I. T. Littleton Seminar to Explore How Libraries Create Unique User Experiences

Steven J. Bell On May 24, 2011, Steven J. Bell will address how academic libraries can carve out their own experiential brand  as featured speaker at the NCSU Libraries' annual I. T. Littleton Seminar. Bell is Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services at Temple University. The seminar will be held at 2:00 p.m. in the Assembly Room in the East Wing of D. H. Hill Jr. Library on the North Carolina State University campus in Raleigh.

Bell's talk, entitled Fish Markets, Coffee Shops, and Hotels: Finding the Right User Experience for Your Academic Library,  will explore how other providers of essential services create memorable experiences and a culture around their brand ”and what libraries can learn from them. In his talk, Steven Bell will share his insights into how academic libraries can develop a compelling user experience based on three core themes: differentiation, loyalty, and memorableness. Part of the process is to always insist that library staffs Start With WHY  ”internalizing in all they do the library's core beliefs that drive its reason for being.

Bell is a co-founder of the Blended Librarian's Online Learning Community on the Learning Times Network. He blogs at The Kept-Up Academic Librarian , ACRLog , and Designing Better Libraries , a site about design thinking and library user experiences. His column From the Bell Tower  appears weekly at Library Journal Academic Newswire . Bell is co-author of the 2007 book Academic Librarianship by Design , and has recently been elected vice president/president of the Association of College and Research Libraries.

The annual I. T. Littleton Seminar is funded by an endowment established in 1987 to explore key issues in the development of academic libraries and to honor former Library Director Littleton upon his retirement from NC State.

The Libraries welcomes your continued support of the I. T. Littleton Seminar series. If you would like to make a contribution to support future seminars, please send your check, payable to the Friends of the Library, to: Friends of the Library, NCSU Libraries, Box 7111, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7111. Please note I. T. Littleton Seminar Endowment on your check. For more information, please call (919) 515-7188.