Interlibrary Loan on the Web: Using Common Gateway Interface with Web Forms at Ohio University's Alden Library.
There are a number of ways to provide interlibrary loan (ILL) services on the World Wide Web. Using Web forms with common gateway interface (CGI) scripts is one of the simplest and lowest overhead solutions. Although off-the-shelf approaches offer more features, they can be expensive to purchase and generally involve setup and operating expenses. On the other hand, it is easy to borrow and use (or create your own) CGI-based forms even if you don't have somebody with scripting experience in your library. This article discusses the decisions that Ohio University's Alden Library made when creating ILL forms, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of choosing an off-the-shelf product instead, and recommends easy ways to implement Web forms for ILL in an inexpensive yet thoughtful manner.
This case study addresses how we applied user centered design (UCD) to the software development lifecycle for the new City of Austin Utilities Online Customer Care website. The case study focuses on the use of personas, prototypes, and user testing, discusses what worked well, and provides lessons learned.