NNLM Personas README

Personas are reliable, realistic and evidence-based representations of key audience segments. They are usually built from mixed methods research findings through data collection processes employing qualitative and quantitative user research and web analytics. Personas are modeled in reality but are not themselves specific persons or real individuals. They are synthesized from characteristics, attributes, and behaviors of many people and used to communicate main observations about their object of study. For the purposes of the NNLM, we decided to extrapolate this framework to the Network’s main constituents: the NNLM member organizations. In this case, the NNLM Personas are models for organizations who are part of the NNLM via membership. They offer a summation of key essential characteristics and attributes for a given organization type, rather than representing any specific member organization. Currently, there are 8 NNLM Personas, based on the following NNLM member organization types: 1. Public Library 2. College or University (excludes Community Colleges) 3. Hospital Library 4. Community Based Organization 5. Hospital 6. Local Government 7. State/Regional Government 8. Department of Public Health There are 9 attributes to the NNLM Personas in terms of Organizational background, in particular, Size, Setting, Non-English languages used by service populations, Most common service recipients, Potential events and opportunities for engagement, Services offered by the organization type, Organizational capacity, Typical goals and Challenges. In terms of the Membership experience, the Personas focused on Reasons to value NNLM membership, NNLM services used in the past 12 months, Awareness about NNLM services, Preferred communication mechanisms, Sources to learn about funding, Desired future NNLM classes programming, Barriers to greater engagement with the NNLM and Satisfaction with NNLM membership experience. W H O A R E T H E N N L M P E R S O N A S ? THE NNLM PERSONAS README The NNLM Personas provide member organization type-specific information, including characteristics, attributes, preferences and perceptions on value of the NNLM membership. Their goal is to help NNLM Staff Members and other interested parties better understand who the member organizations are and their needs. The tool is currently available online. The data are displayed in self-contained, type-specific member organization templates which are easy to read and to differentiate by their background color. W H A T D A T A S O U R C E S W E R E U S E D ? The NNLM Personas are based on two main sources: self-reported data from the 2022 NNLM Member Survey and analysis of aggregated, publicly available website data from a convenience sample of representative member organizations suggested to us by the 7 RMLs for each of their regions. The 2022 NNLM Member Survey was an established survey designed to obtain baseline data from a random sample of NNLM member organizations regarding their perceptions on the benefits and value of their membership. H O W D O E S T H E N N L M P E R S O N A S T O O L W O R K ? W H O S H O U L D U S E T H I S T O O L ? NNLM Staff Members NLM Project Scientists, OET and NLM Staff Members Anyone engaged in an onboarding process, etc. Potential new or existing member organizations seeking to understand what their peers do and how they perceive the NNLM This tool can be used by: W O U L D T H I S N N L M P E R S O N A S T O O L B E U S E F U L F O R M Y R O C ? The Personas offer a glimpse into what the NNLM member organizations value and their needs. We think that working through a case-scenario will help you understand some of their potential uses. But please, do communicate with us if you have other ideas or have found other uses that could help your NNLM colleagues. The NNLM Personas were conceived from a collaboration between Regional Medical Library Staff, as well as NNLM Centers and Offices, namely the National Evaluation Center, the National Center for Data Science and the National Training Office. All the attributes selected to be in the Personas template were identified as being essential to defining the nature of NNLM member organizations by the subject-matter experts involved in the Personas interest group. Where appropriate, standard definitions were sourced from federal agencies, such as the US Census for the urban/rural category used in “Setting”. W H Y T H E S E P A R T I C U L A R A T T R I B U T E S ? NNLM Staff Member promoting a major NNLM educational initiative The latest NNLM educational initiative involves a week of programming around a public health topic. The initiative includes a class offering CHIS certification, various discussions and panel sessions offered via the NNLM classes page, and reading group selections. The NNLM Staff Member wants to know how best to advertise the initiative and how to reach and serve as many audiences as possible among NNLM’s membership. Where to concentrate marketing: Examine the type of organization and the ‘Most common service recipients’ Persona attribute. The NNLM Staff Member wants to reach the general public and those who provide services most directly to them, so will concentrate outreach on Public Libraries, Hospitals, Hospital Libraries, Community Based Organizations, Local and State/Regional Government Organizations, and Departments of Public Health. How to reach these organizations: Email and the NNLM website are listed as the preferred communication mechanisms for all of these organizations. So the NNLM Staff Member searches Civi and collects email addresses for contacts from such organizations and sends a targeted email blast. The NNLM Staff Member has also created a section of the NNLM website with information and links about the initiative and included this webpage in the email blast. Niche marketing: One of the classes associated with the initiative offers Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) CE credits. The NNLM Staff Member sends a targeted email blast advertising this fact to all organizations with professionals seeking CHIS certification (Public Libraries, Hospital Libraries, Community Based Organizations, and Departments of Public Health). How to reach more audiences: The College/University Profile shows that these organizations want NNLM classes on health disparities and health equity, as well as data-driven research. Consider adding a class in the initiative examining health disparities in a data-based way, such as a class involving a data analysis project using public health records. Evaluation: The NNLM Staff Member works with NEC to identify the best evaluation plan. For example, disseminating a survey at the conclusion of an event. During survey development processes, NEC and the NNLM Staff Member work on checking the Typical goals section of the NNLM Personas to align/code the results against each Persona’s stated goals, and more closely align programs to organizational goals in future work. Similarly, any critical feedback they receive is coded to the Challenges section to see how classes and other offerings of the initiative can be tailored to be mindful of these challenges. E X A M P L E P E R S O N A S A P P L I C A T I O N S C E N A R I O S H O W C A N I O B T A I N T H E P E R S O N A S T O O L ? The NNLM Personas are available online at NEC’s Zenodo community here https://zenodo.org/communities/nnlm-nec/?page=1&size=20 W H E R E C A N I P R O V I D E F E E D B A C K O R A S K Q U E S T I O N S A B O U T T H E P E R S O N A S T O O L ? Please email [email protected] F U R T H E R R E A D I N G Gonzales, Sara et al. “Personas for the translational workforce.” Journal of clinical and translational science vol. 4,4 286-293. 10 Jan. 2020, doi:10.1017/cts.2020.2 "Personas." Usability.Gov, www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/personas.html. Accessed 23 Apr. 2023. US Census Bureau, “Urban and Rural” in https://www.census.gov/programssurveys/geography/guidance/geo-areas/urban-rural.html A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S NEC would like to thank the following Personas Interest Group members for all their ideas and feedback: Asih Asikin-Garmager (AoUNP), John Bramble (R4), Jessica Kilham (R7), Tony Nguyen (R1), Peace Ossom-Williamson (NCDS), Nancy Shin (formerly at R5) and Jessi Van Der Volgen (NTO). The NEC team involved in the project was led by Sara Gonzales and included Mohammad Hosseini, Erika Martínez Picazo, Emma Wilson, Verónica Hoyo and Kristi Holmes. We would also like to thank the following people for participation in the early days of this project: Miles Dietz-Castel (R6), Molly Knapp (NTO), Bobbi Newman (R6) and Katie PierceFarrier (R3) Internet citation: NNLM Personas. Content last reviewed May 2023. NNLM National Evaluation Center, Chicago, Ill. https://www.nnlm.gov/about/centers/nec