Work Like a Patron Day, Part Deux

You may have seen our post about Work Like a Patron Day on October 12.

Basically, this was a shout out to libraries to view the library from a patron’s perspective.

This year we decided to participate and I discovered a couple of things:

• the public bathrooms are disgusting
• the enter and exit signs are really confusing, so much that everyone just interprets it their own way
• yahoo and google emails is slow on the old Internet Explorer version on the patron computers
• none of the copy machines work
• the list goes on and on…

This was a very valuable exercise and I’ve discovered some areas that can be improved because the patrons are the library.

Share with us what you learned from working like a patron.

Urban Design Week 2011

Look out NYC, it’s Urban Design Week!

Urban Design Week is a new public festival created to engage New Yorkers in the fascinating and complex issues of the public realm, and to celebrate the streetscapes, sidewalks, and public spaces at the heart of city life. Through an open-call ideas competition and a rich roster of discussions, tours, screenings, workshops, and events across the five boroughs, UDW will highlight the fact that cities are made by collective effort, and that each of us can play a part.

Check out 150 proposals that reimagine the future of New York City’s public spaces, streetscapes and sidewalks.

 

Although it wasn’t one of the 10 winners, my personal favorite is the Pop-Up NY concept by a group from the Netherlands.  The Pop-Up is furniture that can be cranked up out of the pavement for easy seating then pumped back down when not needed.

The Uni is Here!

The Uni was in downtown Manhattan last weekend and will be at the Brooklyn Book Festival this weekend.

Check out our post on the Uni.

Everyday Usability: Portable Library

Brace yourself NYC! The Uni is bringing the portable library to your neighborhood.

Part library, part reading room, part learning lab, the Uni strives to improve public spaces for urban users.

Using stackable cubes, they can be built and rebuilt to fit its space.

Check out more posts in the Everyday Usability series.