Week Fourteen: Paths
Hannah Hiles | 22 April 2016 | Durham NC
In land planning there is this term called “desire path” that gets used. These are paths that are unplanned by those in charge; instead, they are paths that are chosen and created by urban and sometimes wildlife populations. You see them very frequently in areas that have a lot of foot traffic, as well as a lot of urban planning – worn dirt paths that stretch between sidewalks, cutting kitty-corner between two different locations.
The concept has always been amusing to me. Not only because you see situations where users decide, unanimously, that they know better than the designer, but because you also often see the designer take that feedback and put it into practice. Many landscapers will actually pave desire paths, or create formal borders for them, officially marking them as paths to be used.
When I began my library program, the path in front of me was not clear. I initially thought that I wanted to be a public servant – to stay in the realm of the city or county library, and to serve the residents of my city. But as I worked in libraries and as I read about libraries, I realized that the community I wanted to truly serve was a different one – and the path in front of me started to get a little clearer.
Through my time with AUX, I've started to weave my own desire paths. I have never taken a course on user experience. I have never sat in a lecture on usability testing or observational studies; I have never had any professor talk to me about “F” patterns or hot spots. But these things have all helped me wear down my own desire path and create the solid line that I have made between where I started and where I want to go.
The four months here with Duke University Libraries have been an irreplaceable part of my library education – and they have created for me a now fully-incorporated path to my future as a librarian.
HRHILES 