CENTER ON THE USERS!

Michael Stephens has a wonderful post on "5 Factors for User Centered Services" on his blog, Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology. Here they are:

"Does it place a barrier between the user and the service?
Is it librarian-centered or user-centered in conception, i.e., is it born from complaints from librarians about users?
Does it add more rules to your bulging book of library rules, procedures and guidelines? The more rules yu make the more quickly library users will turn you off.
Does it make more work for the user or the librarian?
Does it involve having to damage control before you even begin the service? If so, you might want to rethink."

In other words, put yourself in the place of your customers. Ask yourself, "if I were the user, would I like--or maybe love--this or hate it? As the librarian, does this make my life easier or more difficult?" If it's good for the user, then if it makes more work for you, that's okay. But if it makes your life easier at the customer's expense, don't do it! Good customer service is just that easy.

URL: http://tametheweb.com/2006/01/5_factors_for_user_centered_se.html