You know, I always knew there was a concept like "choice architecture*" but I could never name it. This book really helped give me a vocabulary for lots of the things that we *don't* do (but could be doing, and doing better) in libraries. We are in the public service business, and for so long we have focused on the concept of abundant information choice rather than helping patrons close off the irrelevant information choices that hamper their knowledge-gathering. I think I am going to have to sit on these ideas for a while and let them percolate...

*choice architecture is the way in which you present choices to people and how that presentation affects their eventual decisions. This can be used for good and evil, of course, and the authors say they subscribe to libertarian paternalism which means they believe in trying to gently steer folks towards the decisions they might have made themselves with enough time & resources to consider everything fully. I guess I am wary of this concept because it has the potential to be abused, and easily so. At any rate, I expect I will keep considering these ideas for some time to come!