ABSTRACT
The space and the priorities of the library have to change to meet the growing needs of the patrons. One such change is the needs of learners in the digital revolution. Designing digital learning spaces and activities for users is not an easy task. Specifically, adults have a particularly hard time understanding the knowledge, values, and perspectives of youth. This can be especially problematic for librarians serving youth patrons with diverse needs. To address these design concerns, participatory design can be a way to solve the problem by working together with designers and patrons. Participatory design is a method of design that focuses on close democratic collaboration with users and designers. In this chapter, we document a case study of an intergenerational design team of adults and ethnically diverse children (ages 7–11) called KidsTeam UW and their codesign collaboration with a librarian at the Seattle Public Library (SPL). Specifically, we describe an exploratory study of six codesign sessions between KidsTeam UW and SPL that occurred from fall 2015 to spring 2016. Our findings suggest that while logistical challenges exist for librarians to implement codesign, partnerships between universities and libraries can be starting points to consider participatory design as part of design thinking in libraries.
