj

Conversation Mj

Classification Mj

Presenting Mjthe collection Mj

Classification

BISAC Subject Classification

Book Industry Standards and Communication

anythink: Rangeview Library District, Adams County, Colorado

Merchandising

Paco Underhill. Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping—Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond. Rev. ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009.

What retailers Mjdon't know... Mj

Closure Rate Mj

Interception MjRate Mj

Time in Store Mj

Waiting Time Mj

Embodiment Mj

What % of customers Mjmake a purchase? Mj

What % of customers Mjinteract with staff? Mj

How much time is spent Mjper store visit? (Not Mj

including waiting time.) Mj

How much time is spent Mjwaiting for service? Mj

What are the physical Mjcharacteristics of Mj

customers? Mj

ServiceScapes: The Concept of Place in Contemporary Markets, ed. John F. Sherry, Jr. Lincolnwood, Ill.: NTC Business Books, 1998.

Jeannette Woodward. Creating the Customer-Driven Library: Building on the Bookstore Model. Chicago: American Library Association, 2004.

Stephanie Weaver. Creating Great Visitor Experiences: A Guide for Museums, Parks, Zoos, Gardens, and Libraries. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Left Coast Press, 2007.

Mary Anne Nichols. Merchandising Library Materials to Young Adults. Libraries Unlimited Professional Guides for Young Adult Librarians, edited by C. Allen Nichols and Mary Anne Nichols. Greenwood Village, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 2002.

Stack Management

William J. Hubbard. Stack Management: A Practical Guide to Shelving and Maintaining Library Collections. Chicago: American Library Association, 1981.

Richard Joseph Hyman. Shelf Access in Libraries. Chicago: American Library Association, 1982.

Reader’s Assistance

A tale of three service desks.

Programming

Where implied librarians are sometimes ambushed.

Electronic Discovery

In search of a secure recommender system.

Ray Oldenburg. The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts and How They Get You Through the Day. 2nd ed. New York: Marlowe, 1997.

The collection conversation