Collaboration. Community. Radical Trust. Assessment.

These are a few of the buzzwords fueling Library 2.0. In order for them to take on meaning, we need to work actively with our constituencies to find out what they need and how they want these needs to be delivered.

Without further ado, I'm proposing a list of Twenty Things I Want to Ask Our Users. Is this the world's most definitive list? Of course not. But maybe it will get us thinking.

1. Explain the role of the library in your life at the university. How can we make it more useful in fulfilling this role?
2. When you need help with an assignment, who do you ask most often - a reference librarian, bibliographer, instructor, classmate, friend?
3. What are the most common types of research assistance that you need?
4. What is most helpful about the library when you need assistance? What is least helpful?
5. Why do you go to the library?
6. Rate your experiences using library materials and services remotely. Do you use the library remotely more than in-person, or vice versa?
7. Do you want the library Web site to be more like Google, Yahoo!, or something in between?
8. What's useful about the library Web site? What's problematic? What's missing?
9. Same question, but relating to Minerva, the online catalog.
10. When you do research, do you routinely start with the library Web site, or go somewhere else online? If the latter, where is the somewhere else?
11. Do you use Google Scholar? If so, why?
12. Which of these services do you use, and why? Flickr. MySpace. Facebook. Digg. De.licio.us. YouTube. Are there other social spaces that you routinely use?
13. Do you blog? If so, what service or software do you use, and what do you blog about?
14. Do you engage in tagging? If so, where? Would tagging of library research materials be useful to you?
15. Do you have an iPod? Would you want the library to offer iPod's for short-term borrowing? What kinds of library podcasts would be useful to you? What other handhelds do you use that can access the Web?
16. If the library created a browser toolbar, what kinds of things would you like it to include?
17. If you could get table of contents alerts from your favorite scholarly journals via RSS feeds, would you use this service? (Trick question, since some of our vendors offer this but we haven't highlighted the fact or proxied any feeds.)

18. What do you want from the new Information Commons in the Science Library, both in terms of physical plant and assistance? What types of services would you like to see in such a place?
19. The University Library recently launched digital signage near the front door. What kinds of information would you like to see featured? What has been useful/not useful in the offerings so far?
20. Rate the library overall, and explain your rating. Bottom line, how can the library improve to meet your needs?