To improve the library experience for your patrons, you need objective evidence about how people are using your space and resources. Observing and recording anonymous patron behaviours is a powerful way to gather this. This course will introduce the basic methods with easy exercises to build your experience and the opportunity to design your own observation too. Use these techniques to get beyond a familiar workspace and staff assumptions to what your patrons actually see and do.
On our courses for Library Managers, you will develop a personal relationship with your mentor who will support and stretch your learning every step of the way. Your mentor will help you adapt the course content to your own workplace and shape your coursework so it is relevant to your individual professional situation.
Prices displayed in CAD
I changed my face-out display this week to a bigger range of returned books and carefully arranged them on the shelves to have maximum impact for each cover. The result? Loans more than doubled. 50% ignored the display before the change, and only 25% ignored it after the change. Before, 7.5% of customers walking past took from it, and after the change, 17.5% of customers took from it. I have more: before the change, 15% of people who noticed the display took something from it. After the change, 23% of people who noticed the display took something from it.
Wendy Byron Victoria State Library Australia
We used to take great pride in our pretty book displays which combined a book theme with associated props, which were sometimes elaborate indeed! Despite using a variety of library stock, nothing was borrowed and the display remained pretty unused. We speculated that perhaps our displays were too pretty and that customers thought they were for show only. So we decided to remove the props and display the same themed items without the embellishments, just a snazzy looking sign and carefully selected tempting books. This shift in presentation resulted in about 70% of items being borrowed and before it would have been no more than 20%. We discovered that attractive library books advertise themselves and that we only needed to provide a face-out display to showcase them.
Soraya Majidi Victoria State Library Australia
| What is observation research? | |
| What this research can and cannot do | |
| Why is it worth doing? | |
| Data collected in your libraries | |
| Visible and invisible customers | |
| Case study 1: Which age groups use small libraries? | |
| Case study 2: Which age groups use a central library? | |
| Case study 2: Visitor flow by time of day | |
| Case study 2: Combining age group and time of day | |
| Sample sizes | |
| Is this a breach of privacy? | |
| Preparing for Task One | |
| Task One: Observation of age and gender | |
| Record your results and ask for feedback |
| Effective book displays | |
| How physical factors affect choice | |
| Case study 3: How can displays work harder? | |
| Case study 4: Length of stay measured over a week | |
| Case study 5: Book display before and after changes | |
| Preparing for Task Two: Keeping it simple | |
| Preparing for Task Two: Recording and collating results | |
| Preparing for Task Two | |
| Task Two: Observation of a specific display before and after changes | |
| Record your results and ask for feedback | |
| Extra: quick staff training session |
| Which routes do visitors take through the library? | |
| Case study 6: Tracking customer routes | |
| Case study 7: Destination flow | |
| Case study 8: Optimising shared spaces | |
| What is the average length of visit? | |
| Working alone or with others | |
| Planning for Task Three: your own observation | |
| Prepare for the unexpected | |
| Uncovering bigger challenges | |
| Observing staff procedures | |
| Case study 9: Example raw observation notes | |
| Record your results and ask for feedback | |
| Learning review | |
| More Opening the Book courses | |
| Credits |
