Executive Summary of Customer Journey Mapping Project (January 2014 to December 2015)

The purpose of customer journey mapping (CJM) is to assess services from the customer’s point of view with an aim to improve their experiences. The project also collects the participating students’ ideas and suggestions that would allow us to prioritize, improve, eliminate or add a service if needed.

The Customer Journey Mapping Group, which is composed of seven people from three teams, compiled a list of library services and selected 8 services from the list for this project.  The services were selected based on popularity (commonly & frequently performed tasks) and importance (finding and accessing information/resources).  The services were analyzed using customer journey mapping  as a tool to help us: 1)  understand our customer interactions with a service, 2)  think critically about the service,  and 3) make recommendations to enhance the service with the goal of improving user experience at the Belk Library.

Customer journey mapping involves illustrating a user’s flow through a library service.  The project focused on the following services:

1.       Find  a book and locate the book on the shelf in the main stacks
2.       Get library help
3.       Use a specific database to find a full-text article online on a given topic
4.       Find a full-text article using the library resources
5.       Find and download an ebook/chapter
6.       Book a study room
7.       Access a print reserve reading
8.       Place a hold on a checked out item in the catalog

The CJM Group developed 8 scenarios, one scenario for each service.  Sixteen students from the Library Student Advisory Committee participated and each scenario was accomplished 4 times (with the exception of scenario 8-3 times and scenario 7-5 times).   The students were first given a data sheet to record what they were thinking, feeling, seeing, and doing, as they went through their journeys.  Then, they were asked to map the journey on large white sheets of paper using post-it notes, markers, and emoticons, after they completed their journeys.   These white sheets of original maps contained swim lanes of user journey (steps in the journey), library staff (interacted with), library systems (interacted with), and suggestions for improvements. 

After the students’ work,   the CJM Group began the rigorous process of analyzing the output of the 32 completed  maps .   This process included  three major steps:  1) transferring the journey from the original maps to a word document designed for the formal journey map=Customer Journey Map,   2) interpreting the journeys  by comparing the customer journey maps and data sheets for each scenario and completing an interpretation table based on the outputs (interpretation of similar ideas, suggestions, or pain points),  3) develop an action plan-recommendations for improving the service based on suggestions from the participants and CJM Group interpretations.  All of the artifacts and the action plans for the project are available in the Customer Journey Mapping Project libguide.  The Action Plan Implementation document has been also added to the Atrium. 

Our next step is to inform the library about the CJM project findings and focus on implementing suggested improvements of library services we proposed in the Action Plan.

CJM project members: Geri Purpur, Xiaorong Shao, John Wiswell, Sue Hisle, Russell Paige, Allan Duncan, Jon Morris

Geri Purpur

Xiaorong Shao

John Wiswell

Russell Paige

Sue Hisle

Jon Morris, emeritus

Allan Duncan