We still _need_ each other... (Was Oregon again...)

[Bill Crosbie]

At 12:21 PM 12/1/95 -0800, Melissa Silvestre wrote:
>Sorry, I've lost who said this:
>>The truth of the matter is that we need each other.  Computer scientists,
>>such as myself, need to be involved in making sure that the systems that are
>>designed are easy to use, robust, and meet the needs of patrons and
>>librarians.  Librarians need to be open to the notion that other disciplines
>
>Am I the only librarian on this list that shudders (or laughs)
>at the idea of computer programmers making sure they design
>"easy to use" systems?
>


Well I'm the one who said it and I guess that I asked for it.  My field has
long brought it upon ourselves, that's for sure.

Let me include a portion of what I had posted earlier today that should have
made it into the earlier post.

I never meant to say that computer scientists would be the sole developers
of technology.  When that happens you get very efficient (or not so
efficient) computer systems that don't do the end user any good.  ;-)  What
lies behind my words is the notion of team work.  People from different
disciplines coming together and putting together systems that make a
difference in how we access information.

>Just as librarians have to be more aware of their own need to work
>with computer folk, the computer folk have to face that they need
>input on interface design from the people who use the stuff -
>programmers are known for thinking that the programmer in the next
>cubicle is a good person to ask whether a new whatever they're writing
>is easy to use. In my work with our computer center on our campus
>web, I see this "I the programmer think it's easy to use, so it must
>be" all too often.

I agree whole-heartedly!  

Please check out this web page to see what happens when librarians, computer
scientists, and graphic designers get together on a project.  :-)

http://www.gse.rutgers.edu/imdg/colonna/ColonnaTop.htm

>-----------
>Melissa Silvestre  silvest at umslvma.umsl.edu
http://www.umsl.edu/~silvest/index.html (314) 516-5059  
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 "For my purpose holds to sail		Bill Crosbie
   beyond the sunset, and the baths	Microcomputer/Network Analyst
   of all the western stars,	  	Rutgers University-Chang Library
   until I die."    ~ Tennyson		crosbie at aesop.rutgers.edu
    					(908) 932-0305 x114
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