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The role of the user services representative in an academic computing environment

Many frustrations confront users in an academic computing environment. One of the strongest is felt when users try to communicate effectively with the computing center's staff. At the Kansas University Academic Computer Center, we have created the position of User Services Representative (USR) to ameliorate this problem. Among other responsibilities, this person functions as an ombudsman, and provides users with an “open door” to the services and facilities of the Computing Center. Although this person is not actually classified as a consultant, s/he coordinates this activity, and tries to match up special consulting needs with the most appropriate staff member. Additionally, the User Services Representative handles telephone consulting and acts as a distribution center for questions and problems of great diversity. This helps facilitate greater intra-staff communication too, which can be a real problem with a staff of 50-75 people. In the 15 months since this position was initiated many improvements have been noticed in user assistance services, including shorter waiting lines for consulting and more effective dedicated consulting sessions. This paper will detail the activities of the User Services Representative and show how the position helps to improve communication channels in an academic computing environment.