What (Academic) Users Want

Pam Ryan at the University of Alberta points to a good article.
“A solid and practical opinion article in Ariadne’s 10th Anniversary issue from Reg Carr, Oxford’s Director of University Library Services & Bodley’s Librarian: What Users Want: An Academic `Hybrid’ Library Perspective.
Worth a full read for certain but here are his conclusions for the near future:
“It is more than ever necessary to understand what library users say they want; and the research which that entails should be an integral part of a professional approach to library service planning.”
“It is essential to distinguish between the different expressions of ‘want’, and to examine the contextual reasons for the differences.”
“Every effort should be made to meet the expressed wants of users (even where these are in conflict), and to take an open-minded, and even-handed, approach to the allocation of scarce resources.”
“Longer-term service planning, allied where possible to the nimble exploitation of new funding opportunities, should be used creatively to follow a development path for the library service which will ultimately ensure its continuing relevance for users, as the technology becomes ’smarter’, and as the present tensions inherent in the hybrid library are progressively resolved over time.”
Read,(Thanks Pam)
Stephen