Take a peek at this post from the Experience Economy Evangelist. The post discusses using scents as part of creating an experience. Apparently, some hotel chains are beginning to incorporate “signature smells” in their hotel lobbies.

And if you think about it – when you walk into a Starbucks, don’t they have a “signature smell” (as in strong coffee)? New cars also have a “signature smell” – that “new car smell.”

I think libraries also have a built-in signature smell – that of books! That slightly musty, old book smell… that’s one thing that digitization can’t match. I love the smell of books… and I think many other people do, too. It’s a smell that bookstores and libraries share, and I think it’s part of the overall “library experience.”

Maybe we’ll have to start “piping in” the old book smell as we continue to digitize? Who knows…

I just finished listening to the Blended Librarian Live Webcast: Designing Library Experiences For Users. Aradhana Goel, Senior Information Designer at Maya Design, gave the webcast. It was good! I’d recommend y’all to listen to one sometime – they do a good job.

I took some notes during the webcast – here they are:

Wow – over 90 people/sites logged in – that’s a large webcast!

Talking about the library’s bookdrop – “The bookdrop is hidden/not prominent at all – this is pretty much the state of this library. Everything was a mystery at first and it begins to make sense after about 1 hr.”

thought… what’s hidden or a mystery about your technology? Your website, your public PCs? What can you make clearer to your users?

Described a catalog search and explained how difficult it was to use.

“library jargon had permeated the space”

digital is part of the experience – there’s also physical experience, interaction experience (both digital and physical interactions), etc.

Four components of the library experience:
1. users
2. organizers
3. materials/activities
4. Use/Participate

They focused on 9 core personas 9 (ie., non-user, searcher, active learner, teen, etc… ) and worked through “Use Scenarios,” or user experience timelines, for each persona. It was sort of a “day in the life of a user.”

Then they looked at breakpoints (bad stuff that happened)
during each Use Scenario to find patterns… things like like disorientation, catalog confusion, jargon, next steps,
etc. Then they figured out solutions to those problems.

“An experience really starts when the scenario persona gets up in the morning and decides they want to read…”

Other interesting points/quotes:

• “The user’s journey does not end at finding material…”
• “the end of every customer journey should be the beginning of a new one…”
• classification scheme includes action oriented signage – one physical sign changed from Reference Desk to Ask a Librarian
• The sign also included “what I can do for you” types of snippets, like Find Information, Borrow Books, etc…
• Emphasized having consistent language in both the physical and the digital space

That’s all – hope you find it useful!

The Esthetic Realm is all about passive immersion. You’re immersed, but you have little effect on the experience, leaving the environment untouched. A great example would be standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon – you are immersed in the huge cliffs and the beauty, but you can’t really change anything. Visiting an art gallery or a cool cafe might provide a similar (but much less grand) experience. At the cafe, there might be cool hip music, great smelling coffee, possibly a good book, and maybe other similarly-minded people. That sets up an esthetic experience.

Libraries can pull this one off – our buildings can set a mood or strike a pose. Our library staff can even help to provide this type of experience, either good or bad, via attitude. Our books do this visually with a look and a smell.

Our website can do this, too, can’t it? It can strike a pose and set a mood. It can give off good/bad vibes that set a (hopefully) positive attitude towards staff. This is seen in the look-and-feel of the site.