Identifying and Analyzing User Needs: A Complete Handbook and Ready-to-Use Assessment Workbook with Disk.

Identifying and Analyzing User Needs: A Complete Handbook and Ready-to-Use Assessment Workbook with Disk. Westbrook, Lynn Identifying and analyzing user needs: a completehandbook and ready-to-use assessment workbook work��book?n.1. A booklet containing problems and exercises that a student may work directly on the pages.2. A manual containing operating instructions, as for an appliance or machine.3. with disk. New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of :Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2001. 307p US$75.00 soft ISBN ISBNabbr.International Standard Book NumberISBNInternational Standard Book NumberISBNn abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m1555703887 THIS BOOK HAS TAPPED INTO A VERY CURRENT INTEREST IN THE LIBRARYAND INFORMATION professions and is bound to find a ready market in alarge number of libraries. It is a sound, research-based approach to theproblem of identifying and analysing user needs well tested in workshopscarried out by the author over many years. As such, it presents thetopic in a very practical way, dealing with the setting up of a project,training of staff and disseminating the results in as much, if not more,depth than the investigation itself. A warm preface from Ron Powellhighlights its practical focus. The main premise of the book is that understanding user needs at adeeper level than even the most able professional develops in day-to-dayencounters is an essential tool today in strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. and resourceallocation resource allocationManaged care The constellation of activities and decisions which form the basis for prioritizing health care needs if libraries are to compete with new electronic services inthe marketplace. The book is convincing in arguing that assessing userneeds at regular intervals is a very effective way for the institutionto cope with change, to market itself, to re-prioritise and make bestuse of limited resources, to engage staff in the planning process, andto position itself as a major reformation Reformation,religious revolution that took place in Western Europe in the 16th cent. It arose from objections to doctrines and practices in the medieval church (see Roman Catholic Church) and ultimately led to the freedom of dissent (see Protestantism). service provider in the longterm. The book works carefully through the process of carrying out userstudies: setting up the project, conducting the studies, analysing andapplying the results. Chapter 1 focuses on the need for user studies,Chapters 2 and 3 on the planning process, how to get buy-in from staffand administrators and makes useful suggestions about the overallmanagement of the project. This section is a strength of the book.Chapter 3, entitled `Framing questions and choosing tools', isperhaps the weakest section, since this is the really problematic partof applied research -- setting appropriate objectives for the research,and translating these into researchable problems. Chapter 4, `Data-gathering instruments', and Chapter 5, `Usingin-house data and drawing samples', cover pretty standard fare --they are clearly written and refer to more in-depth sources that userswill need to understand fully the concepts being discussed. Designing areliable study based on these chapters alone would seem a bithit-and-miss, and one hopes that readers would follow up the manyvaluable references given. Chapter 7, `Launching the study', coversquestions of staff training in data collection and overall management ofthe project during the data collection phase. The final chapters,`Analysing the results' (Chapter 8), `Sharing the results'(Chapter 9) and `Acting on the results' (Chapter 10), cover aspectsof applied research that often are lightly covered in standard researchmethods textbooks. The section on analysing narrative data is wellhandled. The focus on closure for the staff involved and ongoingmonitoring of any changes in services or procedure introduced as aresult of the user study are key points often overlooked in appliedresearch. The book concludes with three detailed case studies of user needsanalysis carried out in a public library, an academic library, and aschool library, which provide valuable examples of the methods beingapplied. There is also an accompanying CD-ROM which summarises the mainpoints being discussed in the text and includes worksheets to helpreaders through the key points of the process, recording their decisionsalong the way. This is a useful resource. Although the text does notmatch the contents of the book exactly, it would make useful handoutsfor staff training, and the worksheets make excellent templates toencourage careful planning. The suggestion that the on-disc manual wouldcontain enough basic information to get a library started on the processseems a little dangerous. If this were sufficient, what is the purposeof the book? Overall the book has many strengths -- its commonsense com��mon��sense?adj.Having or exhibiting native good judgment: "commonsense scholarship on the foibles and oversights of a genius"Times Literary Supplement. approach,its careful leading of the reader through the necessary steps, theworksheets that ensure all planning processes are conscientiously con��sci��en��tious?adj.1. Guided by or in accordance with the dictates of conscience; principled: a conscientious decision to speak out about injustice.2. completed, give it advantages over the more daunting daunt?tr.v. daunt��ed, daunt��ing, dauntsTo abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay.[Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin research methodstextbooks. It makes the task seem necessary and do-able. Anything thatencourages libraries to undertake more of this much-needed actionresearch, and to do it thoroughly, is to be applauded. But its strengthsare its weaknesses -- it is necessarily superficial on some key pointsof research design, especially the framing of research objectives,survey questions, and applications of statistical tests. While the focusis on user needs, and the author states early on that it is important toinvestigate user (and non-user) information needs and not just thesources currently used, much of the data collection methods outlined,and the case studies, focus on current information-seeking behaviour anduse on the grounds that these data also provide information about needs.More assistance with the difficult task of getting into unmet communityneeds would be welcome. Rowena Cullen, Victoria University of Wellington