How to design innovative information services at the library?

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-07-2018-0094
Published date17 June 2019
Pages138-154
Date17 June 2019
AuthorMagdalena Wójcik
Subject MatterLibrary & information science
How to design innovative
information services at the library?
Magdalena Wójcik
Institute of Information and Library Science,
Faculty of Management and Social Communication,
Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Abstract
Purpose The subject of the paper is innovative information services. The purpose of this paper is to
identify the potential sources of innovation in library information services and point out how they can be used
to improve the overall service quality.
Design/methodology/approach In the first stage, literature analysis and critique was used to establish
the state of research in the field of innovative solutions and select the main sources of innovation in services.
Next, a systematic search of the subject literature and network resources was carried out according to the
selected criteria to find the examples of innovative commercial services, particularly in the information sector.
Findings Libraries, like all customer-oriented service organizations, must innovate and continually evolve
to better meet the needs of their audience. It seems that in libraries, the basis of innovation and building a
competitive advantage over other institutions may primarily be the thoughtful design of services in the spirit
of the assumptions of the experience economy. Innovative ideas based on in-depth knowledge of user needs
are less dependent on financial conditions and more on the creativity and enthusiasm of library staff.
Research limitations/implications This paper is a conceptual work presenting the issue of innovation
from the perspective adopted by the author. The paper does not aim to fulfill the subject but to show some
interesting aspects of this issue and help initiate discussions on innovation in libraries from the perspective of
phenomena present on the commercial information services market. This approach, which has not yet been
adapted in library science, may show some new aspects and lead to new conclusions. This is a literature
review type of paper that is not based on empirical research and it has not yet been tested in practice;
however, the author believes that it can provide a valuable framework for designing and implementing
innovative services in libraries. The presented process is a preliminary proposal that can and should be
modified in the future based on further scientific reflection and examples of implementations in libraries.
Practical implications The results can be widely used in practice as a framework for designing
innovative services in libraries. The paper, based on subject literature, proposes a process of designing
innovative information services that can and should be tested in practice.
Social implications The paper can help initiate the debate on the need to implement innovative solutions
in library services.
Originality/value The issue of innovation in library services has not yet been widely discussed in library
and information science journals from the perspective proposed by the author. This paper presents a specific
approach to library innovation based on the observation of the certain phenomena on the commercial market,
which opens the door to new reflections.
Keywords Library services, Innovation, Library users, Service design, Information technologies,
Experience economy
Paper type Literature review
Background
Today, companies and non-profit institutions must be highly competitive in the fight for
customers (Urbancova, 2013; Bryson, 2018). The number of market players in a single sector,
the wealth of offers, the smart marketing techniques all this makes it difficult for companies
and institutions to stand out, especially those who cannot compete with the breadth of offers or
low prices. Information services are no exception; commercial information brokers, information
managers and librarians have to make efforts to make their services stand out among other
similar offerings. The source of gaining a competitive advantage may be price, the scope of the
service or the way it is delivered, but standard marketing techniques are often not enough to
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 37 No. 2, 2019
pp. 138-154
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-07-2018-0094
Received 25 November 2017
Revised 28 March 2018
18 July 2018
13 November 2018
Accepted 6 December 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
The author would like to thank Mike Timberlake for proofreading.
138
LHT
37,2
achieve this. To distinguish themselves from their competitors, institutions are turning to newer
concepts, such as investing in staff development, improving the organizational culture or
relying on cooperation with customers (Bindroo et al., 2012; Sung and Choi, 2014; De Silva et al.,
2018). All in all, novelty and uniqueness are needed, therefore designing innovative services
may be the answer that allows companies to gain and sustain a competitive advantage
(Bowonder et al., 2010). This idea is widely endorsed in the literature of the subject, an example
of which may be a statement by Mika Varis and Hannu Littunen (2010) that [] innovation is
the elixir of life for firms, regardless of their size or other attributes. Growth, success and
survival, all depend on the ability of firms to innovate on a continual basis(p. 129). A similar
opinion is also presented by M. Szuster and M. Szymczak (2016), according to whom
Innovation is viewed as a worthwhile source of advantage and of competitiveness for
companies seeking to improve their performance(p. 26). According to disruptive innovation
theory, even small entities can shake up the stabilized market and gain a competitive advantage
by thinking creatively and introducing relevant innovations (Christensen et al., 2015).
To summarize, it seems that innovation is very important to the success of both commercial
and non-commercial players if they want to improve the quality of their services and stand out
from the competition. It therefore remains to answer the questions:
RQ1. What is the true nature of innovation and how to create innovative information
services in libraries in order to have a chance to stand out in a competitive market?
The paper is based on the assumption that process of creating innovative libraries services may
be heavily based on the important phenomena currently observed on the economic market. It
was assumed that libraries, although non-commercial institutions, may be influenced by the
same factors that stimulate innovation among commercial entities. It was decided to take a closer
look at several selected sources of innovation in business and to consider to what extent they
have the potential for innovating in libraries. The selected sources of innovation include: the
concept of experience economics, the impact of the latest information and communication
technologies and service design methodology. The described factors do not, of course, cover the
problem of sources of innovation entirely, but they belong to the group of issues widely
described in the subject literature, which is why they were chosen. The presentation of how
these specific factors can affect innovation in libraries is intended to bring a new conceptual
perspective to the discussion on the design of library services. Referring to the assumption that
practices observed in the economic market may translate into the activities of libraries, examples
of good practices in the field of commercial innovative information services were described to
serve a base for creating a process of designing innovative libraries services.
Subject, objectives and methods
The subject of the paper is innovative information services. The main goal is to identify the
potential sources of innovation in library information services and point out how they can
be used to improve the overall service quality. Specific purposes include:
determining the state of research on innovation in the information services sector;
identifying sources of innovation and defining the characteristics of an innovative
information service;
identifying examples of good practice in the area of innovation in the commercial
sector; and
developing the process for designing innovative library information services.
In the first stage, analysis and critique of literature was used to establish the state of
research in the field of innovative solutions and select the main sources of innovation
in services. The search was performed for the years 20062018 using Google Scholar.
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