Understanding and assessing user needs is the first step in interface design, and this report is one of the first milestones in the overall design effort. This assessment provides an informed basis for the interface design and evaluation to be done in the months to come. It was prepared under the Librarys contract with the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCIL) at the University of Marylands to work together to design an interface for the Librarys National Digital Library (NDL) Program.

In order to determine user needs, HCIL conducted a survey of nine reading rooms with special emphasis on the Special Collections from which the content of the NDL will be drawn. HCIL also used questionnaires to reach remote audiences who may typify NDL users accessing the Library via the Internet. They also analyzed many of the documents available in the Reading Rooms, such as finding aids, other handouts, and user studies.