*Cross posted to multiple lists.*

ALCTS e-Forum: User Experience and the Electronic Resources Librarian

April 10-11, 2018

Moderated by Michael Rodriguez and Kate Hill

Please join us for an e-forum discussion. It’s free and open to everyone!

Registration information is at the end of the message.

Each day, discussion begins and ends at:

Pacific: 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Mountain: 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Central: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Eastern: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Designing good patron experiences with usability and user experience (UX) techniques is not a new concept in librarianship. There are user experience departments and staff. Conferences and journals are dedicated to the concept. However, a quick scan through sources like the Designing for Digital conference schedule and Weave: The Journal of Library User Experience suggests a lack of UX thinking when it comes to electronic resources: publisher platforms, discovery services, resource management software for staff, and other library tools, whether proprietary or open source. How can electronic resources librarians facilitate positive, successful user experiences with eresources?

In this e-Forum, we will discuss what exactly UX and usability design means, how UX can be brought into issues of collection development and eresources management, and what struggles and successes that discussion participants have experienced with UX in the context of eresources. Participants will finish this e-Forum with an understanding of the possibilities and complications of implementing this framework for electronic resources - and with some practical ways to start the UX conversation at their own libraries.

Moderators

Michael Rodriguez is Licensing & Acquisitions Librarian at the University of Connecticut, where he spearheads and streamlines contracts, procurement, and electronic resources management. Before UConn he served as E-Learning Librarian at Hodges University, where he developed a new library website and technology training programs. Michael chairs electronic resources management interest groups for LITA/ALCTS and for the ACRL New England Chapter. He writes for Library Journal, Charleston Advisor, College & Research Libraries News, Serials Review, Technical Services Quarterly, and Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship. Michael was named a 2015 Library Journal Reviewer of the Year and a 2017 Charleston Conference Up-and-Comer.

Kate Hill is the Electronic Resources Librarian at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She handles the entire electronic resource workflow, from licensing to perpetual access, for everything from eBooks to streaming media. Previously, she was a Libraries Fellow at North Carolina State University, working in the Acquisitions and Discovery Department and the User Experience Department, where she helped develop the open source projects of Kuali OLE and GOKb. Kate chairs the ALCTS Continuing Resources Standards Committee for ALA and also is a member of the Electronic Resources and Libraries Planning committee. She just published her first book, The ABCs of ERM from ABC-CLIO. In addition, she writes for Serials Review and has presented at numerous conferences, including Electronic Resources and Libraries, ACRL, ALA, NASIG and the Charleston Conference. Kate was named as a member of the North Carolina Library Association Leadership Institute and a 2017 Charleston Conference Up-and-Comer.

What Is an e-Forum?

An ALCTS e-forum provides an opportunity for librarians to discuss matters of interest, led by a moderator, through the e-forum discussion list. The e-forum discussion list works like an email listserv: register your email address with the list, and then you will receive messages and communicate with other participants through an email discussion. Most e-forums last two to three days. Registration is necessary to participate, but it's free.

For information about upcoming e-forums, please visit http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/e-forum

How to Register

You must register your email address to subscribe to or access an electronic discussion list on ALA's Mailing List Service. Once you have registered for one e-forum, you do not need to register again, unless you choose to leave the list. Find instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing online. (http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/e-forum/sympa)

If you have any problems, please contact alcts-eforum-request@ala.org.

*Posted on behalf of the ALCTS Continuing Education Committee.*