I am glad to see all of this traffic regarding user-centered design.
In libraries user-centered design is all too often associated with
giving the patron what they want on a silver platter. This is
difficult for many of us to accept, especially in academic libraries,
because we believe it is our responsibility to teach people how to
fish as opposed to giving them the fish. (How many metaphors can I
mix here.) At the same time, I believe making our users' tasks
increasingly easier to accomplish will only make it look like the
library is increasingly helpful. As libraries are seen as
increasingly helpful, users will says, "That was nice. It saved my
time. I liked that. Give them more resources to they can do more of
that."
--
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame
Received on Thu May 03 2007 - 07:54:26 EDT