Paper given with Sally Halper and Fiona McCarthy at the 2019 RLUK conference on a programme of user research currently underway at the British Library. A video recording is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh8il-Eur7E

1. Researching researchers
Delivering a systematic user research
programme in a research library
RLUK Conference, London, 22 March 2019
These slides available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license
Sally Halper, Head of Content and Service Strategy
Sally.Halper@bl.uk
Fiona McCarthy, Research Services Insight Manager
Fiona.McCarthy@bl.uk
Dr Torsten Reimer, Head of Research Services
Torsten.Reimer@bl.uk / 0000-0001-8357-9422

2. www.bl.uk 2
The BL in a changing environment
• Living Knowledge articulates the
vision of the British Library in 2023
as the most open, creative and
innovative institution of its kind in the
world.
• A new Service Strategy for research
and a new Content Strategy.
• Everything Available is a strategic
change management portfolio
designed to deliver the
transformation of the Library’s
services to researchers and research
organisations.

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Service Strategy for Research
Find
• Help users find
information from
our collection
and global
sources
Use
• Help researchers use
information to create new
knowledge
Share
• Help
organisations
share knowledge
to facilitate re-
use
Needs to be informed by
an understanding of our
(diverse) user community!

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Reading Room research
Reader Observation & Interviewing has
run from May-September 2018 and
November 2018-February 2019 with the
aims to:
 Find out who is using us & why, what they do
when they’re here, & how easy they find it to use
our services & facilities.
 See if there are differences between the needs
and experiences of users of our General
Collections and Special Collections, associated
with the nature of the collection material.
We have observed and interviewed 150 Readers
across all the Reading Rooms.

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Differences between Reading Room users
We have uncovered some differences between users of our General Collections Reading
Rooms & those in our Special Collections Reading Rooms:
General Collections Special Collections
Profile
• A high proportion of Students
& Business researchers here
Pains
• Particular problems with finding
journals, but also dislikes of
Reading Room 'rules'
Gains
• Higher approval of work
environment, & suggestions for
longer opening hours
Profile
• A high share of Academic
Authors & Senior Academics
Pains
• Higher share of 'pains' overall, but
particularly with finding Special
Collections items
Gains
• More vociferous with their
approval of our range of material,
especially 'niche' stock

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Shared feedback across the Reading Rooms
 Readers across all the Reading Rooms expressed general approval
of their experience:
Most had joined within the last two years, and the majority were
coming several times a week
The majority lived in London, with the most popular age bracket
being 25-34 year olds
“Exceptionally
good work
space”
“The only place I
know I can get the
books – it’s worth
the travel” (a
Canadian)
“invaluable
resource”
“a space of
solace”

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Use of our material in Reading Rooms
Nearly 40% are
NOT using it
that day
61% Using our material
19.5% NOT using our
material
19.5% Not using our
material that day, but
are previous users
We intend to
increase the
proportion of users
of ‘Discovery’ BL
content/access &
systems, and will be
setting ourselves an
internal target

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Public Areas Research
We have also monitored who has
been using the Public Areas in our
St Pancras site & interviewed 150
people, and found that, with over
400 seats:
61%of this space is being used by
people for research/work, with
peaks in the Summer – c.250 seats
each day.
Average
Reading
Room
users
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Average
Reading
Room
users

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Public Areas Research
We have also monitored who has
been using the Public Areas in our
St Pancras site & interviewed 150
people, and found that, with over
400 seats:
61%of this space is being used by
people for research/work, with
peaks in the Summer – c.250 seats
each day.
Average
Reading
Room
users0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Average
Reading
Room
users
Average ‘extra’
workers in Public
Areas
A significant boost to the amount of people we knew were using
our site for work.

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Public Areas Research
Just over half of these Public
Area researcher/ workers are
NOT Readers, and therefore
not using our materials, but
using our space.
47%
Current
Readers
51% NOT
Readers
2% Lapsed Readers

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Public Areas Research
Readers
Main reasons for using
area:
- Need for
refreshments, & phone
calls/meetings
NON Readers
Main issues:
- 3 in 5 are unaware of
benefits of being a Reader, &
unsure how to sign up
Main reasons for using
area:
- Over 80% said they
need the working space
More than half of
NON Readers
want
"more tables &
chairs"
For Readers, the
most frequent
request is for
"cheaper
catering"

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Segmentation
These have been proven by this on-site research in Reading Rooms and
Public Areas:
47.2%
14.4% 13.1% 10.8% 8.8% 3.2% 1.6% 0.6%
‘Academics’ =
• 23% undergraduates & below
• 44% postgraduates
• 33% lecturers, professors etc
‘Authors’ =
Two thirds writing/editing for
academic publications, one third for
public/commercial ones
‘Professionals’ = a wide range, from
policy officers in Govt/charities, to
journalists, lawyers & freelancers

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13
Non-users:
Research design and methodology
• 1,000 online
interviews
• 15 minute survey
• Analysis of
specific
researcher types
• Report profiling
non-users, insight
on reasons for
non-use
• Cluster analysis
• 24 tele-depth
interviews
across main
researcher types
• Average of 50
minutes
Set-up
Analysis
and
reporting
Set-up
Analysis
and
reporting
Fieldwork
• Review of
existing evidence
• Sampling
• Questionnaire
design
Fieldwork
Phase 1 Phase 2
• Recruitment
through Accent’s
telephone unit
• Collaborative
analysis across
moderation team

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Profile of non-users: quantitative
London: 11%
South East: 14%
Rest: 74%
Male: 38%
Female: 62%
18-24: 11%
25-34 14%
35-49: 30%
50-64: 27%
65+: 18%
AB: 34%
C1: 32%
C2: 13%
DE: 17%
N/A: 3%
Disability: 35%
No disability: 65%
Personal research: 51%
Business: 13%
Public/Third Sector: 7%
Academic: 23%
Prof. further education 6%
Overall sample: 1,013
Main type of research
established through
quotas

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Key reasons for non-use of services
Reading Rooms Interlibrary loanOnline
Catalogues
Business & IP
Centre
45% Too far away
32% Never considered it
30% Happy with other
sources
37% Didn’t know it existed
33% Never considered it
30% Too far away
35% Didn’t know it existed
31% Never considered it
37% Happy with other
sources
33% Never considered it
27% Didn’t know it existed
Q28. What are the reasons you`re not currently using these services?
Base: All participants, n=1,013

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Top ‘must-have’ requirements of research facilities
52
54
60
61
64
40
34
35
28
33
8
13
5
11
4
Subject-specific search services
Bookable rooms for working with colleagues or co-
researchers
Free of charge service
Free WiFi
Being able to access information instantly
% participants
This is a must-have Nice to have, but not essential I don`t need this • But when
prioritising the top
priorities…
23%
19%
16%
Q18. Please indicate whether for you these would be must-have attributes, nice but not essential, or if you would not need them.
Base: All participants, n= 1,013.

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Online searches were the first port of call for the
majority
• Online was seen to provide
– Access to worldwide resources
from their desk/home
– Time efficient
– Often free of charge information
– An easy way to make contact
with people
– The start point for most research
journeys
 Most commonly mentioned
starting point
 Followed by
specialist/specific websites
to delve further
 Trust is an important factor
 However, once beyond
Google, there was an
inherent trust in information
from specialist/corporate
websites
 With some believing their
area of interest unlikely to
generate ‘untrustworthy’
online information

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Offline research came further into the journey
• Having identified relevant online data
sources (or failing to), for many the offline
search began
 Offline sources were topic
specific:
 books / documents /
magazines / journals
 When only the physical
document/book would meet
the research need
 For academic research, to
meet course requirements
to cover a wide spectrum of
on/offline sources
 Libraries played a key role
 Sourcing from own (e.g. local
or University) library
 Sourcing from other libraries
transferred to local one

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Use of libraries was driven by 2 key needs
Research support Working environment
• Helpful staff with specialist
knowledge to meet specialist
research need
• Insufficient space to store relevant
books at home
• Local library = local knowledge
• Preference/need for working from
paper/physical documents
Sense of community
Nice environment to work in:
• Wi-Fi access
• Quiet space/room to think and lack
of distractions
• Café/refreshments
• Not time efficient when on a deadline
• Information not specific enough to meet requirements
• For some, incurred unwanted costs eg parking, refreshments
• Too busy/noisy
• Some experience of high demand/unavailable books
However, barriers to library use were common

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Research raised awareness of BL and participants see
value of using its services
• Overall, participants were very positive about
potential use of the BL:
– 7 would definitely use in the future
– 12 would possibly/most likely use in the
future
– 3 would probably not use in the future
– 2 would definitely not use in the future.
• Key motivations to use the BL:
– Awareness of services raised
– Vast amount of online sources/services
available
– Appeal to use offline services for less pressing
research (e.g. hobby etc).
• Key barriers to use:
– Awareness of services
– Picking up the reader pass in London
– Feeling of not being able to assess usefulness
of BL/RP before getting RP
“Because this translation work, the speed is really
important, the deadline is nearly always like, 'oh can
you do it in 2 days and 3 days?' That kind of thing, so,
yes, but in future, I'm sure I can just view myself
sitting in the reading room and just at leisure and just
looking at beautiful manuscripts or something.”
Fair (research) Future, Business (translations)
Ambivalent Academics slightly more cautious
about use than Fair (research) Future and
Keen Researchers. The latter are the most
positive group in this regard (with half saying
they would definitely use the BL in future)

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Building on the online offer
• The online catalogue and digital collections hold greatest scope for
attracting new users.
• The BL’s online offering should tap into researchers’ need for
information at speed/easily
– This will also combat the perception of some that it would be difficult to
find the information they need in the Library’s vast resources
• Non-users are looking for a simple, streamlined design
• Biggest single barrier = need to physically visit the Library to get the
Reader pass to access Reader-only information.
Publisher concerns mean we have to keep this for licensed content, but
in future BL may develop different types of registration, giving access to
different content/service levels.

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Conclusion
Importance of agency expertise and quality of
recruitment to reach across UK.
Mixed methods – interviews, observation and
online - and triangulation.
Segmentation and testing hypotheses.
Value Proposition Design
www.strategyzer.com
Future direction
• Easier registration, search and access
and clearer onward journeys
• Online open service(s).

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Questions and answers
What user research are you doing?
Is there anything RLUK libraries could
usefully do together?
Questions for us?
Contact
Fiona McCarthy
Research Services Insight Manager
fiona.mccarthy@bl.uk