Instrument lending at Kirseberg Library
UX Case Study
To address sustainability challenges and the environmental crisis, resource efficiency through pooling and sharing is a viable and attractive option for society as a whole on many different levels. A sharing economy involves exchanging goods, services, resources, time, or knowledge and can be facilitated by individuals, government, or commercial actors. In this project, the larger goal is to explore the sharing services that already exist in the area and design a service to support a sharing economy in Malmö neighborhoods. Our group was chose to specifically focus on Kirseberg.
Background
Kirseberg is a fairly diverse neighborhood and has a very similar demographic to the rest of Malmö. Kirseberg Library is an important stakeholder in the sharing economy of the area. Traditionally, libraries are a form of sharing economy themselves, but in addition to that, Kirseberg Library has its own initiatives to promote sharing of different things among the residents, such as clothes swapping days and cultural activities for sharing of local culture such as history walks.
Kirseberg
research methods
1.Background Research
We conducted online research in the Kirseberg neighborhood to learn more about its residents and main businesses. This helped us prioritize which organizations to visit and schedule interviews with. We also examined Kirseberg Facebook Groups to better understand the current sharing culture within the neighborhood.
2.Interviews
We conducted in-person interviews with primary Kirseberg stakeholders to identify current challenges and turn them into potential design opportunities for our project.
3.Survey
We sent out a survey in a Facebook group for Kirseberg residents. Our goal was to gain more insights from them about what kinds of sharing initiatives would interest the people living in Kirseberg, as our interviews had primarily focused on organizations
4.Home visits
We also reached out to our own network to gather more qualitative insights from Kirseberg residents. We visited homes to understand what types of items residents would be interested in sharing (lending or borrowing).
Actor maps
We chose to create Actor Maps for the språk café at Kirseberg Library, Bulltofta if and Ignis because they represent three community actors that play an important role in Kirseberg when it comes to sharing services.The goal of the Actor Maps was to gain a better understanding of how actors work with sharing information, collaborating with other actors and their competition.
The research resulted in many design opportunities but we decided to move forward with the design opportunity that was of most interest to the greatest number of people in Kirseberg, which was to start lending instruments at Kirseberg Library.
TOPIC SELECTION
Why instruments at Kirseberg Library?
Why instruments?
Expressed interest from a diverse range of stakeholders (residents, librarians, Bulltofta IF, etc.)
Kirseberg Library was already involved in a base version in partnership with Kulturskolan
Why start at Kirseberg Library?
A “third place” for many Kirseberg families and children
Involved in other initiatives as well
EXISTING SHARING INITIATIVES
Malmö Kulturskolan
Kulturbanken lends out guitars, ukuleles and singing equipment with free online learning material
💡 Areas for improvement:
Age-restricted: Limited to 7- 19 year olds
Not convenient: Only available at the Kulturskolan building -> not accessible all around Malmö
Limited access: Lessons are naturally integrated into the school rather than with lending in mind for all residents
Manual: Parents must call/email the receptionist
The challenge
How might we facilitate a meaningful sharing of instruments and music learning activities?
Design proposal
SHORT-TERM
Providing access
Adopt Kulturskolan’s existing lending system at Kirseberg Library
Start with existing inventory (guitars and ukuleles)
Provide users with online learning content
Host workshops at Kirsberg Library
💡 What’s needed: Training library staff, instrument inventory from Kulturskolan, space at Kirseberg Library for instrument display and workshops, marketing on Malmö stad website
MID-TERM
Expanding resources and locations
Add additional facilities for users to play and practice together with more stationary instruments and music equipment
Integrate instruments into the library’s database so users can rent instruments with their library card
Expand the service to all Malmö libraries and add the ability to browse and reserve instruments on the Malmö stad website
💡 What’s needed: Integration of instruments with library database, digital website infrastructure, engaging locals in running workshops, funding for instruments
Long term
Building a stronger community and scaling impact
Community events like neighborhood concerts
Integrate the cargo bike service
Bring back the music bus!
Continue expanding inventory
💡 What’s needed: Additional funding and personel for the bus, organisation and venues for concerts, maintain and invest in new instruments
