Swiped from Tame the Web: Technology and Libraries: Planning for a New Tech-based Service — Try these.
Five “Must Haves” when planning for a new technology-based service:
Creating policy
Acquiring the Technology
Staffing
Training staff
Promotion
Think about it – can you have one without the other? Let’s see:
No policy – nothing will happen on the staff side, and customers will get irate because nothing is consistent
Getting the technology – can’t do it if you don’t buy it!
Staffing – who’s going to run this in his/her spare time? Most library staff already do this, I suppose… but at the least, the new service will be mediocre if it’s not adequately staffed.
Training Staff – staff HAVE TO understand how to run the new service, what to do when problems happen, etc. They also have to understand how to teach the new thing to customers (more on this in a sec)
Promotion – why spend all that money if the service isn’t promoted? Why waste staff time if it isn’t promoted? Technically, this point can be forgotten if the service is cool enough – word of mouth travels pretty fast.
But – one thing that the author forgot is Training Customers. Possibly, this was supposed to fit into the “training staff” part… but I think it’s important enough to make it a separate focus. Customers won’t use it if they don’t know how. Training them is essential.
All for now!
