Behavior Modification

Here is the question: whose behavior should we modify-- the behavior of the user, or the behavior of the library system?

If we are trying to help people fulfill information needs critical to carrying on with their lives, why should we make it difficult for them? Trying to modify their behavior will not encourage them to come back to us the next time they have a question, and don't we want them to feel comfortable returning? Otherwise, what is the point of having a library at all? It is easier to blame the user for not complying with the system's requirements-- it takes more work to really find out the way users behave and change the system to suit their behavior. Just because modifying the system is easier doesn't make it the best way to do things.

Maybe we should follow a model in which we see ourselves as trying to "sell" library services to our patrons. If a business wants to sell something, they don't ask the consumer to adapt their lifestyle around the product, they try to find out what would fit in to the consumer's lifestyle and design the product around that. It's too easy to get comfortable when we don't have a profit-based business in which we go out of business if the consumer doesn't like our product. But are we really still "in business" if people don't feel comfortable using our services? I don't think so.