This academic journal essay is about design thinking. How design thinking works in libraries. A design approach to the delivery of outstanding services can help library professionals become strategizers and problem-solvers who put the user experience first. As Roger Martin says: “A way of approaching business problems in the same way that the designer approaches a design problem.” One that begins by fully understanding the problem before thinking about possible solutions. The essay also provides five steps of design thinking called the IDEO method. The first step is understand. Get to know the needs and challenges of your user population, and how they perceive your products and services. The second step is observe. Watch real people in real-life situations to find out how they work, what confuses them, what they like and dislike, and where their needs can be better served. The third step is visualize. Think about new ideas and concepts and how the people who use your library will use them. The fourth step is evaluate/refine. We should test our ideas and improve them. And the last step is implement. This is the longest and most difficult part of the process, but this is how any new product or service goes public for user consumption. Design thinkers take a much more deliberate and thoughtful approach to problem resolution. Where design thinking can really help librarians make a difference is in creating better library user experiences. For example, making your own coffee is cheap. Buying a cup of coffee can cost twice as much. But people will pay the premium because they want the experience. Design thinking may help by providing a framework for identifying the problems that prevent the delivery of great user experiences.
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