EDITOR'S NOTES
Keeping Users Front and Center
by Dick Kaser
I’ve worked with librarians for 5 decades now, and what I know is that despite all of the challenges put in their way, librarians have a way of prevailing. There’s always a new technology to master. There’s always pressure to do more with less, and there’s always a community that will support them if things get too stressed. In this issue, it was uplifting to see librarians carrying on with doing what they do best: helping patrons use information resources and find the information they are looking for.
Two library website usability studies are included in the narratives. One is by Erica Flint and Brianna Parfaite (Kennesaw State University) about how they took a user-centered approach to drive their efforts. The other is from Eric Resnis and Samantha Duncan (Carolina Coastal University), who explain their guerrilla-style usability testing method.
In another approach to exposing the collection, Korina Tueller (administrator at the State of Arizona Research Library) discusses her library’s partnership with the Arizona Genealogical Advisory Board to hold an annual Genealogy Day virtual program that highlights state and local collections and teaches research skills for using them.
In this issue, we are also featuring a special report coming out of the CIL 2025 conference by strategic planner Daniel Rasmus who provides an overview of the discussion he facilitated to assess the state of librarians’ hopes, fears, and dreams in light of current uncertainties. This feature follows up on Rasmus’ article in the May 2025 issue on using scenario planning to cope with uncertainty.
As always, many other opinions on the current state of affairs with library funding and mission-critical priorities are included in this edition. With all that’s been going on, I know it’s a lot to digest, but librarians have always been great at sorting through large amounts of information to zero in on solutions.
Best wishes for a productive summer,
Dick Kaser, Executive Editor
kaser@infotoday.com
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