There is an ongoing conversation in the library profession about the need to make things - our web sites, our OPACs, our databases - more simple. Simple is good. Pondering how the library profession finds a balance between simplicity and complexity has been an interest of mine for a number of years now. In several […]

A recent ALA program featured a debate on innovation, and sought to answer the question “Are librarians and libraries innovative?” That’s certainly an interesting question, but I would pose that it’s the wrong question to be asking. We could argue whether librarians achieve sufficient levels of creating or adopting new technologies in an effort to […]

Last week marked my one year anniversary as the University Librarian at McMaster.  Those of you who are familiar with my personal blog know that it has been an eventful year, to say the least.  Over the past 12 months we have made significant organizational changes that have affected nearly every member of the staff.  […]

A good user experience is memorable. A memorable experience is one that induces people to return again and again so they can recapture that experience. Think of any service or retail operation that provides a great user experience, and its likely they thrive on legions of repeat customers. As I contemplate what a library user experience […]

A quick comment on prototyping.  I’ve found this to be a useful technique when presenting new ideas. It’s one thing to sit around in a committee and intellectualize, but it is very different when you have a model to work with.
I experienced this first hand when trying […]