Design Thinking Toolkit for Libraries

The challenge: As information goes digital and the traditional role of brick-and-mortar libraries is threatened, empower library staffers to better serve their communities’ ever-evolving needs.

The insight: In order to stay relevant, libraries must become nimble learning labs. Because librarians often see themselves as public servants and feel disempowered to effect change, we needed to boost their creative confidence in addition to helping them develop design thinking skills with accessible and inspiring material.  

The solution: We created a 150-page downloadable toolkit featuring reading and workshop material appropriate for library staffers across the globe. The toolkit has been downloaded over 11,000 times in more than 100 countries and translated into ten languages, and the design thinking work with the Chicago Public Library helped them win a $2.5 million grant to roll out 15 new children’s learning spaces.

My role: I spent five months iterating on the content and framework in order to create reading and workshop material that reflected the diverse needs and contexts of a global audience. I interviewed designers about past projects for case studies, unified the tones of multiple contributors, and synthesized the librarians’ feedback from monthly check-ins and a two-day global summit with all participating stakeholders.