Libraries that experiment are better positioned to adapt to rapidly changing environments and evolving user needs and behaviors. This guide shows how to draw from new approaches and technologies to harness experimentation as a tool for testing ideas and responding to change. It borrows ideas and inspiration from the startup sector to teach you how to take a human-centered and design thinking-based perspective on problem solving.

Coverage includes:

why experimentation is possible on any budget and can be undertaken by anyone in any organisation.
ways to foster a culture of experimentation which recognises the importance of incorporating curiosity into work and daily life.
examples of experimentation from academic, public and school libraries as well as non-library settings.
how to engage users in testing to identify the pros and cons of a prototype.
guidance on employing IDEEA (Ideate, Design, Experiment, Engage, Assess) as a five-part process for trying out ideas by formulating prototypes.

This book is essential reading for library and information professionals who want to pioneer change and experiment in their library.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Part I A Culture of Experimentation

1 The Power of Curiosity

2 What Makes an Experiment?

3 Everything Is an Experiment

Part II The IDEEA Anti-Method

4 IDEATE

5 DESIGN

6 EXPERIMENT

7 ENGAGE

8 ASSESS

Part III Mapping Experimentation to Your Organization

9 Fail Forward

10 Reskilling the Information Professional

11 The Experimentation Roadmap

Bibliography

Index

Reference works, dictionaries

Library and information science in general

Library and information management

Theory of computing, computing in general

Further readings in linguistics

Reference works, dictionaries (charity campaign)

Library and information science in general (charity campaign)

Library and information management (charity campaign)

Theory of computing, computing in general (charity campaign)

Further readings in linguistics (charity campaign)

The Experimental Library

Using techniques observed from startups and rapidly evolving technology companies, this book will educate information professionals on using experimentation to make evidence-based decisions to advance initiatives in libraries.