FULL PROPOSAL ABSTRACT, NARRATIVE, AND SCHEDULE OF

FULL PROPOSAL ABSTRACT, NARRATIVE, AND

SCHEDULE OF COMPLETION

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

LG-82-15-0166

SCAD Libraries User Experience: Assessment Tool Planning Grant

Abstract

Savannah College of Art and Design seeks an IMLS Learning Spaces grant to plan for and create

a model for the academic library of tomorrow using UX design expertise. [UX Design is defined

as the process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and

pleasure provided in the interaction between the user and the product.] Specifically, an IMLS

grant would offset planning for an operational model that links library resources (physical,

technological, digital) in a user-experience, participatory-centered design model across all SCAD

libraries, including a reimagining of our space to accommodate new technologies, offer new

services and increase the value of the user experience. This project will produce a UX Design

assessment tool that may be used across the library industry.

The SCAD Libraries User Experience Design Assessment project will utilize UX design-thinking

for the advancement of SCAD library systems’ capacity to support all types of learning and

inquiry, including participatory hands-on learning that appeals to a broad range of learning

modalities (visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc.) The resultant UX Design Assessment Tool will

advance a new paradigm of user awareness and integrated service delivery thus providing a

model for the field.

We will engage a focus group of UX Design students and staff, a collaborative UX Design

Consultant (Influx Library User Experience) and Library management to identify our user

culture, link our physical and digital resources, and design a participatory-friendly operational

model that marries tradition with leading-edge information science practice. The learning

outcomes will be evaluated through a variety of methods but will include pre-planning and

post-implementation surveys of students and staff. (Additional performance goals and

outcomes will be identified by the focus group as part of the planning process.)

The results from the project will be disseminated for wide use, adaptation, scale, and

replication at libraries across the U.S. It will guide libraries in design-thinking and user

experience methods to enhance their ability to make decisions that consider their unique

missions, resources and investments. Allowing for input, consensus building and buy-in across

the library system, university, and UX and service design fields, it will have a lasting impact on

the library field. According to the American Library Association, there are 3,793 academic

libraries in the United States. SCAD can serve as a relevant and qualified planning case-study to

all of them. The resultant UX Design Assessment Tool will be broad-based to appeal to a wide-

range of institutions.

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

LG-82-15-0166

SCAD Libraries User Experience: Assessment Tool Planning Grant

Savannah College of Art and Design, 1

Narrative

Statement of Need

With the inception of the internet and the technological boom of the 1990’s came exponential

economic growth that created new industries and placed America at the forefront of

advancement and innovation– and spurred our nation’s libraries to endeavor in exploratory

thinking and practice as they redefined their role within our nation’s many diverse

communities. Academic libraries, in particular, face many unforeseen challenges today. The Jen

Library at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), primarily serves the Millennial and Z

generations — both are fluent in technology, share a staunch advocacy for the accuracy and

use of Google, and most are unfamiliar with user opportunities within a traditional library

construct or the organization’s ability to serve as a learning resource, and academic tool.

Students today remain technologically adept, yet lack informational literacy within the

constructs of a traditional library. A survey conducted in 2010 by Ithaka S+R found that most

students entering college in the fall of 2011 acknowledged that they lacked the research skills

needed to complete assignments and be successful in an information-intensive economy. A

survey of incoming first-year students found that 60% do not evaluate the quality or reliability

of information; 75% do not know how to locate research articles and resources; and 44% do not

know how to integrate knowledge from different sources (ALA State of America’s Library’s Report,

2012).

Of course, as library professionals, we know the library’s best days remain yet to be seen.

Library learning spaces across the nation are struggling in the transition from the traditional

book and shelf-dominated library, to a broader cultural and holistic library, where focus is on

the user’s experience and on the user’s access to both physical and digital resources. It is

evident that there is a need for broad-based tested and proven operational design models that

may be repurposed on a national level.

SCAD is internationally known for its curriculum which is industry-responsive and advances

innovation and design-thinking within all programs of study, whether digital arts, fashion

design, communication arts, or liberal arts. SCAD is also renowned for its utilization of design-

thinking within every aspect of university operations. This approach catapulted SCAD from a

young art and design college serving 71 students in 1979, to a university serving 12,000

students on three continents through 40 art and design majors of study and 60 specializations.

Today, SCAD is the most comprehensive, art and design university in the world – and the first

and only U.S. university to offer both BFA and MFA degrees in service design. SCAD is an

international leader in user experience (UX) design thinking. [UX Design is the process of

enhancing user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in

the interaction between the user and the product.]

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

LG-82-15-0166

SCAD Libraries User Experience: Assessment Tool Planning Grant

Savannah College of Art and Design, 2

As a leading institution in art and design, of course we view the increased use of digital

platform, technology, and hands-on project based learning methods as a welcome opportunity

to rethink and reinvent “the library”, with five larger issues to consider:

1. New media habits and behaviors of the user;

2. Changes in the libraries collections and services;

3. An increased interest in the user participatory automated experience;

4. Efficient operation and workflow systems that bridge the gap between traditional

expectations and library services and programming; and

5. Limited financial resources

SCAD, like most others working in the field, earnestly believes that libraries should serve as

more than a helpful tool to supplement an individual’s formal education, but as an accessible

resource, rich in genuine expertise, unparalleled knowledge, and a central participatory

learning community that inspires discourse and promotes civic engagement.

Savannah College of Art and Design, respectfully requests an IMLS Learning Spaces grant in the

amount of $50,000 to plan for and test a model for the academic library of tomorrow. Funding

would support planning for a new participatory model of operation that links library resources

to user-experience across the SCAD library system, including a reimagining of our structural

space to accommodate new technologies, offer new services and increase the value of the user

experience.

Project Impact:

The SCAD library system serves the student body through four distinct units that include three

librarian-led facilities with structured collection, circulation and service practices, and one non-

staffed, self-service library with an unstructured orientation for collection, circulation and

services. SCAD’s first library opened in 1980 in a small one-room space with a gift of 10,000

books from the State University of New York at Fredonia. In 1999, SCAD made a significant

investment in what is now known as the Jen Library, expanding it to an 85,000 square foot, 3-

story facility over one city block. The university strategically built the physical collection while

incorporating the latest technological advances including ebooks, online resources and

virtualization of the library catalogue. In subsequent years, with the growth of the university

and openings of new locations in Lacoste (France), Atlanta and Hong Kong, SCAD opened

additional physical libraries and significantly grew its online presence and virtual services.

SCAD Libraries contain nearly 500,000 physical and electronic publications and resources

accessible by all students at all locations. Among the library’s distinguishing factors is the

Artist’s Book Collection of over 2,000 books comprising one of the most significant collections in

the United States. The Don Bluth Collection of Animation consists of animation drawings,

storyboards, and other materials from some of the artist’s most admired work in film, including

the Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, and The Land Before Time. In addition, the library has

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

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SCAD Libraries User Experience: Assessment Tool Planning Grant

Savannah College of Art and Design, 3

maintained a Digital Image Database since 2001 of more than 150,000 images, developed in

response to the need to transition from 35mm slides to digital images. The transcontinental

SCAD library system’s expansive collection and geographic reach, coupled with our leading

education programs in Service and UX Design make us an ideal candidate to undertake such a

project.

Like other libraries, as SCAD’s Library System has experienced exponential expansion of digital

resources over a short period of time, and rapid changes in user culture, the library has had

difficulty linking its physical resources with its digital platform and technology to create an

integrated, participatory, user-centered experience. Because of this dynamic, SCAD library staff

recognize the need to bring clarity to the user experience in order to effectively situate the role

of the library within a student’s greater academic experience, improving the staff’s personal

and professional connection to the user experience, and the greater functionality of library

operations in the context of contemporary academia. Given the forces outside of academia

that are shaping and re-contextualizing social and cultural norms as a result of wide scale

adoption of service design and user experience principles, SCAD and the greater library and

information science field is in need of an innovative tool to define and create a new library

experience that meet the needs of the user.

The SCAD Libraries User Experience Design Assessment project will utilize UX design-thinking

for the advancement of SCAD library systems’ capacity to support all types of learning and

inquiry, including participatory hands-on learning that appeals to a broad range of learning

modalities (visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc.) The resultant UX Design Assessment Tool will

advance a new paradigm of user awareness and integrated service delivery thus providing a

model for the library and information science field.

With an IMLS planning grant we seek to address the following learning outcomes:

 Identify the SCAD library audience, their needs and expectations, and user culture,

 Identify the library’s resources, offerings, needs and expectations,

 Reevaluate and link the use of both the library’s physical space and technology to

promote ease of access to all platforms of information for all users,

 Document our process and develop a broad-based UX Design Assessment tool that will

improve methodologies for measuring the impact of library service models, and

 Create a useful operation model for other academic libraries.

We will engage a focus group of UX Design students and staff, a collaborative UX Design

consultant, Influx Library User Experience, and library management to address the

aforementioned objectives. The prospective learning outcomes will be evaluated through a

variety of methods but will include pre-planning and post-implementation surveys of students

and staff. (Additional performance goals, experience maps, and outcomes will be identified by

the focus group as part of the planning process.)

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

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SCAD Libraries User Experience: Assessment Tool Planning Grant

Savannah College of Art and Design, 4

The project will have a lasting institutional impact, significantly building the capacity of the

SCAD Library system by engaging the community, increasing connectivity, and encouraging

librarian-faculty-student partnerships to support all types of learning and inquiry. In addition,

the project will draw input from experts in both UX Design and the greater library industry,

enabling SCAD to strengthen our professional ties with the field, while also advancing the

adoption of UX in the library and information science field.

The results from the project will be available for wide use, adaptation, scale, and replication at

libraries across the U.S. The outcome will guide libraries in design-thinking and user experience

methods to enhance their ability to make decisions that consider their unique missions,

resources and investments. Allowing for input, consensus building and buy-in across the library

system, university, and UX and service design fields, it will have a lasting impact on the library

field. According to the American Library Association, there are 3,793 academic libraries in the

United States. SCAD can serve as a relevant and qualified planning case-study to all of them.

The resultant UX Design Assessment Tool will be broad-based to appeal to a wider-range of

institutions.

Project Design

Goals and Objectives:

Goal 1: Create a UX Design Assessment tool that that will improve methodologies for measuring

the impact of service design models.

Objective 1: Identify the SCAD Library audience and user culture.

Objective 2: Identify the SCAD Library’s resources, offerings, and the library’s current

role in the university.

Objective 3: Determine current user experience, and user needs.

Objective 4: Document procedure and findings.

Goal 2: Evaluate the user experience and determine methods to link the library’s physical

resources, technology, and digital resources to promote ease of access and hands-on

participatory learning.

Objective 1: Use findings to make recommendations to respond to user needs.

Objective 2: Implement recommendations at the Jen Library in Savannah (and other

locations as appropriate).

Goal 3: Document planning process and outcomes and disseminate findings.

Objective 1: Evaluate effectiveness of model to enhance UX using end-user surveys.

Objective 2: Disseminate information through conferences and publications.

Objective 3: Complete final grant reports.

Procedure/Activities

1. SCAD will develop a collaborative partnership among library staff, UX Design staff and

students and UX Design consultant, Influx Library User Experience. The project will be

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

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SCAD Libraries User Experience: Assessment Tool Planning Grant

Savannah College of Art and Design, 5

managed by SCAD’s Senior Director of Library Services, Darrell Naylor-Johnson and

William (Bill) Lee, Director of Design Management and Industrial Design.

2. The collaborative team will meet weekly for 10 weeks, (as the project will be integrated

into the UX Design class curriculum) and will develop a plan to apply UX principles to an

evaluation of SCAD library user culture and behavior, through methods such as: surveys,

web and online resource evaluation, usability analysis and access, and support service

delivery review. Specific classroom procedure is listed below:

a. Project kickoff: project begins with an in-class engagement between students,

faculty and external partners to present the creative brief and communicate the

goals for the project.

b. Research and exploration: Student teams delve into researching markets, trends

and competitors as they explore and develop a wide variety of methods,

concepts and strategies.

c. Design critique: A midpoint engagement is held for each team to present

concepts and for partners to offer targeted feedback and solidify each team's

direction moving forward.

d. Synthesis and prototyping: Teams synthesize their concepts and strategies,

further refine their designs and begin production on prototypes or proofs of

concept.

e. Final presentation: The creative process culminates with a third in-class

engagement, where students present final design solutions, implementation

strategies, and proofs of concept to the partners.

3. Library management will then implement recommendations of the UX design

assessment plan at the Jen Library, and collaborators will help test the efficacy to deliver

needed results, make recommendations that leverage UX design practices and

principles to build more connectivity and improve, enhance and expand the

experiences, engagement and use of the SCAD Jen Library.

4. SCAD library leadership will document the process and outcomes, and disseminate the

results of the planning grant to library and information science field professionals

through presentations at conferences, (such as ARLIS/NA, and Georgia International

Conference on Information Literacy) and articles in industry publications (such as ALA,

and UX Lib).

5. Implementation of the UX design assessment recommendations at SCAD Lacoste,

Atlanta, and Hong Kong libraries will be determined by the effectiveness of design

model carried out at the Jen Library, and the recommendation of the collaborative

team.

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

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SCAD Libraries User Experience: Assessment Tool Planning Grant

Savannah College of Art and Design, 6

Diversity Plan

SCAD libraries primarily serve the University’s student (approx. 12,000), faculty and staff

(approx. 2350) population. SCAD is proud of the diversity of its student body, which

represents 49 states and over 100 countries, and includes:

 64% female students;

 46% students of color;

 20% international students;

 31% students from low-income households;

 And 11% first-generation college students.

Project Resources

The estimated total project budget is $125,000 to include a percentage of staff salaries, support

for project interns, basecamp project and information software, instructional design support,

and consultant fees. The requested IMLS funds in the amount of $50,000 will be matched

through University operating funds. From research, to implementation and evaluation, we

anticipate the project to begin December 1, 2015 and completed by December 2, 2016.

In 2013, a marketing and brand needs assessment was conducted for SCAD’s Jen Library (see

supplemental document included). This document provides groundwork for this project,

however, this new UX-Design based needs-assessment will be much larger in scope, include a

more holistic approach and will focus on the user experience and creating processes that

encourage learning through participatory experiences.

The Project will be managed by:

Darrell Naylor-Johnson

Since June 2014, Darrell has served as the operations, instructional and technical resources

administrative lead for SCAD Libraries, which are comprised of four geographic locations and

ubiquitous access to extensive digital holdings and virtual resources. Each of the library

collections has unique strengths to meet the needs of that particular SCAD location. As a whole,

SCAD Libraries provide access to more than 200,000 books, 900 current print serials, a wide

variety of special collections items, 12,000 full-text e-journals, 30,000 e-books and more than

one million digital images. The senior director of library services provides vision and direction

for growth of the SCAD multi-campus library system.

Darrell will lead the library’s role and provide his professional input for the project (25% of his

working hours), implementing recommendations as needed. He will coordinate staff and take

part in collaborative team discussions. He will also oversee the project’s finances.

William (Bill) Lee

Since September 2013, Bill has served as Director of Design Management program and

Industrial Design department and is currently engaged in leading the SCAD DMGT program and

teaching both graduate and undergraduate course assignments within the Design Management

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

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SCAD Libraries User Experience: Assessment Tool Planning Grant

Savannah College of Art and Design, 7

& Industrial Design areas. Bill has over 20 years of experience working within the Design

Management and Industrial Design fields.

Bill will lead the student team that will design the UX Design Assessment tool, and undergo the

planning process. He will also serve as the primary liaison to UX Design consultant, Influx Library

User Experience (25% of working hours).

Influx Library User Experience

Influx Library User Experience is a full service design firm that works with public and academic

libraries of all sizes. Specialized in user-centered research methods, Influx helps libraries engage

their communities on a deeper level. Services include website design, user research, strategic

planning, service design, way finding design and more. Influx's book "Useful, Usable and

Desirable" was published by ALA editions in 2014. Influx founder Schmidt authors "The User

Experience," a monthly Library Journal column.

Current and past clients include:

International Monetary Fund Library

Global Libraries Program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Library of Congress

Public Library Association

Seattle Public Library

Influx will provide an independent assessment of the library website and share their findings

with the focus group.

Conclusion

A generous planning grant from IMLS in the amount of $50,000 will enable SCAD to design a

functional, participatory, user-centered library experience. As an international leader in art and

design education – and the most comprehensive art and design university in the world— SCAD

is uniquely poised to lead the exploration of UX Design application in libraries. Thank you for

your thoughtful consideration.

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

Activity

Dec-15 Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16 Jun-16 Jul-16 Aug-16 Sep-16 Oct-16 Nov-16 Dec-16

Curriculum for UX Design library project outlined (Bill Lee)

Class participants conduct preliminary evaluations (meet weekly Jan-thru March)

Influx User Experience (consultant) conducts library website analysis

Class participants formulate UX Design plan

UX Design Consultant shares analysis with Class

Class participants finalize and present final recommendations to library staff

Library Management Implements Focus Group recommendations

Library Management Implements end user survey

Library Management Disseminates UX Design Assessment Tool and Findings

LG-82-15-0166, SCAD Library UX Design Assessment Tool Project Timeline

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Library System

Preliminary Proposal to IMLS National Leadership Grant for Libraries

SCAD Libraries User Experience Design: Assessment Tool Planning Grant

Overview

Libraries have a long history of engaging the users while considering the need to balance user goals and

institutional goals. Library resource management, information literacy instruction, resource acquisition, and

material circulation were established through conventional library science norms. The most recent paradigm

shift in the field of library and information science focused on advances in digital technologies, including

ebooks, online cataloging and discovery tools, and databases. As such, libraries evolved the technical services

of librarianship to address web aspects, systems administration, cataloging and digital discovery. Services such

as information literacy instruction and access services management evolved in parallel to the technical

developments. SCAD proposes that to advance practice in the library field these areas must be integrated and

understood within the context of proactive, anticipatory user experience.

The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is internationally known for its curriculum which is industry

responsive and advances innovation and design-thinking within all programs of study, whether digital arts,

fashion design, communication arts, or liberal arts. SCAD is also renowned for its utilization of design-thinking

within every aspect of university operations. This approach catapulted SCAD from a young art college serving

71 students in 1979, to a university serving 12,000 students on three continents through 40 art and design

majors of study and 60 specializations. Today, SCAD is the most comprehensive art and design university in

the world – and the first and only U.S. university to offer both B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees in service design.

SCAD is an international leader in UX design thinking.

The SCAD Library System serves the student body through four distinct units that include three librarian-led

facilities with structured collection, circulation and service practices, and one non-staffed, self-service library

with an unstructured orientation for collection, circulation and services. SCAD’s first library, Jen Library,

opened in 1980 in a small one room space with a gift of 10,000 books from the State University of New York at

Fredonia. In 1999, SCAD made a significant investment in the library, expanding it to an expansive 85,000

square foot, 3-story facility over one city block. The university strategically built the physical collection while

incorporating the latest technological advances including ebooks, online resources and virtualization of the

library catalog. In subsequent years, with the growth of the university and openings of new locations in Lacoste

(France), Atlanta and Hong Kong, SCAD opened additional physical libraries and significantly grew its online

presence and virtual services.

SCAD libraries contain over 500,000 physical and electronic publications and resources accessible by all

students at all locations. Among the distinguishing factors is the Artist's Book Collection of over 2,000 artists'

books comprising one of the most significant collections in the United States. The Don Bluth Collection of

Animation consists of animation drawings, storyboards, and other materials from some of the artist's most

admired work in film, including The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, and The Land Before Time. In

addition, the library maintains a Digital Image Database since 2001 of more than 146,000 images, developed in

response to the need to transition from 35mm slides to digital. Today, the transcontinental SCAD Library

System is unique among art libraries and rivals academic libraries of universities with much greater enrollment.

Project description

With all its advances, SCAD libraries reflect the distinct challenges and dynamics most libraries face, including

navigating dynamics of analog content and spatial management; addressing technological aspects; and serving

(highly technologically-adept) users that are not fluent with traditional library services, technologies, resources

or environments. Library leadership, under the direction of Darrell Naylor-Johnson, Senior Director of Library

Services, examined these challenges within the SCAD library system and proposes to utilize one of SCAD’s

greatest strengths, design-thinking, to re-imagine its library functioning through UX to increase the SCAD

library system’s capacity across its four locations. The connection between UX and librarianship is as an

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design

SCAD Library System: Preliminary Proposal to IMLS-NLG for Libraries

opportunity to reposition the field of information science through the alignment of content management, user

experience, and service design. With a UX approach, libraries will move from strategic planning to strategic

user engagement service models.

During the planning grant, SCAD library staff will collaborate with the SCAD service design department and

UX organizations, such as Follow the UX Leader, Influx Library User Experience, and Neilson Norman, to (a)

design and implement a broad UX assessment of the SCAD Jen Library programs, resources and learning

spaces; (b) develop a replicable model to be tested across the four SCAD libraries in a future implementation

stage; and (c) disseminate our findings.

Work Plan

First, SCAD will develop a collaborative partnership among library, service design and UX experts. Second, the

collaborative team will develop the plan to apply UX principles to evaluate SCAD library user culture and

behavior, these may include ethnographic studies, web and online resource evaluation, usability analysis, and

access and support service delivery review, keeping in mind that this will be replicated across SCAD libraries.

Third, the collaborative team will implement the UX design assessment plan at the Jen Library, test the efficacy

to deliver needed results, and make recommendations that leverage UX practices and principles to build more

connectivity and improve, enhance and expand the experiences, engagement and use of the SCAD Jen Library.

Fourth, SCAD library leadership will document the process and outcomes, and disseminate the results of the

planning grant to library industry professionals through presentations at conferences and articles in industry

publications. The recommendations from the UX design assessment will be implemented and replicated at the

SCAD Lacoste, Atlanta and Hong Kong libraries during an implementation phase of this project.

Relevance to Learning Spaces in Libraries project category

The SCAD Libraries User Experience Design Assessment project will utilize UX design-thinking to grow the

SCAD library systems’ capacity to support all types of learning and inquiry, including participatory and hands-

on learning. It will advance a new paradigm of user awareness and integrated service delivery through the

SCAD Libraries UX Design Assessment Tool and provide a model for the field.

Potential impact

The potential impact of the project is that it will significantly build the institutional capacity of the SCAD

Library system by engaging the community, increasing connectivity, and encouraging librarian-faculty-student

partnerships to support all types of learning and inquiry. Results from the project will be disseminated for wide

use, adaptation, scale and replication at libraries across the U.S. It will guide libraries in design-thinking and

user experience methods to enhance their ability to make decisions that consider their unique missions and

investments. Allowing for input, consensus building and buy-in across the library system, university, and UX

and service design fields, it will have a lasting impact on the library field.

Projected performance goals and outcomes

Performance goals and outcomes will be defined by the collaborative team to include process benchmarks and

outcome objectives to inform the development of the UX assessment tool and the implementation of assessment

recommendations. As describe above, these will likely include ethnographic studies, usability analysis, access

and support service delivery review, and others. The developed assessment tool will improve library

methodologies for measuring the impact of library service models. The tangible products are the assessment

tool, final report on the Jen Library, and outcome presentations and publications.

Estimated budget

The estimated total budget for the planning project is $115,800 to include a percentage of library staff salaries,

support for project interns, basecamp project and information software, instructional design support, and

consultant fees.

LG-82-15-0166 Savannah College of Art and Design