Design a library for the future.

Design a library for the future:

 

Clarifying Questions:

• Any constraint on the type of library itself? No

• Future? Timeframe in mind? Say at least 5-10 years out
  Any region specifically? None but focus on US

 

Why?

Libraries Today:

• Physical locations with some website capabilities

• Vary in size and scope (inner city vs rural libraries)

• Different selections in every library

• Can be tied to schools, universities

• Typically are open to the public

• Tend to focus on physical book inventory

• Have some public computers to use and other services such as printers and scanners

• Variety of books and media such as movies/shows

• Some are kid/family friendly

 

Trends?

• Adoption of VR and AR experiences

• Move to Internet based renting such as kindle

• Move to media as a way of educational experiences

• Physical books still heavily used but shifting over time to digital

• Less need for computer services due to smartphones

• Not as heavily used as before due to internet (less traffic)

 

Potential fit with adoption of digital technologies 

Competitors: Book stores, free media on internet, e-commerce sites

Goal: Adoption of a new type of library

 

Who?

(Criertia: TAM, Underserved/Overserved, behaviors meet mission)

 

Readers

• Physical Book Readers (higher TAM, less tech savvy, prefer “old ways”, slower to adopt new technology, underserved with current tech)

• Digital Book Readers (most tech savvy, trendy, evidence of adoption of new technology (reachable), already have digital means (overserved))

Media Watches/TV Users

Authors/Publishers

Employees (Librarians/School Officials)

Decided on physical book readers due to higher TAM and underserved with current means that a future library can meet. In addition, libraries are slowly holding less phyiscal stock so we want to figure out how a future library still can meet their needs
 

Problem Statement:As a physical book reader, I need a way to sample or preview the book without physically being there so that I can make a better decision on whether to rent it or not at the library

 

What?

 

 (GTM)

User research and competitive research

Understand and project out 5-10-15 year trends

Early Wireframe Design

• One sample virtual library

• Limited scope of books

• Limited VR Graphics

Stakerholder Approval

Build MVP and Test with small pilot group

Collect feedback and iterate

Release beta product 

Release to prod scale up

User surveys, analyze key metrics (time spent on VR, app downloads, conversion from sampling book to purchase)

 

1. The exploratory borrower who likes exploring different topics and reads to widen his/her horizons. They often don't start by looking for specific books.
2. The specific borrower or someone who knows what they want and will search for a specific book

Pain Point	Severity
Keep reading summaries of various books but can't decide what to read	L (Which book to pick is a big problem)
Pick up a book but don't like it after reading a few pages and have to return it	S (The book can be returned and another book can be taken in its place)
I can only spend an hour every day reading but want to read many more books than I already do	M (This is a good problem to solve but not for a library)
Can't find a community that would recommend good books to read	L (This is a good problem faced by many readers)
Want to connect with the author but can't	S (Because this is an exploratory learner, the interest in more in the material than in the author)

Solution	Reach	Impact	Effort
Take a list of genres that they are interested in and recommend accordingly	M (A lot of people will select only a few or will select everything)	M (Getting user input is good but this might be scoped to be too narrow)	S (Building a recommendation of this should not be too difficult)
Use collaborative filtering to recommend specific books	L (Everyone can see these recommendations and they will be personalized to the individual's taste)	L (Would definitely narrow down the list of books from which to borrow)	M (Collaborative filtering has been available for a while now so this can be applied here)
Have a 'surprise me' section where the system can automatically pick a book for you	L (Will be available for everyone and exploratory users will use it)	L (Exploratory users will like this)	M (We can use the same recommendation engine and the one with the highest score can be borrowed)
Connect with friends and share the books that will work well	M (Not everyone will be comfortable sharing their friends' details)	M (They would much rather call their friends directly)	S (Not too much of an effort will be required here)
Have a list of books recommended by influencers (such as Bill Gates, Tim Cook, etc.)	L (Will show up for everyone)	L (Will be helpful for this group)	S (It is mostly loading data and then working off that)

1. Use collaborative filtering to recommend specific books
2. Have a 'surprise me' section where the system can automatically pick a book for you

1. No. of books from recommendations borrowed
2. No. of returning users.

 

 

CQ:

1. Are we talking about a physical or digital library - you decide -> I’ll go with reworking on the physical libraries

2. Geography - India

3. Timelines/constraints - 3 months, NA

4. What's my role - PM in a tech company

5. What's the goal of this project - instil reading habits in public

 

User Persona:

1. Library Operators

2. Readers

   1. School/college library meant for students - prioritising for this base as the frequency of occurrence and urgency of need would be highest

   2. Public library where people of age group can join

3. Book Providers

 

Pain Points/User Needs:

1. Before reaching library

2. During library visit

   1. Not aware which book is the best to clear queries/practice for exams -> P0 as this has highest impact and would help in user retention as well

   2. Not aware of availability of that book

   3. Issues in locating the book

3. After library visit

   1. Reminders on submitting back the issued book

   2. Charges if any to be paid

 

Solutions for: Not aware which book is the best to clear queries/practice for exams

 

1. Summary of all books available in the library using AI/ML to guide the reader -> P1 due to M impact and H effort

2. Feedback of the book, rating of the book in terms of how useful it was -> P0 due to H impact, M-H effort

3. Show books similar to last read -> P2 due to L-M impact and M-H effort

 

Metrics:

 

1. Acquisition:

   1. #New user sign ups in the library and daily/monthly trend

2. Engagement:

   1. No of unique books read per month/active user

   2. % active user using the feature and their NPS v/s other sets of users

3. Retention:

   1. NPS

   2. Churn rate

   3. Reactivation rate

My understanding of a library is that it is a collection of books cataloged and arranged so that users can visit to borrow books, read in the library and submit back the books that are already borrowed.

Is this understanding of mine correct? — Okay.

Clarifying questions:

1. What is the purpose of this library and how advanced in the future are we speaking of?
   • The idea is to target existing libraries upgrade from paper format and get digitised 
   • I am assuming 5yrs from now 
2. Does this library need a physical presence of it can be purely digital like on a webapp or iPad/Kindle etc
   • I am assuming the library will be available for iPad/Kindle surfaces since they are the most reader friendly formats 
   • Physical presence is optional and is not part of the MVP
3. Is it a start-up or a big company like Amazon
   • Start-up 

1. Students — Ideally spend 40 hrs a week reading 
   • Could be undergraduate and upper primary class students who have to read and learn sciences, commerce, arts, poetry etc and they need to read books for competitive and qualifying exams 
   • University level PhD and Masters students who need to do research for their thesis etc 
2. Voracious readers — Ideally spend 20-25 hrs a week reading   
   • Readers who have a passion for reading
   • They want to gain a deeper knowledge and/or understanding of subjects like Artificial Intelligence, World Wars, Philosophy, Stoicism etc 
   • Movie makers, book authors, newpaper journalists etc who need a very deep understanding of a subject for their movies or books etc 
3. Casual Readers — Spend 2-4 hrs a week reading 
   • Users who read for fun

• DAU/WAU/MAU
• Total number of books read 
• Average time spent by a reader on the app 
• Trending or popular 
  • Subjects 
  • Topics
  • Books

Secondary

• Average searches made by a reader cohorted by subject
•  Average time spent by a reader on the app for 
  • reading 
  • searching 
• Total number of book summaries browsed by a reader
  • How many folds did a reader scroll if infinite scrolling or total number of pages clicked if results are paginated   
  • Total number of conversions made from book summary in seach results to reading the full book 

 

Design a library for the future?

Clarify Question I ask?

• What do we mean by future here, can we consider 2 years or is it 10 years?
• What kind of company we are, are we a startup or a company like Google , meta and what constraints do we have to keep in mind while designing it?
• I think we are the first company who is working towards better experience of libraries?
• In what geography are we looking to design it?

 

 

 

Response :

• Consider 2-3 years
• We have no such constraints
• Competitors are book stores, city libraries etc.
• Considering India

 

 

 

What do libraries do?

Libraries provide a place to work, read or borrow books.

 

Goal : We have to gain market share of those users who are visiting the library.

 

User Segment & Priortization

Casual Library Visitors (Impact: Low,Scale: High)

Mid library visitors (Impact: low,Scale: High)

High frequency library visitors. (Impact: High, Scale: Mid)

Librarian and Staff: (Impact High, Scale: Low)

 

Problem of High Freq. library visitors

 

• Slow Internet Connection.
• Not able to do personal meetings.
• Searching and borrowing books is tough.
• Not all magazines and papers are available.
• Not able to find good food to eat.

From My Experience of libraries, searching and borrowing books is of around 20-30 mins task.

 

Solution

I will choose the 4th solution because of Low Risk, Low Effort and High Impact.

 

 

I have few questions before I proceed with the design.Can you clarify?

• Are we talking about public libraries?
• Are we looking to re-design the experience in physical library or we focusing on virtual library?
• When say say future, what is the time horizon?
• Do you have any particular region in mind or segment in mind?
• What is the goal with this re-design?

1. Parents/Kids
2. Teens/School kids
3. Senior
4. Library Staff

1. Kids : To meet their friends, read story books, participate in kids' competition
2. Student: Read books for upskilling, entertainment, and extra knowledge. participate in community meetups to increase their network. Paticipate in competitions and events to explore different sides of their personality.
3. Elderly: Mostly retired people spent their time reading newspapers and meeting friends.

⭐ Clarifying Questions/Assumptions:-


1. By future what do we mean 2 years or 10 years down the line:-  lets take 2 years
2. Is this a general library open to all or it is a part of school or colleges etc:- Lets assume it is the part of the school.
3. What is the main goal of building the library, I assume it could be to improve the accessibility of books or to improve the participation of the community:- Lets look into the improving of the accessibility of the book.
4. Which type of library are we thinking to build a physical one or completely a virtual one:- lets make it for the physical one.
5. Are their any time, money, resources constraints:- No
6. I am assuming a normal school where all the students are comfortable in reading, writing, walking, etc.
7. I am assuming this library is to be designed for India.


⭐ Situation:-


We have to build a library from 10 years from now for a normal school to improve the accessibility of the book for the readers.

⭐ User Segments:-

According to me their will be two end users of the product:-

1. Children:- It includes all the children present in school of all the classes
2. Teaching Staff
3. Non-teaching Staff

According to me library will be mostly used by the children compared to two other users, and solving the problems for children can solve almost all problems for the other group as well, therefore I would like to go for children for further process.

⭐ User Pain Points-


Analyzing the journey:-

Students come to the library → Registers in the library → Search for a book/material → read it /  thinks of issuing it → follows the procedure of issuing the book → a final check at the exit gate o f library.

**Register in the Library:-**

1. The long hectic process to write names in the register
2. To stand in the queue if their is crowd.

**Search for a book/material:-**

1. Has to go rack by rack to search for the book or has to ask someone for the help.
2. Don’t know whether he will get the book or not.

**Read the book:-**

1. Don’t know whether the space is available for the reading it or not.

**Issuing the book:-**

1. Follow the long process of issuing a book.
2. Go through the exit gate checking as well.

Since we have the main goal to improve the accessibility of the books/information therefore I will be moving ahead with last three problems i.e. search for a book, read the book and issuing the book problems.


⭐ Solution:-


1. **Building an mobile application:-** An application that has the complete profile of a student which a student can use to borrow a book on a single click through application, can check-in through the single click in the library and can know the status of available seat through the application.
2. **Installing the Computer:-** To check the availability of the book one can see it in the computers installed in library with the help of the ID given to the book.
3. **ID to the book:-** Numbering the books with the IDs and arranging them according to the genre and in a proper manner with section labeled over the top of the shelf.
4. **Customizing Shelf:-** Once someone finds the book he can himself checkout by enrolling his Id to the block where it is being kept through the screen touch facility.
5. **Checkout QR code:-** Any one who completes the checkout process and gets a QR code activated for the book which then scans through the Auto scanner present in the door.

| Solutions | Impact | Effort |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Building an Mobile Application | Medium | Medium |
| Installing the Computer | High | Low |
| ID to the book | High | Low |
| Customizing Shelf | Medium | High |
| Checkout QR code | Medium | High |

For our MVP Part we can go ahead with the ones that are having High Impact and then we can continue to medium impact.

⭐ Success Metrics:-


**North Star Metric :- Number of daily readers coming to the library**

**Activation :-**

1. Number of books issued per day.
2. Number of students issuing book.

**Retention:-**

1. Number of Books issued per month/per student
2. Number of Books returned on time per month
3. Monthly number of readers.

1. Ask clarifying questions

   1. When we say future, what future we are targeting? What broader goals we are looking at → it would to encourage reading habit 

   2. Any location constraint ? -No . this should be location agnostic product

   3. Are we building this as part of any existing corporate i.e amazon has kindle which kind of works like a digital library → no

   4. Should we focus on building physical experience of visiting a library or focussed on digital experience → physical or hybrid

   5. Is this library part of university or more of a street side library –More of street side where anyone can go , probably pay and read

 

2. Talk about goals 

   1. To summarize we want to build a library for future , focussed on hybrid experience with the primary goals of increasing visits and reading times and improve their experience of visiting library 

3. Identify the customers

Let's talk about different user segments who visits library or can visit library

1. Poets , writers → they would be the most regular visitors to library as they want to explore many contents to read which other is not possible 

2. Students → currently preparing fo exams, in college but dont stay in hostel. They want quite place to study and also access different contents

3. Novelist or interested in comics:-> someone who is obsessed out reading comics or novel

4. Casual reader → someone who casually visits to read some good article or novels etc

 

Any segment i should pick → i think of all the segment casula readers would the biggest segment. Given that they are casual users they may not have plan and this could be reason they dont visit often . Goal here would be to drive their experience so that more and more casual users visit and we improve their experience of visiting and reading better

4. Identify pain points

Since we are talking about building library for future i would focus on pain points from future perspective and suggest solutions based on this hypothesis

1. One of the challenge with casual users is to locate. They can locate it using google maps but the question remains is where they would find the interesting stuff or not 

2. If they visit→ knowing that they may not visit on regular basis they may be hesitant to buy a regular membership. An opportunity to buy a flexible membership 

3. When they visit they may want some company to discuss the content. Normally its not possible in current scenarios

4. They may have limited time and may want to borrow the books and return at later point of time 

5. At times they are not in the city or town but want the experience of reading in a library setup

6. In Current experience they don't feel appreciated. Unless someone is intrinsically motivated. Most of the people wants to show and feel appreciated

5. Pick or priorities a pain point

   1. I wont pick any single pain point rather built the future library experience around all the problems i listed above

6. List solutions

 

1. No of users (visiting physically and virually(full blown product KPI))
2. No of books borrowed per day
3. No of catalog browsed digitally vs borrowed
4. No of interest groups created-->No of posts, likes and engagement
5. Members growth pattern(Last month vs Current Month)
6. Paid memebrs vs d hoc visitors

Clarification questions-

• Define future - since technologies advance at a rapid pace, i woule like to define future as next 10 years.
• Define library - a place where one can find information/knowledge on a topic .
• Are we talking about physical , hybrid or completely online libray - do what seems right 
• Can i assume the end goal is to democratized knowledge so that its available for all as education is a public subject - Yes
• Who am I while designing this library -Can i assume we a not- for -profit organization- Yes
• Any particluar language -will go with english and confirm it with interviewer.
• Any specific country- since it's online not a valid question
• Any specific constrint which i should be aware of - No
• Website or App - Both

For this case since the objective is to democratize knowledge and make it accessible ,I would define the problem statement as design an online library for next 10 years with above stated objective.

At this point , I will explain my structure - Goal- user segment- Pain points/Use Cases- Solutions- Metrics - Summary

User Segment

• Students - Level -play school ,School, College( Graudates,Masters, PHD)  , students with specail needs or some form of disability
• Working Professional  ( full time , part time, freelancer)- enhance their skills, looking for information while doing their work
• Retirees - trying to read during their spare time
• Reading Frequency - Low, Mid, High

Since the end goal is to democrartize knowlege I would be focusiing on students( school and college going) with low and mid reading frequency as they are the ones who are in most need of knowledge and can  most impact the goal

Pain Points

• Not finding the books/resources as per their current level of knowledge
• Getting overwhelmed with all the information online
• Not maintaining the initial interest and enthusiasm while reading on a specific topic
• Figuring what next to read on a specific topic to build on their knowledge

I will prioritize the solutions in the order i mentioned as they cover the entire user journey while acquiring knowledge on a topic

Solutions

• Use a set of initial questions to gauge the level of knowlege on a topic and then use AI/ML to gaue its veracity  and provide suggestions in a specific order- one trade off is that students may lose interest if the suggestion is not accurate or it does not matches with their current level of knowledge on a topic 
• Categorize information as topics - 
  • Provide voice based  succinct summaries
  • Use augmented reality for books/resources as they browse over the resource
• Use virtual reality to have an immersive experience. Eg: while reading about a book on philosophy take them to that era or let them decide what setting they wish  -( assuming VR headsets would be a lot chepaer by that time)
• Build a dashbord of ranking acroos all the users.
• Use AI and online tests to suggest what next to be read while clearly displaying the path ( things to read - level to reach)

I will prioritize the solutions in the order listed based on their impact on objective , ease of implementation and their signifcance in the user journey of acquiring knowledge

Metrics

• % of  users completing the entire suggested package
• % of topics completed per user
• No of different countries users of this app belong to

- Where would the library be?

- What do we mean by "the future"?

- Who would build it (governament, big tech company)

 

Assumptions:

- I am going to assume the library is located in New York City

- I am also going to assume that by "the future" we just mean a newer version of a library using technology to get more people to have access to books and material

- The company building it would be Google

 

Goal:

Google's goal is to empower individuals with information and make knowledge more accessible to a wider number of people. This goal is very connected to the general objective of a library, although many information that traditionally would be in a library are now also available online. The goal of the library of the future though might be to educate users to select the right information and understand how to navigate all the materials available.

 

Users:

We can distinguish users based on their age group:

- Adolescents (13-19 years old)

- Children (2-12 years old)

- Young adult (20-29 years old)

- Adult (30-65 years old)

- Seniors (65+ years old)

 

These users currently differ in their relationship with internet and information sources as well, as belonging to different generation. While we could focus on Seniors, that are the one group less familiar with internet, I think it is important in general to educate the newer generation first, so I would focus on Children.

 

User needs:

- Learn and find content supervised: these users are in their learning fase, and this happens also often online, with the pandemic.

- Learn how to face new content and how to identify the right source of information: with "fake news" and more and more young users on social media, users do not always know how to identify a reliable source of information and this is extremely important for their education.

- Learn about ones' taste in books, articles, authors and how to find interesting content: at this age, users are shaping their tastes and it is important for them to be exposed to different kind of content to understand what they are interested in.

 

Prioritize user needs:

I would focus on learning how to face new content and how to identify the most reliable sources of information, as fitting with the overall goal. By solving for this user need, we could later also integrate the other two.

 

Solution:

1. Index the books so that the content can be referring to more articles and content to get deeper understanding of the concepts mentioned.

2. Create a fake news Metaverse, where children can learn how to identify good sources or verify informations.

3. Craete a dynamic exibition within the library where children can interact with the displayed news, books or articles and find what is true and what is not about them and why.

 

Of these, to prioritize a solution I would consider the impact and the effort for each.

1. Big impact, but big effort too.

2. medium / high impact, medium / high effort.

3. Medium impact, low effort.

 

The third solution is the one that (weighted per effort) gives the higher impact. Children can learn from the exibition how to identify good sources and how to consult the internet. The exhibition can be developed using VR and AR, and there can be several tests gaminfied included in it. Once reached a certain level, the child can proceed to the next round.

Note that the impact is medium as the reach in this case is lower; children have to come to the library or have VR sets at home.

 

To summarize:

we decided to build a library for children, with the goal of improving their approach to information. We prioritize the user need to learn how to face new content and how to distinguish different information sources. We come up with few solution and prioritize the one that would give the higher impact weighter per the effort.

 

Clarification

1. Type of library-Online Personal library
2. Geography- developed and developing countries like India 

User segment

1. Publishers
2. Readers

• Students
• Professionals
• Retired people
• Specially abled people like deaf and blind

 

Goal of the application

Increase the customer engagement

 Pain points User segment Professionals and Retired people as majority of the reading population falls in this catagory

1. Delay in getting the daily news papers and it is hard to get it at a new place if we have travelled
2. Accumulation of waste
3. Although we read same topics day and day out but I feel loneliness while reading in silos
4. I want to gift a book to my friend but I do not know if he has already read it
5. I do not know liking of the other person if I want to gift books
6. I want to donate the books to an orphanage but I have just one piece and there are many people to receive donation in one orphanage
7. I want to access the books and magzines of my choice all the time specially during long travels. But I cant keep too many.

 

Features

1. An application that can be integrated to a device like kindle or can be used as an app to access daily news papers, ebooks and magzines.
2. The concept of human libraries can be introduced where learned people can talk to each other on any specific topics of their life or the learnings from specific books and share their story experience to the readers.
3. We can also introduce an ability to create readers network inside the virtual library so that your where you can find the basic details of the readers like the books they have read so far, likings, disliking, ability to chat.
4. Readers should be able to share their views on any common topic in the network. This will help in sharing the different perspective and understanding on the common topic. It is possible that one magzines and news paper can hold one perspective and others have different side of the story. A reader can learn by reading himself or can groom himself by hearing others perspective to it.
5. A common subcription bundled on the basis of the number of access to be granted for the required can be introduced to donate books/access to the books in the orphanage
6. Ability to download the premium content that last for some days to read so that reader can read it offline.
7. Introducing audio books to easy the process of learning during travels.

 

Prioritization

Business impact, complexity and User experience, Cost I would like to prioritize the features as:

1. M, H, M, H P2
2. H, M,H, L P1
3. H, L, H,L P1
4. H, L, H, L P2
5. M, L, M, L P3
6. H, L, H, L P2
7. H, L, M, L P2

 

Clarify:

- could you clarify what you mean by 'library of the future'? (up to you)

- is this a physical library or digital? (you're choice)

- what is the objective or problem that we're trying to solve for?

(We think there's a better way to provide the benefits a library has in some futuristic version)

 

Ok, so I generally understand what we're trying to solve for. I'm going to answer by:

1. Identifying related user groups

2. Identifying Pain Points / Needs of our chosen user group

3. Define a Goal

4. Come up with some solutions

5. Define success metrics and counter metrics for those solutions

 

User Groups:

- Consumers (readers)

- Librarians / Library Workers

- Writers / Authors

- Publishers

- Bookstores

 

We'll focus on the readers, since they're the end user and we'll want to focus on their needs to define the library of the future. Some of the other user groups might not even be relevant after our product is launched (i.e. Librarians). Lets also focus on high-volume readers to start, who at least read 1 book per week. 

A library, in general, solves the need of providing books for people to read, for free. However, there are also alternatives such as audible, bookstores, amazon, etc. 

Lets go through some of the potential user needs for a high-volume reader that the "library of the future" might want to solve for:

1. I want to find books I'm interested in (MUST)

2. I want to easily read, listen, or refer back to books I've started (MUST)

3. I want to get new book recommendations (SHOULD)

4. I don't want to have to pay to read books (SHOULD)

5. I want to share info I've read in books (COULD)

6. I want to socialize with other passionate readers (COULD)

7. I want to read & learn a lot but I don't have time

 

Overall Goal: 

Help people efficienct find and consume relavant information from books

 

In terms of priorities, I used a MSCW framework based on the existing solutions on the market. (must, should, could, won't)

 

Solutions:

- A mobile app where users can 'check out' books at a certain time and either listen to them on their phone or their tablet. They'll also be able to comment and discuss books with other readers. (Impact: L, Effort: M) 

- A VR library where you can go and read with others inside of a virtual quiet space. Mimics the current library appeal. You can also have virtual 'book clubs' with other members to discuss certain books at specified times. (Impact: M, Effort: H)

- A facebook AI tool that recommends and provides books based on your interests and history. Option to even summarize a book for you in shorter, digestable tidbids based on how much time you want to dediate to reading. Could potentially even share these tidbids with others and create small groups based on fans of books that you've read. Note that we would have to work w/ govt agencies to provide the content for 'free' and be utilized as a 'public' service. (Impact: H, Effort: M)

I ranked #1 low because their is a similar existing solution called 'libby' that has limited features but does allow the check in / check out of books. #2 would be difficult to implement and I have low confidence people want to read in a VR environment. #3 I would choose as this would create a social environment, help your selections, and improve efficiency.

 

I'd focus on the following engagement metrics, but #2 being my 'North star'

Metrics:

1. DAU of FB app ('active' defined as read or interacted with a book)

2. Daily # users who opened a book or played an audio session

3. Daily Avg (median) listening time per user

 

While Daily # users who read/played a book would be my main metric this wouldn't tell me the whole story. For example: 

-how many people complete a book they started, 

-how many people we're unable to find a book they liked or was unavailable

-avg time to complete a book

-qualitative info such as if they enjoyed the book and experience

 

A library for the future:

Thanks for the question. I'd like to clarify a few points before proceeding with the solution.

1. I'm assuming that by the library you mean a place where one can find a collection of different genres of books
2. What do you mean when you say "library of future"? I'm assuming that by "design a library for the future" you mean I can modify the existing activities related to a library such as finding books, reading books, borrowing books, etc or add new experiences to libraries with the help of technology

Now that I have clarified my understanding of the question, I'd like to put a structure to my thoughts in coming up with a solution. I'd like to begin by picking a goal and a user segment for building a library, followed by brainstorming and prioritizing the needs of my user based on the goal, followed by figuring out a few solutions for the most important needs. Finally ending with a metric to measure the success of my solution.

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Goal: Create an "engrossed in stories" experience for the visiters

With book delivery, coffee houses and kindle kind of disruptions, not many people visit libraries these days and the charm of reading books at the libraries has become dull and boring. My goal would be to create an experience that makes people want to return to libraries and spend hours engrossed in fiction, non-fiction all kinds of stories in the world.

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User segments: According to me there are 3 kinds of people who use libraries.

• Bookworms - those who read books on a loop. Book reading is their favorite pass-time
• Curious souls - those who are always ready to learn more either by talking to people or reading (either books or anything on the internet or newspapers, etc.) or researching by implementing
• Peace finders - these are the people who visit libraries to just find a peaceful location for reading or studying and may bring their own books or use books at the libraries

1. Curious souls don't have very specific topic or genres in mind. They can learn about anything and everything but reading a book would mean more often than not sticking to one topic or genres. This creates a boring experience for such people at the libraries
2. Curious souls want to learn new things. Reading or learning something they have read or learnt already would make their experience boring and might want to leave the library earlier than we want them to
3. Curious souls don't like spending a lot of time in just finding something to read. They want time at the library as easy as surfing the internet and that's why libraries had to introduce a computer section where people can sit and surf. That's not a library, that's essentially a computer cafe

1. A library app that stores user's account including user's interests, favorite topics and genres, authors and writers, etc. So, when the user signs-in the app within the library, user is shown the map to the aisles that store the books, journals, magazines, etc. related to my interests. The app can show directions to each aisle from the current aisle location of the user and user should be able to filter out the directions based on the next topic they want to explore
2. A self-learning engine browser extension that learns from user's internet searches and whenever the user visits the library, the engine recommends the best reads for the day and their location inside the library
3. An AR solution that guides the user as the user walks in the library. Based on user location within the library, the app automatically gives a summary of each aisle about the kinds of books the aisle stores when the user passes by it. The user can then choose to pick any book and the scan it with the app and app can speak out the interesting facts about the book. The app can also store history of books and topics read by the user and for every new book/topic, the app can suggest whether the user has higher chances of liking the book/topic/genre or disliking it

• Increase in footfall for the library post implementation of this solution
• Avg # of aisle summaries viewed per user
• Average session length - how long the AR solution was used by the user
• Guardrail metrics - CSAT and # of bugs in the app

• Learning curve for the app for an average user
• Gathering the summary for millions of books in the world and correctness of each summary

Clarifying questions:

Who is thinking about this - an existing tech company, like Amazon or an independent entrepreneur? Assume it's Amazon. 

Here's how I will approach the problem at a high level, let me know if it works:

1. Explore strategic context/goals
2. Identify user groups 
3. Identify their needs and how they meet them today 
4. Where are the areas of friction / jobs to be done 
5. High level vision + MVP recommendation 

1.STRATEGIC CONTEXT / GOALS - Why is Amazon thinking about this idea? Assume it's looking to find ways to drive user engagement as a top goal (given Books is a major category on Amazon), followed by 2) Revenue generation and 3) New customer sign ups 

Objective: Re-imagine the library experience to help Amazon deepen customer engagement, generate revenue and offer a service appealing enough to encourage new customer sign ups. 

Success Measures: 

North Star: Total $Value of Books Rented

Core Components of North Star: 

Number of Readers (Activation) * Number of Books Rented per Reader (Engagement) * Avg Cost per Book (Monitization)

Given this is a new product and Amazon's focus on user engagement, I would prioritize the following as Top Sucess Metrics: 

• Number of Readers (MAU) 
• Number of Books Rented per Reader (Monthly)

The idea is that by ensuring more and more people are using the feature and frequently so, we can impact the North Star. 

Top Counter Metrics: 

• Number of Returns (Monthly)
• Churn%

Secondary Metrics: 

Metrics contributing to an increase in Number of Readers (MAU): 

• Number of Browsers (Onboarding)
• Base Conversion Rate (Conversion)
• NPS (Activation) 
• Number of Invites Per Reader (Activation)

Metrics contributing to an increase in Number of Books Rented per Reader (Monthly)

• Number of Books Listed  (Engagement) 
• Relevance of Books Listed to Reader Interest (Engagement) 
• Frequency of Book Rentals Per Reader (Engagement) 

2. USER GROUPS:

Core Groups: Readers and Book Suppliers

High level sub categories: Readers: toddlers, children, adults 

Book suppliers: whole sale suppliers, individuals that want to give away their used books for community circulation 

3. NEEDS:

Readers (for simplicity, I will focus on adults)

- find relevant books

- discover new books 

- good selection in relevant categories

- ease of search, usability in general

- reasonably priced  

- digital or brick and mortar place 

- like to have a community space to interact with their children/friends but also like the flexibility and ease of a digital/mail-in solution

Suppliers: 

- reach customers

- individuals might love to find a community use for their used books 

4. Pain points / Jobs to be done: 

- libraries are hard to get to, not enough relevant content, not so easy to find the right books 

- membership processes are lengthy and not worth the money in isolation 

- books may not be in the best condition 

5. Vision / Solution: 

Vision would be to create a library that gives booklovers access to unlimited relevant content in various forms in a place that is hard to leave

Solution:

• I am envisioning a combination of digital and brick and mortar solution. 
• Introducing rentals on Amazon.com leveraging their great supply chain around books. Inventory will be managed locally based on local customer preferences. Customers will be able to browse and order books online using sophisticated search and personalization capabilties 
• Ordering can possibly in multiples or in combination with other e-comm orders to cover costs), they will be delivered home if physical books / or give access on Kindle.  Customers can return books to UPS/local Amazon option for returns/lockers by whole foods. 
• Membership can be managed through Prime (with a possible price adjustment for customers that opt into the service) 
• Have small community areas possibly leveraging Whole Foods real estate or in partership with a Cafe - goal is to have small spaces within neighborhoods so they are extremely accessible. Have lockers there for drop offs/pick ups. Comfortable place for people to hang-out for a short time, to conduct events and ways for interaction. People that want to give books to the library can have a way to lend their books to the local library or ship it to inventory. Events can be digitally shared.
• MVP can be a limited test through Amazon.com scaling eventually in selection and then addition of brick and mortor.