Inspiration and interactions at UXLibs 10

Pic by Raj Mann

Exactly a decade ago I attended my first User Experience in Libraries Conference. It changed everything for me: I’ve said before that I think UX is the most exciting thing to happen to UK librarianship in the twenty years I’ve been involved with it. I now have UX in my email signature (Faculty Engagement Manager: Community + UX) and my favourite projects at work have all been centred around UX techniques and ideas.

With all that in mind, to be asked to give one of the keynotes at the 10th UXLibs conference, in my home City of York no less, was just an incredible honour and a wonderful opportunity. I was beyond excited and well into absolutely thrilled. I even managed to sneak my always incredibly supportive parents into the hall to see the talk, along with 170 proper delegates from 18 countries…

My previous post was about the talk itself - Elevating Voices: UX as a Tool for Equity. Have a look if you’d like to see the slides and some associated links. This post is more about the conference as a whole.

---

Interactions: a uniquely supportive conference

My parents have never seen me present before (not in the flesh, anyway; a previous keynote from New Zealand which was live-streamed, and I asked the #LIANZA audience to wave to my Dad who got up at 3am to watch it! ) and I loved having them there. Part of the reason it wasn't off-putting was that I was completely relaxed, thanks to the incredibly welcoming, inclusive, and friendly vibe that the conference has.

Partly this is a product of the personalities of Andy, Andrew, Bryony, Julie and Marisa - they're all lovely people and this infuses the event. But it's also the product of *work*. The committee work to make the conference inclusive - an unimaginable level of thought and care goes into every aspect of it. UXLibs is what happens when the committee go beyond 'what should a conference do or have here?' and just thinks about, well, the user experience... What is the best possible thing for the delegates? Let's do that.

I massively appreciate all that hard work the committee put into that side of things. And I also like that the Code of Conduct makes explicit what is expected of us as delegates, and that the welcome at the start of the day (including the always-brilliant Housekeeping with Amy!) puts everyone at their ease. And I like that the fact we should listen to and respect each other as delegates, and allow space for different viewpoints, isn’t just tacitly assumed: it is asked for, out loud. All of this works together to create a unique atmosphere, and I can say with absolute certainty the UXLibs community is the most supportive conference community I’ve ever been a part of.

It was conference if ideas and interactions for me. I loved presenting on the same day as my friend Raj Mann who was fabulous in both her keynote, and her talk, AND the connections exercise she got us all doing... I loved seeing UXLibs regulars again after a couple of years away. I loved being able to invite my wife Alice to the Gala Dinner with me. I loved working with Team Great Tree for the Team Challenge. I loved catching up with my colleague Clare Ackerley in between sessions. I loved all the conversations I had with all the delegates about themes from my talk, or other topics. And I loved the inspiration I got from everyone there.

As I've said before, I have zero-chill about getting to do a keynote at my all time favourite conference. Thank you Andy for inviting me, thanks everyone who listened.

Inspiration: Five ux techniques i now want to try

I scribbled the most notes I've ever scribbled at an event, and generally had a very enriching time. Here are some techniques I'm itching to try now I'm back at my desk.

1) Photo elicitation. Using photos of library spaces or asking the user to go and take photos of library spaces that mean something to them, leading into an interview. An alternative to the Touchstone Tour or Cognitive Map into interview pairing I usually use. Thanks to Prakash Chauhan amd Catherine Broadley for their brilliant workshop on this.

2) Creative maps. I realised during the conference all the cognitive maps I've asked users to draw have been from their memory - map this process or that space or that building. But Andy Priestner and others shared examples of much more creative, speculative maps - maps about how spaces could be, or even maps about how library services make you feel...

3) Quote walls for staff. We get so many great pieces of feedback about our services via UX, and we do try and pass it on to relevant sections. But Romy Hilbrich and Thomas Reimer put feedback on posters at the State Library Berlin, and I'd love to do this in staff areas in my library.

4) New-staff-as-users. I love this idea (also from Thomas and Romy): new members of staff spend a day as users, completing tasks and feeding back. I always ask new staff to give us feedback before they become institutionalised, but I want to try a more structured, UX-leaning way of approaching this.

5) Positionality statements. Positionality is our understanding of who we are, our experiences and privileges and characteristics, and how these interact with the research we're doing. It's hard to explain this in a brief LinkedIn post so I'd recommend further research if you're unfamiliar, but examining our own perspectives and biases is key for creating safe environments for research participants, especially those who may not benefit from all the same privileges. At the brilliant Raj Mann's prompting I began talking briefly about my positionality in UX interviews with ethnically minoritised students, and explaining why I wanted to learn from them and what I wanted to do with the information they shared with me. I think I need to start doing this in all UX interviews going forward.

That's just 5 things - not to mention the app-blocking Brick thing Amy Theobald and Andrew Alexander showed me, or the brilliant Sensory Map session we had from Megan and Victoria at Uni of Lancashire which we've been planning to do at York (and now have the knowledge to get started), the the extension of our Living Room space in another building inspired by the Team Challenge... Viva UXlibs!

Elevating voices: UX as a tool for equity

Today I am honoured to give a keynote at UXLibs 10, the User Experience in Libraries Conference. Below is a version of my slides, and then I’ve linked to several relevant articles and reports covering things I discussed in the talk, finishing with highlights from my report on the Inclusivity and Belonging UX project at the University of York.

The presentation

My slides are embedded below and available on Slideshare here.

elevating-voices-ux-as-a-tool-for-equityfrom Ned Potter

The abstract

Higher Education is facing financial crisis. When budgets tighten, services often shrink to fit the needs of the majority, and ‘maintaining core services’ can easily become a proxy for exclusion. By designing for the ‘typical’ user – those with the fewest barriers and the most flexibility – we inadvertently sideline marginalised groups with complex needs.

This keynote positions UX work as an essential tool for equity, with a five point manifesto. We will explore how libraries can represent the under-recognised, elevate diverse perspectives and ensure our institutions remain inclusive, authentic spaces for everyone.

Recruiting for diversity

An absolutely essential part of my UX manifesto is to recruit as diverse a group of fieldwork participants as possible, rather than taking a first-come, first-served approach, or trying to achieve a representative sample. Your service will be more inclusive if you design it to meet the most needs, rather than for the most people. I cover this and several other aspects of communication around UX in ‘Communicating the benefits of UX to everyone who needs to hear it’ in the User Experience in Libraries: Yearbook 2024 edited by Andy Priestner and Marisa Martin (2024) - the Open access version available via White Rose Research Online here.

Three rounds of five, and getting UX done

A really effective structure for UX projects is to interview 15 participants, split over three rounds of five people each. The first round is generative, the second round is for prototyping, and the third round is evaluative. This process is covered in more detail, along with some advice on how to advocate for UX and get it done at your institution, in ‘Ask not what your organisation can do for UX; ask what UX can do for your organisation,’ in User Experience in Libraries: Yearbook 2023, edited by Andy Priestner (2023). The Open access version of that is available via White Rose Research Online.

---

The Inclusivity and Belonging Report

Throughout my talk I referred to a recent UX project at the University of York, entitled Inclusivity and Belonging. The report was written for use within the University and it wouldn’t be appropriate to share all of it - however, below are some highlights, with the quotes from participants removed.

Executive Summary

Our spaces help shape the daily experiences of our users, and should reflect the communities that use them as far as possible. This project originated from the need for better data on the library experiences of students from smaller, under-recognised demographics. We have consistently prioritised diversity in participant recruitment for previous User Experience (UX) projects, but rarely have we made that diversity the focus of the project itself; while we have made good strides in specific areas relating to inclusivity, there are many groups outside the ‘typical’ York student, who face barriers to service use which we could potentially remove. In particular we wanted to focus on the experiences of first-in-family students and ethnically minoritised students, and to make the library a more trauma-informed service, as part of this project. There was intersectionality here among our participants, both in terms of class and race, and in terms of neurodiversity.

Key findings and observations

The Library is widely regarded as an inclusive environment, but this perception is carried by the interpersonal skills of our staff, our communication online, and specific initiatives (such as the Sensory Rooms or Family Study Room) - rather than the building itself.

• Staff are a key part of inclusion. Students frequently praised the approachable and welcoming nature of library staff, especially in the Customer Services Team. In general, the library's approach to inclusion and belonging is actively noticed, and appreciated.

• Elements of the physical environment - often beyond the library's control - actively work against inclusion. Several safety features required by the University - such as the turnstiles, high-intensity lighting, and glass-fronted study rooms - act as signals of exclusion for marginalised groups. In contrast, spaces like the Spring Lane Building are perceived as more inclusive despite being unstaffed: this is attributed to the absence of turnstiles, more thoughtful lighting, and flexible furniture configurations. However, those spaces do not foster a sense of belonging in the same way the library does.

• Louder study spaces are important. Students from marginalised groups often feel exposed or scrutinised as they move through University spaces. Silent or very quiet study areas heighten this feeling of hyper-vigilance, whilst louder, Studious Buzz areas help to reduce the exposure, helping students feel more at ease. (This is a key reason one of the outcomes of this project, the Ethnically Minoritised Author Showcase Space, is located in the Fairhurst rather than the Morrell.)

• Students from marginalised groups experience information gaps. We know from the 'York Risks' work from the No Gaps Project that 'Without a sense of belonging, students may feel isolated, excluded and marginalised, leading to lower engagement in learning, support and university life.' Students from working-class or ethnically minoritised backgrounds often operate under a constant state of "decoding" the university environment. This cognitive overload leads to missed opportunities within the library - such as students unnecessarily purchasing books, failing to seek help, or overlooking available services.

Outcomes and recommendations

This report details findings across 8 key themes and offers 19 recommendations. Rather than waiting for the publication of this report to take action, we adopted an iterative approach. As a result, over half of the recommendations are already complete or well under way.

Methodology: a UX-led approach

User Experience

As with all major projects, we based our approach around User-Experience (UX) methodologies. The best way to hear from students is not through focus-groups or surveys but through one-to-one conversations. The data we get from a semi-structured interview is so rich that only a small sample size can yield incredibly useful - and actionable - insights.

Project Overview

The project began in September 2024. Phase 1 focused on existing data: we met with around 10 staff from around the University to assemble perspectives and documentation from related studies. Phase 2 was the UX fieldwork, beginning in May 2025 and running until January 2026; we spoke to 13 students recruited directly, via channels such as Step Ahead or recommendations from relevant staff. Phase 3 - thematic analysis and reporting - began in January and ended in April 2026.

The project group consisted primarily of Ned Potter, Clare Ackerley, Martin Philip and Olivia Else, all from the Faculty Librarian Team, and we benefited from three later additions to the group. Raj Mann (who was at the time Project Manager for the Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education) joined us for two months of the project, bringing invaluable expertise on many pertinent areas including providing a safe environment for interviewing students on potentially traumatic subjects, and introducing us to the term Trespasser Syndrome (more on which below).

Sarah Lapacz and Emanuela Buizza from the Customer Services Team joined up after most of the fieldwork was conducted, to help with thematic analysis and recommendations. Having their perspective and fresh eyes on the data was really valuable, and I'd recommend this approach of involving new people at the analysis stage for future UX projects going forwards.

A note on terminology

We use the term under-recognised groups rather than under-represented groups, which is the phrase we typically see used in the University. Even though it is almost always not intended this way, there is an implication with the latter term that the onus is on the marginalised person to represent themselves better, whereas of course the reasons for under-representation are systemic and institutional.

We use the term ethnically minoritised students rather than BAME or Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students, based on advice from specialists in Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging. This framing highlights the fact that Black and Asian students' minority status at the University is an active, systemic process, rather than a static identity. Talking about 'BAME students' also risks implying a homogonisation of very diverse experiences.

We use the term Trespasser Syndrome where the University often used the term Imposter Syndrome. Imposter Syndrome individualises suffering: it’s not something being done to you; it’s something you ‘have’, a personal flaw that comes from within. But students from marginalised groups are made to feel like outsiders by the University - that comes from without. To quote Dr Arin N Reeves: "People from under-represented groups are not afraid that they are imposters; they are afraid that the majority groups won’t see them for who they are and won’t welcome them if they do see them. These fears are not the fears of imposters; they are the fears of trespassers."

Findings

1) Standard library environments can be exclusionary to marginalised students.

Large, bright, open study areas (such as Morrell Floor 1 or the Burton) are perceived as overwhelming and high-pressure spaces.

It was notable that this was the one area in which ethnically minoritised students, first in family students, students who have experienced trauma, and neurodivergent students all reported similar experiences and issues: the discomfort that comes from feeling observed ("it's just eyes and heads"), or 'taking up someone else's space' in an environment in which they already feel like a trespasser.

2) Bright fluorescent lighting is a source of overstimulation, especially for neurodivergent students. We know from previous UX projects that students want controllable lighting (such as desk lamps) or dimmer zones within the library - this was further confirmed in the fieldwork here. The natural light from windows is appreciated, but strong internal lighting is not.

3) There is a demand for semi-enclosed "micro-spaces". Students want the comfort and privacy of a "little house" while remaining in a public study environment rather than in an isolated area where they feel vulnerable.

Student needs are not as straightforward as wanting to study in busy areas, or quiet areas, or secluded areas. They require different combinations of good sight-lines, whilst not being overlooked; being private whilst not being isolated; feeling not just more scholarly but more inspired than they would at home.

4) The Hidden Curriculum causes financial stress in the library context. The hidden curriculum a wider issue across the University, but in the library it manifests in students not knowing that textbooks are available for free or that online copies exist, leading to unnecessary financial worries. There is also a lack of understanding around borrowing, returning and requesting books which is exacerbated for any students who feel othered or like they don't belong, as they're less likely to seek out help for their problems.

5) The lack of a quiet, segregated prayer space within the library is a functional barrier to long-term study for Muslim students. We know there are many reasons why a prayer room is not currently possible in the Library - however it continues to be raised in the research, every time we speak to students, even if we don't ask about it. Any student needing to pray during their study faces a stark choice - the discomfort of public, overlooked prayer in the library, or losing time (and potentially their study space within the building) by needing to travel to a prayer room elsewhere on campus.

6) Inclusion and belonging can come from exhibitions and events in the library. When we asked what could make the library more inclusive, several students talked about events or exhibitions as being key to seeing themselves (and those of other cultures) in the space.

7) The library is considered a diverse space. The majority (though not all) of ethnically minoritised students we spoke to considered the student body who use the library to be relatively ethnically diverse.

However it was notable that working class students are keenly aware of how many private school educated people are in the wider University. Several mentioned feeling othered by this.

8) Library staff are considered open, helpful and approachable. Many students report positive interactions with library staff, including ethnically minoritised students who have not had positive experiences elsewhere on campus. This is a real strength in the library which we should continue to build on.

For many of our participants, asking for help at all is significant. We need to continue to encourage and reward help-seeking behaviour at all times, and to foster non-direct forms of communication - students told us they'd prefer to DM on Instagram than speak to a member of staff face-to-face when seeking help, for example.

As mentioned in the executive summary, it is my belief that the staff of the library go a long way towards mitigating the more exclusionary aspects of our buildings and services, and are a key part of why we are widely considered to be a very inclusive space within the University.

Recommendations

There were 19 recommendations, many of which are complete. A selection are mentioned below.

1. Ethnically Minoritised Author Showcase Space (completed): This collection was suggested by Raj Mann as a way to celebrate ethnically minoritised authors and make the library a more inclusive environment. It began with the purchase of around 500 books, and rather than selection being driven by the library each item was a recommendation from students or staff at the University. To ensure these books remain accessible throughout the library, we purchased dedicated copies specifically for this room rather than moving existing stock. There is a QR code in the room where students and staff can suggest additional purchases for the collection: these are reviewed twice a year in Collections Community.

2. Add tags to study spaces in LibCal to aid students affected by trauma in choosing where to work (completed): The LibCal booking system now has additional checkable boxes when searching for study spaces. These allow you to filter the spaces and, for example, show only spaces with good sightlines, or spaces where you're seated with your back to the wall.

3. Add blinds to study rooms to allow privacy for prayer (completed): we have had bespoke blinds fitted to two Morrell bookable study rooms (on Floors 1 and 2) to allow students privacy to pray

4. Offer bespoke Library Tours for relevant Student Communities particularly First in Family groups

5. Introduce more cultural event programming within the Library buildings. We will also explore offering LFA/144 as a safe, warm, well-lit event space for EDI+B related events at evenings and weekends, for student groups and societies.

6. Better promotion of money-saving and no-cost services in the Library ideally in collaboration with Central Comms channels where possible

7. Expand the glossary of library terms (in progress): our current glossary is focused on library terminology: we want to expand this to cover more colloquial and idiomatic territory, to help those adapting from other countries. Will include English and Yorkshire based expressions, as well as the usual definitions of library jargon such as 'quartos'.

Conclusions and future work

This project has taken a year and half to explore the experiences of several communities, and this has been extremely successful. However, in the future we aim to undertake smaller UX projects with specific communities to understand their needs better. This more agile approach would see us undertake three projects (interviewing 5 participants each rather than 15) each year, focusing on one group at a time.

The Library must continue to be an exemplar across campus in investing in, and genuinely believing in, inclusivity. The user voice is key to this, and this project has shown how valuable it is to continually undertake research directly with the student (and staff) population to inform our decisions.

We need to work to mitigate some of the systemic issues beyond our control. We can't solve all the problems we identified, but our experience from previous UX projects has shown people really appreciate any efforts to reduce the impact of the issues - see for example providing blankets because we don't have the ability to make our buildings warmer. What are the blanket equivalents for the issues identified in this project?

We need to ensure that designing for the typical York user doesn't become a proxy for exclusion. When budgets tighten, services often shrink to fit the needs of the majority: when we design for those with the fewest barriers and the most flexibility we can inadvertently sideline marginalised groups with complex needs. UX projects like this one are an essential tool for equity, elevating diverse perspectives and ensure our library remains an inclusive, authentic spaces for everyone.

Ned Potter, April 2026

Ten tiny tips for preparing a talk

I love prepping a talk, which is what I've spent the last few days doing ahead of my keynote at #UXLibs 10s today. Here are some things I've found helpful in the process.

1) Get your ideas down first; sort the visuals later. Think of it like building a house - you lay the foundations and see the walls are going before you pick furniture and colours... Sometimes the content can dictate the style, too.

2) Make a version with everything you want to say. Don't worry about timings or length at this stage.

3) Practice, out-loud, like you mean it. You cannot practice a talk in your head - you'll unknowingly take shortcuts and find yourself facing a slide on the day and not knowing how to actually express yourself. To get the language right you need to do it at full volume, as some things (especially colloquial phrases) just don't work when you're projecting your voice.

4) Time the your talk. The chances are it'll be long; that's fine. It's easier to make it long and work out what to cut, than it is to try and make it the right length in the first place where you might accidentally leave out more impactful themes or framings.

5) Get it the right length, then cut another 10% off anyway. Things always tend to go longer than you think at conferences. Or maybe there's a tech issue, or the host's intro takes too long. It's better to be too short than too long, because the latter eats time from other speakers. So if you have a 40 minute slot, prepare 36 minutes; for a 10 minute slot, prepare 9 minutes, etc.

6) Run it one more time, and note the key timings of where you'd expect to be for each section. I've posted a picture of mine below (forgive my handwriting). The idea is if I get to, say, slide 36 and I'm already on 20 minutes, I'm going long and need to tighten up and compensate. This is a *really* useful piece of paper to have in front of you in a talk.

7) Don't put questions right at the end. I think it's better to put questions 5 minutes before the end, then answer the questions and do your final summing up - end the talk on your terms.

8) Add the alt-text (assuming your slides will be shared afterwards). I use a lot of boxes as part of my slide design, and it takes a while to mark them all as decorative, describe my graphs etc.

9) Make a sharing version. The slideshare edition of my slides may have slightly more text on, and I'll have hidden slides which don't make sense without any context, before saving the PDF.

10) Save it to a stick, save it to your laptop, AND upload it to the Cloud... That should cover almost any eventuality!

If there are any tips would you add, let me know in a comment! The next post on here will be my slides and relevant links from the UXLibs talk. I love running Presentation Skills training and workshops, so if you’d like to book something bespoke for your organisation, you’ll find details of what I offer and feedback from previous workshops towards the bottom of my Training page.

Posting carousels is like an Instagram cheat code in 2026

What is a Carousel on Instagram?

First things first: in Instagram terms a carousel is a single post containing multiple images or videos. They appear on the Grid, and you view the different images by swiping right.

Since mid-2023 you can add music to your carousel natively in Instagram, and doing so is absolutely crucial to success - it pushes the post into a different algorithm, ensuring it will be viewed much more widely than a single-image, music-free, regular Grid post.

Why are CaRousels so important?

The short answer is: reach.

Instagram’s algorithm has always prioritised video Reels over static images. For organisations, this often meant spending hours producing video content, or risking really low engagement and poor distribution with an image post. Reels are also less accessible than images, because there’s no built in alt-text feature for video on Instagram.

Over the last couple of years, there’s been a shift in the algorithm - Carousels now provide the reach and visibility of a Reel with the simplicity and accessibility of an image post. They bridge the gap. Your key messages can now reach massive audiences with less time, less production, and frankly fewer complications.

The proof is in the analytics

I run our institutional Instagram account - @UoYLibrary - which is a really significant part of our communication with students. I have a million and one other duties as Faculty Engagement Manager so as I noticed carousels getting more views I started to prioritise them over video content because they took so much less time to produce, not least because they can often be made using existing images I already have available to me, rather than needing to shoot new content.

The impact has been remarkable, The extraordinary thing is, even the less successful posts that don’t get the Likes and engagement I’m hoping for are getting consistently high reach and views. Meanwhile the successful ones are outstripping Reels - always the most popular format, historically - in all metrics.

2025 engagement

• Saves: 3 of the top 5 most-saved posts were Carousels (including 1st)

• Shares: 4 of the top 5 most-shared posts were Carousels (including 1st)

• Likes: all 5 of the top 5 most-liked posts were Carousels

2025 reach and views

• In 2024 our top five posts had a combined Reach of 32,095 people: only 1 of these was a Carousel

• In 2025 our top five posts had a combined Reach of 40,228 people (a 25% increase) and 3 of them are Carousels

The most dramatic increase year on year is from Views - unsurprisingly, as if someone views three images as part of a Carousel, that counts as 3 views compared with just 1 for someone watching a Reel or viewing a single image post.

• 2024: Our top 10 posts achieved a combined 70,099 views

• 2025: Our top 10 posts achieved a combined 211,337 views

This represents a 201% year-on-year increase in total views. That top 10 breaks down as follows - several of these are collabs with other accounts, which is hugely important for Reach and Views too.

@UoYLibrary’s 10 most viewed posts across 2025: screenshot from Meta Insights

A tale of two posts

Our most successful post (that we originated, rather than were invited onto as a collaborator) in 2025 - by most metrics, albeit not Likes - was this Carousel to celebrate the library’s birthday. It reached over 9,000 people, was viewed over 23,000 times, and had over 750 Likes as well as large numbers of Saves, Shares, and new Follows.

The most viewed post originated by @UoYLibrary in 2025

For me though, a better example of the power of the Carousel is our least successful post of 2025. In fact in terms of engagement, it is, I think, the least successful post I personally have put on the library Instagram account in its entire history (full disclosure I looked back through six years’ worth of posts before giving up)… It got 17 Likes.

@UoYLibrary’s least Liked post of 2025

Despite this total failure on my part to pitch the Podcasting Studio in such a way as to get Likes (previously when I’ve done a Reel on this it’s had much more Likes, and the TikTok version did really well too - so it’s the framing, rather than the subject matter, that’s the issue with the post above), the Carousel of it all meant it has still reached nearly 900 people and had nearly 4.5k views.

To put that in context, the post reached more people (and got 106% more views) in a week than the podcasting studio webpage did in the whole of 2025 - and that includes a spike in the webpage views caused by the Instagram post… There’s nothing wrong with the webpage - it’s just that our target audience don’t really web-search, but they scroll-search social media all day. So all in all: the habits of undergraduates x the reach of the Carousel = even an unsuccessful Insta post getting key messages out really well compared with other mediums.

Get posting

I’ll write another post soon about what works and doesn’t work with Carousels but for now I hope you’re convinced that, going into 2026 if you’re running an organisational account it’s time to plan some Carousels. In fact I wouldn’t post any individual images this year - why throttle your own reach, when a Carousel would go so much further? Get your message out to the widest audience possible, and take advantage of the cheat code while it lasts!

It might not be Imposter Syndrome... We need to talk about Trespasser Syndrome

Back in 2014 I wrote on this blog that Imposter Syndrome ran through librarianship like a vein. Writing now in 2025, I consider that a misdiagnosis.

Imposter Syndrome is defined as a psychological condition, characterised, as Miriam-Webster has it, by ‘persistent doubt concerning one's abilities or accomplishments accompanied by the fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of one's ongoing success.’

The insidious thing about Imposter Syndrome is it individualises suffering. It’s not something being done to you; it’s something you ‘have’, a personal flaw that comes from within. And because the concept of Imposter Syndrome is so wide-spread, it’s easy not to question that the blame is yours.

It reminds me of the concept of ‘resilience’ as it is applied in Higher Education - the onus is on us as staff to simply become strong enough (or numb enough) to deal with any amount of stress or disruption, rather than on the institutions to try and reduce the imposition of harsher and harsher conditions.

Back in 2014, and indeed now, I was surrounded by brilliant colleagues in the profession who doubted themselves, who thought they were only ever a slip away from the big reveal that they Didn’t Belong Here, despite the evidence to the contrary. It was their ‘condition’ which meant they couldn’t see the truth of their excellence. Right?

Then in 2020, I read a brilliant article on In the Library With the Lead Pipe (consistently the most readable and through-provoking peer-reviewed journal I’ve come across), by Nicola Andrews, entitled It’s Not Imposter Syndrome: Resisting Self-Doubt as Normal For Library Workers.

I’d recommend reading the whole thing but this is the paragraph that really stuck with me:

“As a Māori, takatāpui, immigrant, person of colour, and first-generation scholar, I know that libraries and academia were not constructed for my benefit; and that systems of colonization, white supremacy, misogyny, and hatred continue to operate within them and wider society. The lack of belonging I felt did not stem from a lack of self-esteem, but from the knowledge that libraries and academia as institutions never intended I belong.”

— Nicola Andrews

I feel embarrassed now, that someone needed to point this out to me. I had credited my own lack of Imposter Syndrome as basically being down to a) the sense of self instilled in my by my parents and b) the fact I’d chosen the right profession for me. But of course, it has infinitely more to do with privilege: with the fact that as a white middle-class male my profession and my industry - librarianship and higher education - didn’t treat me like an imposter.

If you’re an ethnically minoritised member of staff in a University and you feel doubt concerning your abilities and whether you truly belong, I’d wager that there’s a good chance it is not the apparently capricious ‘condition’ of Imposter Syndrome - I’d wager you’ve been made to feel like an imposter. If you’re female, or from a working class background, or disabled, or are part of any other underrepresented group, and you feel like an imposter, there’s a good chance you’ve been treated like an imposter. This comes from without, not from within. And that’s not Imposter Syndrome.

(Sidenote: if you’re a white middle class man who feels doubt concerning your abilities and whether you truly belong, it’s not impossible you’ve been promoted beyond your abilities. That’s not Imposter Syndrome either, that’s actually being an imposter…)

How many cases of Imposter Syndrome are actually misdiagnosed? This matters because the term becomes pernicious when it is widely used for groups it was never intended to describe. As Dr Raquel Martin notes, the original 1970s study ‘focused on high-achieving, middle to upper-class European American women, observing how they attributed success to luck rather than their own abilities… the concept was never designed to capture the experiences of marginalised groups like black people, who face additional systemic barriers.’

Trespasser Syndrome

I’ve been working with a brilliant colleague at York, Raj Mann, on a project centred on inclusion and belonging in the library, and I’m indebted to her for introducing me to the term ‘Trespasser Syndrome’. If you’ve read this far and you agree with most or all of what I’ve said above, you’re probably already nodding your head in recognition at how much this new framing improves upon the old framing. It’s not that Imposter Syndrome doesn’t exist - it’s that in so many cases, it is misapplied: in fact the person is made to feel like they’re trespassing in a space simply not intended for them.

I believe the term ‘Trespasser Syndrome’ was coined by Dr Arin N. Reeves, in 2022. I’d recommend reading all of her article Is It Imposter Syndrome or Is It Trespasser Syndrome? - here’s a key quote:

“People from underrepresented groups are not afraid that they are imposters; they are afraid that the majority groups won’t see them for who they are and won’t welcome them if they do see them. These fears are not the fears of imposters; they are the fears of trespassers.

A trespasser is someone who enters spaces they are not supposed to be, where they do not belong. A trespasser isn’t afraid of being discovered for who they really are; they are afraid of being treated like they don’t belong where they are.”

— Dr Arin N. Reeves

What we do about it?

Language and nuance matter, so let’s stop misapplying the term Imposter Syndrome to situations where individuals and groups are being treated like imposters. It’s never good perpetuate harmful language, whether intentionally or not. Reeves advises us to ‘Use “imposter syndrome” when it’s relevant. Differentiate it from “trespasser syndrome” to honor the realities of succeeding in spite of not belonging.’

More than that though, we need to interrogate examples of Imposter Syndrome. If someone you work with says they have it, or describes its symptoms, we need to do more than nod and smile and say ‘I know how you feel’ - we need to work out why they’ve been made to feel like an imposter, and whether we can do anything to change that. How can we create environments that support under underrepresented groups, and dismantle the systems which tell people they don’t belong?

I’ll leave the last word on this to someone much more qualified to talk about it than me. Raj has in fact organised the first ever Trespasser’s Conference as part of her role at YCEDE (the Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education) and during her keynote address she said this:

“For those of you here today who support racially minoritised staff and students, ask yourselves: have I provided people with the tools they need to be able to thrive in the space? If not, what else do I need to be doing? Instead of helping underrepresented groups to walk past the metaphorical ‘no entry or ‘no trespassing signs,’ instead pull down the sign before they get there, have a comfortable seat ready for them: don’t just applaud the courage and grit on getting there.”

— Raj Mann