User Services and Community Experience

User Services and Community Experience supports how people learn, conduct research, discover, and engage with NYU Libraries. Through research and instructional support, workshops, student engagement programs, and the design and ongoing improvement of library services, spaces, and digital experiences and interfaces, we help users find their way, cultivate curiosity, and make the most of the services and resources available through the Libraries. Grounded in a holistic view of learning, our work aims to create welcoming, accessible, intuitive, and responsive experiences for the NYU community.

User Services and Community Experience (USCE) includes the following departments:

Reference Services

The Reference Services department engages NYU library patrons in finding, navigating, and using resources, and tools to address their research needs. We are committed to providing responsive services, flexible access to information and resources, facilitating a shared engaging learning experience, and adapting to the evolving research needs of the NYU community.

At reference services, you can get help with narrowing and focusing research topics, accessing and navigating databases, journals and other e-resources, using the catalog, developing a search strategy and general library and research related questions.

Undergraduate and Instructional Services (UIS)

The Undergraduate and Instructional Services department provides in-person, online, and asynchronous instructional services and library outreach to all students with an emphasis on undergraduates. Our engagement and outreach services focus on undergraduates and campus groups that support undergraduate students.

Our services and resources include:

• Library instruction classes for first-year and second-year undergraduates course curriculum and assignment development
• Collaborative learning events and activities
• Instructional support for students and faculty at global sites
• Workshops

User Experience

We focus on creating a high quality, consistent, and robust library experience designed to best support user needs, expectations, and behaviors. We work with staff, students and faculty within the NYU community to make experiences easier to navigate and understand. Experiences can be digital, like using the library website, or physical like navigating through the library stacks. We welcome feedback, which can be shared with us via email at lib-ux-group@nyu.edu. Our services include:

• Accessibility
• Content Strategy and Information Architecture
• User Feedback and Research
• Service Design
• Project and Product Support