SWOT- A simple assessment tool

I attended a great class at SLA on doing business analysis–one of the most useful tools was the SWOT analysis. In the context of the class, it was to look at doing the analysis of a company, but it is useful for many projects, maybe especially in the context of library services.

SWOT

Strengths: What does an organization already do well? *understand attributes What resources do they have?
What does an organization already have that will help them succeed * Are they innovating in ways that others are not?

Weaknesses: What is not helpful/or even harmful? It is more interesting to see where business is failing * What resource is the company lacking? *Low employee morale? Strategic blunders? Are they in the right segments? Are they missing trends?

Opportunities:  What factors are being driven by external factors? What is the competitive landscape and how are the peers? How is the market share changing?

Disruptions: Threats? What is coming down the pipe that could be negative? Where are the competitors succeeding? What is the company missing? How can the economy affect the company? Who are the big customers? Are they balanced?

Libraries in a digital age

The March issue of Architectural Record has a cover photo that is focused on looking at Libraries in a Digital Age.

An investigation of libraries, and how the increase of digital resources must influence the design of space. Worldwide examples are included, some public, some academic. The lead article points out that many libraries still “prominently feature the book as a design element.” The article is a call for architects to help libraries make a transition to an “increasingly digital world.”   I love the last line, “The library’s future rests with its ability to be a comfortable space where people come together to tell their own stories and discover new ones.”

Images of libraries ranging from Tokyo to Peoria show the range of design decisions that architects have made about “what to do with the books.”

I love that Architectural Record is thinking about this, and encouraging architects to work with communities, and the librarians to create user-centered design for a digital age.

Designing libraries

Lately I have been writing about the usability/ethnographic study portion of User Experience (UX) but I want to start talking more about designing experiences.

There is a great  TED talk on design, a bit old now, but still great. Given by David Kelley, he is one of America’s leading design innovators, and is active in Ideo. He really talks about how his design work has gone from being product based to now looking  at how things are used, and focusing on human-centered design. One of the videos that Kelley shows is of a Prada store; I should disclose that  my husband’s firm did that store, which is kind of cool. Kelley also shows an interactive wall that is at a science museum. Brilliant.

The experiences that Ideo builds into their design process is one that I want to see more and more libraries incorporate.

Of course, Ideo is famous; they were highlighted in a  60 Minutes episode in 1999, and then were the cover story “The Power of Design” (Download PDF)(which should more approriately been named “The Power of Design Thinking“) in the BusinessWeek in 2004 and the latest one is an article in the Harvard Business Review. You can see the 60 Minutes episode on YouTube. Earlier this month, it was announced that they were opening a non-profit arm to do more social good. Can’t wait to see what comes out of this!

For a library perspective, check out Steven Bell, over at Designing Better Libraries; I recommend that you keep up with his blog.