Merchandising the Circ Desk: the importance of visual cues

By Brian Mathews

Extract:

wanted to share an interesting observation. I hosted an exercise reviewing a wide variety of service spaces—banks, hotels, trade shows, retail, etc— and we considered the visual cues of those different environments.

What’s the visual cue here?

One of the slides featured a jewelry store. What’s the visual cue here? Browsing! Maybe you know what you want and can point right to it. Or maybe you’re not sure and prefer to try several options. The point is that the items are in full view. This is a perfect solution for a growing development at our circulation desk.  We’ve recently started lending a handful of adaptors to accommodate SCALE-UP, media:scape, and other technology needs. Instead of keeping them locked away in a backroom it seems we could emulate the jewelry store experience by showcasing them. The expert user can point right to the item she needs, while the novice can try on different adaptors to find the right fit. It’s good for users, but also helpful for library staff may not understand the complexity of all the hardware and related accessories. Continue reading