Making the Invisible Visible: Personas and Mental Models of Distance Education Library Users

Gaps between users' and designers' mental models of digital libraries often result in adverse user experiences. This article details an exploratory user research study at a large, predominantly online university serving non-traditional distance education students with the goal of understanding these gaps. Using qualitative data, librarians created personas and mental models focused on users' perceptions and obstacles in using a digital library and conducting research. The findings provided insight into the research habits and challenges of library users, thus allowing the library to make evidence-based decisions about designing digital learning objects and the library website.