Getting Started in Service Design: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians

by Joe J. Marquez, Annie Downey

Service design is a holistic, collaborative methodology that puts the user at the center of the service delivery model. Because this approach prioritizes users and their overall experience, it’s a valuable framework that librarians and administrators can use as a group to assess, revise, and create library services, spaces, and workflows. In this book, the authors use an action-oriented assortment of exercises, templates, and tools to make service design more accessible to all types of libraries. Escorting readers through all the fundamentals, this how-to-do-it manual

* introduces the service design concept, what it is used for, and how it can benefit every institution;
* includes a checklist for determining if service design is the best approach;
* describes the four necessary phases for any service design project, with key exercises for thinking in service design terms to craft a “thick description” of the library’s users and behavior;
* explains the importance of making assessment part of the fabric of the library, and offers tools following through;
* reviews real-life examples of implemented service design, spotlighting how students and researchers use library services;
* provides templates for documenting service design; and offers advice for moving forward and managing change.

This book is the perfect primer for those new to the methodology as well as a useful reference to consult throughout a service design project.

120 pages, Paperback

Published June 26, 2017

About the author

Joe is the co-author (with Annie Downey) of Library Service Design: A LITA Guide to Holistic Assessment, Insight, and Improvement and Getting Started in Service Design. In 2017, he was awarded the first Future of Libraries Fellowship from the ALA Center for the Future of Libraries. He has presented and written on service design, UX tools, library space assessment, website usability, and marketing of the library. His current research interests include service design in the library environment and space usage assessment. Joe is the co-founder of the LUX Service Design consulting firm. He holds an MLIS from the University of Washington iSchool and an MBA from Portland State University. Joe is an academic librarian in Portland, OR, where he lives with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Service Design is one aspect of one doesn't normally think when doing their routine job. How and why are service points created the way they are. This tome lives up to its name; it is indeed a how-to for getting started and does not weigh a person down with a lot of whys or histories of service design.