Customer Services at Willesden Green Library Centre

There are rumours of an element of redesign at the Willesden Green Library Centre.  If true, I suspect these are rooted in the experience of the One Stop Shop in Brent Civic Centre.

At the time that the Civic Centre was designed, Brent Council did hardly any resident interactions over the Internet, less than 1% in fact.  That is an extraordinarily low figure.  It is even more surprising once you consider that about 25% of Brent residents said their preferred way of interacting with the Council was via the Internet.

The Council, not least because it was mindful that Internet transactions are far cheaper than phone or face to face (F2F), set about changing this.  There was a major redesign of the web site, as well as a redesign of various other Council services (e.g. parking) to reduce reliance on physical transactions.  The number of F2F interactions is therefore much reduced.

The effect of this in the revenue and benefits section is that the number of interview booths in the Civic Centre One Stop Shop is greater than the demand might merit if it were being designed today.  More of the cases are dealt with in the self service area.  I would think that officers expect a similar pattern in the Willesden Centre, and they will also be drawing on their experiences at the Harlesden Job Centre.  However, I would be surprised if there is a move to remove the One Stop Shop entirely, as that will affect the entire dynamics of the building.