SLCPL Service Design Capstone Project

Learner Results & Analysis

Project Background
The Salt Lake City Public Library is an organization that seeks to provide relevant resources to meet the
needs of the community. The three core concepts they want to include in patron experiences are
learning, community, and social connection. They strategically focus on six areas: Arts & Creativity, Civic
Engagement, Critical Literacies, Economic Success, Healthy Together, and Inclusion & Belonging. With a
desire to find new and exciting ways to advance in these areas the Salt Lake City Public Library hired a
Service Design consultant to share tools the library can use to innovate new ways to support their core
concepts and focus areas.

Problem/Challenge
The library, its resources, and the needs of the community are constantly changing. In order to stay
relevant, library staff must learn and be empowered to innovate and design the library experiences of
community members. Over the past three years, the library has attempted to teach service design tools
through branch managers at a monthly staff meeting. These learning opportunities were not deemed
effective due to limited time with combined staff and varied levels of understanding and enthusiasm
from managers. Other factors including limited shift work, part-time employee schedules, and annual
turnover, have kept employees from receiving or engaging in this training material. The to-be-training
would provide an engaging way for new employees to learn and practice service design regardless of
their work schedule and a way to monitor who has completed the training.

Key Results from Learner Interviews

Prior Knowledge and Skills

Service design is a small, but present part of the library culture. 100% of learners indicated they had
heard of service design but were only able to explain it in vague, uncertain, or partial terms. When asked
to recall service design skills, 6 of 8 learners were able to name a specific tool or provide a general
description of at least one tool. “Cupcaking” was the most memorable tool - mentioned by 4 learners.

“I think the library was working on service design when I first started going there. It involved
trying different outreaches with patrons that were coming and trying to improve our services.”

“We have done a few trainings, but to be honest it’s still a bit of an abstract concept in my mind.
I do remember it being a visual way of planning out programs and services for patrons. To really
decide what is going to be best for them. A different way of strategizing.”

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Library staff members are currently using parts of the service design tools. When asked to describe new
programs or redesigns that had happened within the last two years all 8 learners described a significant
new program or structural redesign that served library patrons. 75% of the learners described a project
they were personally involved with. This culture of innovation will provide a strong contextual base as
learners begin to understand how service design can support and enhance the practices that are already
in place.

“The conversation keeps going until we figure out how it will work.”

“One staff member wanted to champion Holds-to-Go. She met with our manager and staff and
talked about what it would involve, the time allotment for service in the library. We decided it
was a workable plan and we could handle running things out from phone calls. Paul (manager)
talked to his admin team. We started training on it. We put out a sign and quarter sheets for
advertising. We were the only branch offering it. Shannon did a training last year at the about
Holds-to-Go. Then it went system-wide.”

Attitudes and Values

Library staff members value their responsibility to care for the community. 100% of the learners
interviewed expressed the importance of caring for the patrons and providing services that are helpful
to the community. Showing learners how service design will enhance their ability to care for the
changing needs of the community will elevate attitudes toward the principles.

“A good librarian becomes a bit of a swiss army knife knowing your way around job application
forms, helping someone do something for their school, learning how to find information about a
car part that someone needs.”

“At the library, we bend over backwards to help [patrons] with what we can.”

“Libraries are super into making sure everyone has a fair shot. Everybody gets a chance. We
provide internet service to people that don’t have that at home. We provide all kinds of
learning….We want everything to be available to everyone.”

“We are the heart of the community.”

“I think that a lot of community members forget that we serve every community. Why do you
serve so many unhoused community members at your library? People forget there are other
communities that also need the library.”

Staff members feel skeptical about the usefulness of service design tools. 75% of learners expressed
concern regarding the implementation of service design ideas. Learners spoke of a lack of relevance
regarding the use of the tools, a disconnect with the service design terminology, and uncertainty of
where to access information. Creating a knowledge base that includes why, when, and how learners
would benefit from using these tools will increase relevance and buy-in with the terminology.

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 “The managers were trained on each tool and then they had to use their monthly meetings to
train their staff. Information sort of got lost along the way. The managers had just learned that
tool as well and so the relevance was also lost along the way.”

“It felt like a needless class where you had to attend and check the box.”

"This is how we ideate. Thanks, but I'm not going to do it that way. I'm going to do it my way."

“There are so many little...here’s this movement and this movement...and they always have five
statements. I cannot differentiate any of them. The roadmap? Which one is that? There are so
many of them. I can’t tell you why we had to do it. I know that they’re there, but I don’t know
what the point of them was. I mean, why did we put so much work into putting this together
and I don’t even know what it is.”

“Most people thought they were exercises in vocabulary and vagueness. A lot of the language
around it frustrated and confused people.”

“Skills? Cupcaking...you know...coming up with ideas, trying ideas...things like that. That seemed
to work, but the term became comical at times.”

“I don’t know where to find the information if I need to refer back to it.”

Motivation, Goals, Priorities

The library has a training culture. 8 of 8 learners recalled specific professional development
opportunities. 50% of the learners mentioned the Annual Staff Development Day, all with positive
regard. 50% of the learners mentioned being able to attend professional conferences. 3 of 8 learners
mentioned receiving training via Bridge.

“We have a yearly Staff Development Day. It’s like going to a professional conference. We have
speakers lined up and different break out sessions and an award ceremony. It’s a full day.”

“We have a budget to send two staff to bigger professional conferences like PLA. Every other
year I get to go to one of those conferences.”

The library staff values training that is clearly relevant, includes choice, hands-on or directly applicable
activities, and opportunities for collaboration or discussion.

"I like being surrounded by like-minded people. That's been really fun."

“My most memorable trainings are ones where I am participating or actually doing something.”

“...the more direct hands-on implementation - that’s what makes the difference.”

“Sometimes the training examples don’t match what is going on at our branch. Trainings are
very much from the perspective of ‘This is how it would happen at Main.’”

“The choice. It was a good thing to have like ‘do I go to this session or that session?’”

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Library staff is highly motivated to reach out to the community. 5 of 8 learners specifically mentioned
outreach and their efforts to connect with the community. Tapping into this desire during the training
can motivate learners to apply service design concepts to this area of concern.

“We’re always trying to find more ways to gather more feedback and find the pockets of the
community that don’t use us and could find some use in library services. These things don’t
happen automatically. It’s something we have to work at. Community connections aren’t
spontaneous. Someone has to reach out and make something happen.”

Library staff is highly motivated to decrease the digital divide in their communities. 5 of 8 learners spoke
about the internet and/or computer access. Encouraging learners to apply service design to this complex
issue will be highly motivating.

“They could work on gaps with internet access, owning computers,...hotspots, chromebooks,
close the digital divide.”

Current Experiences

Librarians are comfortable with the procedures to implement new programs and ideas within their own
sphere of control. 5 of 8 learners were able to describe a detailed process they used to implement a
new program in their department or branch that most often required the use of their own budget funds.
Primarily focusing training context on addressing branch-based concerns will create a relatable context
that can later be expanded to system-wide programs or changes.

“Branch-wide I share many ideas. We all pitch in a lot to change things.”

“We wanted to bring a new program to our branch. We met to plan. We talked about how we’d
handle the space, options of activities, enough choices for all the people without long waiting
lines. We talked about developmental attributes that would be served by those activities. We
worked out the logistics and did marketing. It was well attended and very successful.”

“I approached my manager. We started discussing it six months in advance. We considered the

budget and planned for four weeks. I researched activities. The craft plan was in place by the
first quarter. I recruited a staff member as a support person and chose a snack for the activity. I
put the crafts together into kits.”

Constraints, Barriers, and Challenges

Library staff sees time as a significant barrier to implementing service design.

"I guess tools are good for more conceptual high-level work, but when you are in the trenches
it’s one of the first things that falls to the wayside...We don't have time to sit around and do
high-level thinking when we are in the bushes."

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 “There’s no time built into our jobs [for learning] that needs more than fifteen minutes...We
need to create opportunities for people to learn and pursue their own type of learning. It has to
come from the top that we are a learning institution and we’ve got to start from the top down.”

“Time constraints are harder than budget constraints.”

Library staff feel uncertain about the procedures for sharing and implementing new ideas outside of the
sphere of their control. Providing clarity about processes for engaging other departments (e.g.
marketing) or executive leadership to bring about change will increase the learners’ likeliness to pursue
such actions.

“On our Connect page, there is a link somewhere called “What if we___?” and it’s a place where
you can submit an idea. I’ve never submitted on it, but I’ve talked to people who have and they
just find that it’s not an effective way to communicate an idea. We don’t even know where it
goes. Like, who does that go to? Who sees that?”

“It was a long, slow process.”

“I shared something with my manager and it took four months for her to share it with the
marketing team. It’s not as immediate as I would want it to be.”

“...they’re not going to value my input or ask me for my input and there’s no one to really tell or
how to get it moving.”

“I serve a large Spanish-speaking population. It’s a constant fight...when we get publicity

materials I always have to ask for a Spanish translation. It’s not just part of the publicity package.
I feel like at this point we know that the neighborhood that I serve is mostly Spanish speaking.
I’ve sent the statistics in and I’ve sent the demographics in to show them that this just needs to
be part of the publicity package and it just doesn’t happen. Having a more streamlined way to
ask for that would be great.”

“A barrier often comes from unclear expectations, processes, timelines. It seems like quite a few
task forces or committees get lost in the bureaucratic weeds - go to the wrong person, need
someone else’s approval - inefficiencies. We want to move more smoothly and come to some
conclusion - not have things hanging, waiting, and stagnant.”

“They’ve worked in recent years to try to formalize how to make a task force or committee -
charter, timeline. We get guidelines from the Executive Team and then we’re free to go and
figure things out then come back to share our findings. There is some confusion on who makes
the task force, what the task force is authorized to do, ironing out details. I think there has been
some effort to formalize that process.”

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Learner Needs Assessment
There’s a wide range of learners as well as educational backgrounds. Age ranges from high school-aged
to a much older population. Many new learners are in entry-level positions (book shelving, checkout
desk). Librarians have either a master’s degree in library science or extensive experience. Barriers or
challenges experienced by the learners included time constraints and procedures for sharing new ideas.

Backgrounds, Entry Skills, and Prior Knowledge

Our learners ranged from 25-65 years old. 6 of 8 learners have earned Master’s Degrees. 100%
of the learners work full-time. Years that learners have been employed with the library range
from 2 years to 23 years. When using different types of technology 7 of 9 learners responded
“I’m pretty good” to “I’m a pro” at using technological devices.

Attitudes, Values, and Priorities

Toward the client providing the learning/training: Learners felt skeptical about the usefulness of
service design tools. They spoke of a lack of relevance regarding the use of the tools, or a
disconnect with the service design terminology. They also expressed uncertainty of where to
access information when they needed to recall information on a service design tool. Training

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that provides why, when, and how these learners will benefit from using these tools would
greatly increase relevance, applicability, and buy-in with service design terminology.

Toward past learning/training: The library has a training culture. Learners have had mixed
emotions in regard to the training they’ve received in the past. One felt that it was just
something to “check off the box.” 8 of 8 learners recalled specific professional development
opportunities. 50% of the learners mentioned the annual staff development day, all with
positive insights and comments.

Toward the job/domain/purpose: Learners love what they do. All learners shared how they felt
their job was valuable because they have the opportunity to help members of the community
on a daily basis. Learners are willing to bend over backward to help patrons in the community.

Motivations
Learners value serving the members of their respective communities. Serving the community,
helping kids grow in their reading, and providing resources that meet the needs of the
community were all important factors for why these learners work at the Library. Learners were
also motivated to decrease the digital divide in their communities by providing more computers
and internet access.

Barriers
Barriers or challenges for target learners: A major barrier discussed by learners was time
constraints. Lack of time was a major barrier to learners implementing service design tools
where they work. Uncertainty about sharing new ideas and the procedure for sharing these
ideas was another challenge learners experienced.

Barriers or challenges on the client’s end: One barrier will be providing scaffolding that will help
library staff better understand the process for submitting ideas and initiating change in their
respective branches. Another barrier for our client includes delivery, particularly reaching all
new staff and keeping up with employee turnover. Other barriers include resistance from
experienced staff and helping those with negative attitudes or perceptions see the value of
service design tools, terminology, and implementation.

Demonstrate Target Knowledge and Skills

Learners will need to demonstrate service design knowledge and skills within their own jobs.
Learners don’t lack motivation but have expressed a lack of service design knowledge and
terminology. The more the learners are able to see why they need service design, how it can
help them, and when they can implement it the better prepared they will be to use these tools
in their day-to-day activities.

Level of knowledge: We will need to help the learners establish a textbase knowledge of the
information first, then a situational model for them to transfer the knowledge to their sphere of
influence within their own branches. Learners that are able to see how service design will help

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address the needs of their communities in these changing times will more likely engage in the
training in meaningful ways. Therefore, training should be interactive, offer choices, and provide
learners with meaningful activities and scenarios that are relevant to their branches.

Learning Preferences: Learners prefer training that is relevant, includes choice, is hands-on or
directly applicable to their circumstances, and provides opportunities for collaboration or
discussion. Learners do not want a training that tells them everything. They prefer something
that will be meaningful for their everyday responsibilities.

Challenges to Resolve
Some learners already feel skeptical about the usefulness of service design tools and its
terminology. 75% of learners expressed concern regarding the implementation of service design
tools. Another challenge to resolve includes the scope of the project. There is far too much
content for us to develop. Other issues that will need to be resolved are creating a training that
is relevant and meaningful to the learners. If we can help learners change their attitudes or
perceptions of service design to where they see why service design matters in their everyday
responsibilities and when and how they can implement these tools in meaningful ways that can
serve their branches and communities then the training will have achieved its purpose.

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