In an earlier post, Brian Light asked "Who is the person or group, that we really need to cater to in the future?"

One such group consists of users who are outside the library: in campus offices or labs, in off-campus locations, or just walking around with mobile devices. This includes a large proportion of our users, often the same people who are helping us realize the vision of the electronic library when they use our licensed full-text article databases, e-journals, sound/image databases, etc. In business terms, such folks are prime customers of our most expensive resources.

When we call these people "remote users," it puts them immediately in the wrong frame. As Anne Lipow remarked, "rather than thinking of ourselves as remote, we should instead recognize that we are remote from our users. We need to change how we do business to link us back together - this time on their turf."

We already offer a number of services to users outside the library, but these are not unified organizationally or philosophically, and are implemented in various, sometimes offhand ways. What would "new directions" in this area look like?

Follow up:

Here are some ways we could cater to users outside the library:

• Shorten the e-mail reference response time from 48 hours to 24 hours (even if it's just a "we got your question and are working on it" message).
  
  
• Encourage communication among everyone involved in e-mail and chat reference (through meetings, an e-mail list, or however) to foster a common sense of mission and increase consistency in responses.
  
  
• Provide refresher training for reference desk staff on common out-of-library questions that may come in by phone.
  
  
• Position library content, "ask a librarian" links, etc. in bSpace course pages and other online venues. Unlike users at library computers, these folks don't necessarily start with our homepage.
  
  
• Continue positioning the proxy service as the primary authentication method for most users. Plan ahead to ensure continuation of a robust proxy service, through the present setup or some other means.
  
  
• Continue positioning VPN as an alternative authentication method. Some users need it for certain resources, but since it has to be turned on before each use, it's not the best choice for most.
  
  
• Provide excellent technical support (online and/or by telephone) for connection and authentication problems, regardless of the method used. Currently, students needing VPN support can't turn to the library and have to go to the Moffitt Microcomputer Facility in person.
  
  
• Take up the slack left when CDL canceled the Vovici (WebSurveyor) license, and standardize on a new system for online user surveys.

Are some of these items already well handled? Are some mis-stated? Are there others we should be thinking of? Would all this take some changes in the organization or staff allocations to accomplish in a really first-class way? Or should we actually not worry so much about the "remote" user? Comments welcome!