Electronic Currents

The Right Tool for the Job

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Abstract

In October 2018, we had the opportunity to engage with attendees at the Digital Library Federation (DLF) conference about fostering strategic approaches to digital library assessment (https://dlfforum2018.sched.com/event/FVBm/m4d-do-you-really-need-to-do-a-survey-developing-a-strategic-approach-to-digital-library-assessment). During the session, we briefly presented a framework for thinking through various user research avenues and related methodologies (suggesting that the user survey isn’t the only useful tool libraries could employ even if we use them a lot!) and then invited participants to consider what they wanted to work on in these areas. As session participants described their projects, we offered guidance on developing or improving the research approaches attendees were considering. This ideation and coaching session enabled attendees to consider how user research design should always have an underlying strategy to work effectively. We were heartened by the participation in the session and the number of follow-up conversations we had throughout the conference.

How to Cite:

Cooper, D. & Hinchliffe, L. J., (2019) “The Right Tool for the Job”, MAC Newsletter 46(4), 14-16.