This requires that (1) we do research that has implications for design; i.e. we address issues directly manipulable in the design process and (2) we state the findings in terms such that designers understand their implications for design.
How do we ensure that DLs are responsive to user needs, but not overly influenced by pressures for familiarity and the status quo; flexible and innovative, but stable enough not to bewilder users with continual change; imaginative, but grounded in what's useful, not simply what's new and different?
"It's the content, stupid." What users find most important in DLs is the content; everything else is secondary. How do we make content decisions that are responsive to people's needs? What mechanisms and policies do we need to ensure that content is useful, of good quality, and timely? This is not simply an issue of better searching and filtering tools, although they help. The content has to be there to begin with.
An extraordinarily high level of current interest in DLs offers opportunities to experiment with DL design in many applications areas. Many users are vitally interested in how DLs can help them, and enthusiastic about participating in experiments in design.
DL design is in flux, and highly interdisciplinary. Many people are interested in DL design and actively seeking collaborators. Now is the opportunity, not only to collaborate on the design of better DLs, but to better understand the collaborative design process and to develop improved methods of collaboration.
DLs offer unique opportunities to expand our knowledge of information behavior. We can observe users in a new setting, using new resources and approaches, and contrast this with the use of libraries and other existing information resources. Furthermore, because of the very newness of DLs, we can observe emerging and evolving information behavior from the beginning, as people adapt their behavior to the tools and the tools to their needs. The result may be a deeper understanding of fundamental aspects of information behavior.