The Feedback Wall at my library has been ongoing since mid-February and was inspired by this post on the UKAnthroLib blog. I'll admit that my secret hope when putting it together was that we would get positive feedback in among the mixture of suggestions and criticisms, the way other libraries seemed to be getting. In hindsight, I know that was a lot to ask given the relationship we currently have with our students, and our feedback so far has been entirely criticism and suggestions. While it has occasionally been a bit wounding to the ego, a lot of good has come out of the Feedback Wall and we intend to keep it going. Hopefully we'll get to the point where we do start to get positive reinforcement from students, but I certainly know now not to expect it.
Along those lines, I wanted to share a few lessons I have learned during this process that have less to do with the comments people have left and more with the process of soliciting feedback in this way and about workplace culture.
1- You can provide all the bells and whistles you want as long as you also address the most pressing needs.
I had been feeling pretty good about the Feedback Wall. In response to feedback we've received in the last three months we've brought in pens for next to the catalogue computers, sped up the acquisitions process for recommended books, purchased USB DVD drives and book rests for students to borrow, acquired ear plugs to give out to students and relaxed our drinks rules to allow students to finish hot drinks in the Issue Desk area rather than outside the library.
However, one issue keeps coming up consistently: the students want a water cooler or drinking fountain in the library. It is our most common suggestion/complaint on the feedback wall and was one of the most common comments on our user survey last year. No matter what else we were doing, this issue came up again and again and, while I sympathise very much with the student perspective, there was reluctance from higher up to do anything about it. I feel certain it will keep coming up until we do take some kind of action. It has been an excellent lesson in the fact that even if you think your institution is being reasonable (i.e. bring in your own water bottler), the users do not necessarily agree, and it is important to address those concerns.
2 - No matter how hard you work, people will still find something to critique you on. There's a balance to strike between trying to meet every single need and not bothering.
As a library assistant I work very hard to make the library a positive place for students to work. I am one of their main human points of contact with the library and as such I am very invested in making sure they have a good experience. However, I am also in the position of enforcing rules and, as the person who keeps track of the Feedback Wall, representing the views and expectations of my institution to students. This is a very difficult position to negotiate, especially when your sympathies and the policies you are enforcing do not align.
Even if you could somehow meet every need thanks to an inexhaustible budget, incredibly flexible library space and a staff entirely comprised of the sort of service-minded, bend-over-backwards librarians we wish we could be, there will always be something that someone thinks you've done wrong or could improve on. If you're in a more flawed (i.e. real) library, there are lots of somethings users will pick up on. This can become overwhelming if you let it. Or, you can take things on as you have the capacity to deal with them, one step at a time. Like I talked about in my previous post, keeping your focus on the final goal of a perfect library is unattainable and will ultimately lead you to burn out. Do what you can, when you can. If you are smart about it, you can potentially have a big impact without wearing yourself out.
3 - Learn to not take criticism of your institution personally.
Most of the feedback has been constructive or at least polite, but there have been a few that have really gotten under my skin and made me feel truly awful. The worst actually cropped up this week and was about - you guessed it - water. Not only did the student feel that we were expecting people to "drink from the sinks like dogs" but wondered how long the library was going to "ignore" the issue. This hurt, particularly because I had been trying for months to find new angles and new approaches to get management to solve this issue. Even if it was not being resolved, it was certainly not being ignored.
That was a moment when I needed to step back and put myself in the shoes of the individual who wrote the comment. From their perspective, it must have felt like we were ignoring the issue. If students see that nothing is being accomplished, they assume that means that nothing is being done. It wasn't a personal critique, just an expression of frustration at what to the students must seem like a no-brainer issue because we haven't been able to adequately justify the library's position.
I think empathy is the key to negotiating these difficult situations. If you can simultaneously empathise with both parties and truly understand their perspectives, it makes creative problem-solving and negotiation much easier. The moment you let yourself get worked up and feel personally affronted, you shut down your ability to approach the problem from different angles because now you are simply approaching it from a defensive position rather than one based on understanding.
4 - If you really believe in something, don't give up arguing for it. Keep changing your approach until you can reach a compromise.
Everyone's heard the phrase "You have to pick your battles", right? I kind of have a love/hate relationship with that phrase. It's useful in as much as it can remind you about the finite energy, finite resources or finite flexibility you have to work with, as in my previous points. But when it comes to dealing with people, this phrase makes me very frustrated. "You have to pick your battles with ________, you know?"
To my mind this just excuses the other person from having to make compromises. I'm certainly not saying I want to be adversarial over every single issue. Indeed, the most effective approaches involve seeing the issue from the other person's point of view and addressing their concerns in a creative and civil way. But I don't think that you should let "picking your battles" excuse anyone from having to engage in conversation over your difference of opinion on important issues. Nor should you let it excuse you from having a conversation that you're nervous about having. If you truly believe in something, keep trying different angles, different approaches, different solutions.
Somewhere in the depths of the UXLibs hashtag on Twitter I saw a quote from a keynote address (I'm really sorry, I don't remember which one or whose tweet it was) about approaching service design using the same rules as improvisational acting. In improv, there's the idea of "Yes, and..." This is where actors doing a scene together always build on what was said before. They never shut each other down by contradicting the inventions of their fellow actors, and they keep the scene going by expanding and elaborating on what has just been said, no matter how off-the-wall it may be. There was the idea at the UX Libs conference that this kind of environment is ideal for design because it keeps creative momentum going. Maybe some of the ideas will be impossible or undesirable in the end, but as part of the creative process it's important to run with them anyway because what sounds like a mad idea may end up being the brilliant solution you've been looking for.
If you are lucky enough to work in a "Yes, and..." environment, it's likely that you have a lot of scope to innovate. If you work in a "No, but..." environment, chances are you find it difficult to stay positive and keep coming up with new ideas. I know that I can get very emotionally exhausted by keeping my own momentum going while being told why my ideas won't work, why things won't change and so on. I'm not saying that you should ignore your own emotional well-being and plug away at things until you feel like you're going to drop, but don't let yourself get discouraged on the issues you really believe in. In that sense, you really should pick your battles - make sure you're investing emotional energy in things proportional to how important you think they are. But it's worth remembering that there are multiple approaches to every problem and it would be a shame to give up before you find one that works.
5 - Don't pay for supplies for your research out of your own pocket.
This one doesn't need much clarification. If you're doing UX research for your library, you're doing it for them. If you pay for your own supplies you'll end up feeling like an idiot later on, believe me.
