User-Centered Services: Information Experts, Interface and Content in the Virtual Library

1. User-Centered Services: Information Experts, Interface and Content in the Virtual Library Karen Calhoun Cornell University Library Prepared for Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Retreat March 18, 2005

2. Front Stage-Back Stage Analysis Calhoun

3. The Play’s the Thing Exhibition kitchen (head chef, cooks, kitchen staff) Extra bar, side stand Guests and servers Guests and servers Bathrooms Coat room Patio Bar (guests, bartenders) Entry and foyer (guests, “majordomo”) Calhoun

4. Places, Places! Audience: Users Front stage: Public service desks, instruction, exhibits, collections,other public space Back stage: Collection development, technical services, IT, management, etc. Calhoun

5. The Virtual Library: On the Web: The Play is Still the Thing Entrances to collections Self service “desks” Mediated service “desks” & instruction Custom services Exhibits Other public spaces (virtual and physical) Calhoun

6. What Good Is the Library? How Information Experts Add Value to Information and Information Services and Systems • User-centered criteria • Easy to use • “Noise” reduction • Quality • Adaptability • Time and cost savings “The call for client-centered service, though widely supported, is often defeated in the physical, organizational, and procedural systems that are erected to offer the service.” --Chun Wei Choo, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto Calhoun

7. SEE HANDOUT – BASED ON C W CHOO