Working with Customers

Every Friday afternoon of ALA OCLC holds a symposium. The symposium for this conference was about library mashups. Susan Gibbons, University of Rochester, was one of the panel speakers. The library has been doing research on expectations of the students and faculty. One very useful idea that she described was printing out a copy of the library's web page and asking customers what they used. At the same time the asked what they needed that was missing. By simply having users circle what the use and then write on the copy what then needed they gained insight into how to re-design the web page to better meet user needs. From this information they will create a new front page that supports customers better. In the future the front page will include not only library information but also the hours of the cafe on campus. An easy and great way to work together with customers to create a better experience.