Creating Personas on Which to Build Services for Latinx Users: A Proof of Concept

ABSTRACT

The current article presents a proof of concept wherein personas were created that could support library services and collections for Latinx community members in the Midwestern United States. Personas are first described and their use in the library literature is explored. The reproducible method employed in creating the personas is then presented in detail, followed by a short discussion of the results of the persona creation. Next, a high-level discussion of the project is presented, as well as reflections on how librarians can adapt this process in efforts to design products and services to meet the needs of specific groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Latinx users
• personas
• public libraries
• user experience
• user research

Notes

1. The interview protocol for gatekeepers is available: http://personae.missouri.edu/Gatekeeper_interview-protocol.pdf; the interview protocol for community informants is available: http://personae.missouri.edu/Informant_en_interview-protocol.pdf .

2. Each of the personas from this research project is listed out, with suggestions for marketing and services, on the project website: http://personae.missouri.edu/about.html.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the OCLC-ALISE Library & Information Science Research Grant.

Notes on contributors

Denice Adkins

Denice Adkins is an associate professor at the School of Information Science & Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri. Her research interests include information needs of Midwestern immigrants, library services to diverse audiences, and public libraries. She is a co-investigator on the ALISE/OCLC grant funding this project.

Heather Moulaison Sandy

Heather Moulaison Sandy is associate professor at the iSchool at the University of Missouri. Moulaison Sandy’s primary research focus is the organization of information in the online environment, leading her to investigate areas related to access to information and technology use. She is a co-investigator on the ALISE/OCLC grant funding this project.

Edwin Nii Bonney

Edwin Nii Bonney is a doctoral student in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri. His research interests includes recognizing and valuing the cultures and experiences of immigrant groups as a way to improve equity in education. He is a researcher as part of the Strengthening Equity and Effectiveness for Teachers of English Learners (SEE-TEL) project.