Co-Design in Libraries

Abstract

In order to optimise a needs analysis for digital infrastructure in the Digital Humanities, participatory development concepts are presented and compared with regard to their potential suitability. Since the use of co-design seems to be suitable due to its high degree of participation and its open organisational structure, a checklist for projects in academic libraries was developed, which is presented in addition to a toolkit and a case study. Based on the case study it is shown how a detailed requirements analysis and a design concept for a project-specific working environment for researchers could be created in a one-day interdisciplinary workshop with the help of co-design elements. The activities used, such as customer journey mapping or a stakeholder analysis created with the help of LEGO bricks, led to new perspectives in the collaboration between users and librarians.

Keywords:

• Participation
• co-design
• libraries
• digital humanities

Notes

1 In the following text this group is called ‘patrons’ when there is a strong connection to the library world, and ‘users’ as a broader term.

2 In particular the German language offers two words - ‘Teilhabe’ and ‘Partizipation’ - with slightly different meanings. The word ‘Teilhabe’ seems to imply a less active connotation than the loanword ‘Partizipation’.

3 A clarification of the debate as to whether brainstorming, according to Osborn, generates less and qualitatively lower valued ideas compared to the elaboration by individuals, cannot be provided in the context of this article. An overview of the studies is provided by Isaksen, 1998.

4 Most of the literature about LEGO Serious Play consists on its application in specific cases and does not focus on an evaluation of the fundamental concept taught in the trademarked workshops. Authors of publications on the topic seem to be close to the developers of the product line or offer certified workshops as ‘trained facilitators’.