Chapter 16 Instructor Supplement:
User Experience

Chapter 16 Learning Objectives

After completing this chapter, readers should have a better understanding of:

• what UX encompasses;

• the connections between user-centered design principles and excellence within key areas of information practice; and

• essential techniques for identifying, implementing, and assessing improvements in UX for information organizations, online or in-person.

Chapter 16 Instructor PowerPoint

Downloadable PowerPoint presentation and PowerPoint notes for course instruction. These files are only accessible to instructors who have adopted Information Services Today: An Introduction (3rd ed) for their course. To request access, please click on the images below or email Sandy Hirsh.

Chapter 16 Discussion Questions

The following questions are included in the textbook

1. Debate has arisen in the profession as to what terminology is most appropriate to refer to the individuals served by our information organizations. What advantages or disadvantages do you see to adopting any of the following potential descriptors - user, constituent, customer, member, and patron?

2. Many factors that could contribute to a potentially unpleasant user experience are outside of the control of any organization and its staff. For example, a crowded store on a very wet, blustery day around rush hour might have several inherent disadvantages to overcome. With this in mind, what actions might we take to mitigate external factors and increase the likelihood that our visitors, online or in-person, have an excellent experience with our information organizations even in potentially difficult circumstances?

Additional discussion questions provided by author

1. Imagine you are talking to a close friend or family member – really, anyone not enrolled in this course – and they ask you to share what you have most recently read as part of your coursework. How would you describe user experience to them, in your own words?

2. Effectively designing useful, usable, desirable experiences requires that information professionals “put the user first.” To be able to put the user first, information professionals must be able to answer this question: who is our user? One cannot effectively serve everybody, so information professionals must be able to identify a primary user group and define the characteristics of that user group. How would you go about doing this in a specific information organization?

Related Chapters

The following chapters are referenced in Chapter 16 and may assist in expanding your classroom instruction and discussions.

• Chapter 12: Virtual Resources and Services

• Chapter 13: Information Intermediation and Reference Services

• Chapter 14: Metadata, Cataloging, Linked Data, and the Evolving ILS

• Chapter 17: Accessing Information Anywhere and Anytime: Access Services

• Chapter 18: Teaching Users: Information and Technology Literacy Instruction

• Chapter 21: Strategic Planning

• Chapter 22: Change Management

• Chapter 26: Innovative Library and Information Services: The Design Thinking Process

• Chapter 27: Managing Collections

• Chapter 29: Data Management, Analysis, and Visualization