Focus on User Experience: Moving from a Library-Centric Point of View

Academic libraries gain information about their users in many ways. Long a standard practice in the technology industry, studies in the form of usability tests and other user-centered methods seek to determine if software products meet end user needs. Libraries have availed themselves of user-centered techniques borrowed from technology to test webpage interfaces and other library technologies. This article aims to describe the technology foundations of user-centered techniques and their evolution in libraries. Snapshots of position postings, user experience departments, comparisons of methods, library-centric thinking, and service design efforts illustrate libraries’ status in addressing user experience for their patrons.