The Tragedy of Faculty Frank: Creating Dynamic Assessment Tools to Inspire Holistic Innovation

Abstract

In the last decade, user experience methods have become a core tenant of library assessment programs, pushing institutions to think more holistically about their user base and create resources like personas to guide them when determining resource allocation. However, unlike businesses, public and academic libraries are typically not targeting one specific type of user; in fact, these libraries proudly declare that they exist to “serve everyone” in their designated communities. Through this lens, the tragedy of personas like Faculty Frank or Bookworm Betty, who embody an average user from a particular group, becomes apparent: If we’re focusing on meeting the average person’s needs, we leave out the people at the margins.

The goal of our project at the University of Michigan Library is to more deeply represent the community we serve through a series of user-centered resources that build on the knowledge and capacity of our colleagues. These resources are being made with the intent to inspire holistic innovation by deviating from the traditional persona model to present a multi-layered, complex representation of users. By presenting information in a way that goes beyond even what a set of personas can do, our resources will expand our colleagues’ viewpoint around how our users experience campus, sparking new ideas about how they can serve and partner with our community.