USER FRIENDLY

Walking down the hall of the second floor A wing in CEBAF Center can be a cultural experience. At any given time, groups of men and women from France, England, and Armenia, crowd into room A204 asking about physics proposals, training, room allocation, housing, computer availability and directions to a great hamburger. Answering the questions are the staff of Jefferson Lab's User Liaison Office (ULO).

The ULO provides numerous services to the hundreds of users who visit Jefferson Lab. Upon arrival at Jefferson Lab, Users are instructed to go to Room A204 in CEBAF Center. Once there, they can be entered into the Laboratory's Central Information System (CIS) giving them access to the site during normal and after-work hours. They can get information on physics proposals and take the required Environmental, Health & Safety proficiency exams to gain access to the accelerator site. They can also obtain a Jefferson Lab identification badge, EH&S training study guides and office space. The ULO can even enroll users in a visitor's health insurance program.

"The people at the User Liaison Office have done everything from investigating taking over my J-1 visa sponsorship from MIT and checking into my eligibility to participate in the Jefferson Lab Visitor's Health Insurance Program, to providing a rather useful checklist for helping me get settled at the laboratory," says Kevin Fissum, a Canadian citizen and postdoctoral fellow at MIT who is doing research at Jefferson Lab. Providing a central location for users to obtain any laboratory-related information, ULO provides for interesting work, says Rhonda Barbosa, a ULO student intern. Barbosa says she enjoys the variety of work she experiences in the office. "Working in the User Liaison office gives me the opportunity to encounter something new and exciting everyday. The staff is great, and we really work hard to provide the users with all the information they need. I also get to meet a lot of interesting people from all over the world," says Barbosa.

In addition to servicing new users, the ULO acts as the storehouse for the 164 experimental proposals submitted to Jefferson Lab, and the staff works closely with the User Liaison, Roy Whitney. Whitney facilitates Lab interaction with the users. The office also plays an important role in both the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and the Program Advisory Committee (PAC), the two experimental proposal reviewing committees at Jefferson Lab. Copies of PAC reports and an enormous amount of other Jefferson Lab related information have been made available on the World Wide Web through the ULO. Additionally, the office was responsible for compiling 674 proposed talks for the International Conference on Particles and Nuclei (PANIC) held last May at the College of William & Mary.

In fact, the ULO manages Jefferson Lab's home page on the Web. The Web is used as a tool to communicate with the Users Group and other guests. Karen Hokansson, Jefferson Lab's WebMaster and ULO manager says, "With the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web, people want and need information in real time. By creating and maintaining a resourceful Web site, we are better able to serve our customers."

The Jefferson Lab home page provides users and other guests with information about the laboratory's science education program, meetings, conferences, special events, technology transfer projects and the physics program. Users can also access information about the Hampton Roads area, including weather and directions to local restaurants. In the future, the ULO plans to use the Web for EH&S proficiency testing.

The many services that the ULO provide are essential to the successful operation of Jefferson Lab because of the large number of users who conduct experiments here, says Hokansson. She adds that the User Liaison Office is doing their best to help make Jefferson Lab a world-class facility. "The ULO's first priority is to continually achieve high levels of customer service," says Hokansson. "This focus will provide the Users with an environment that supports the successful running of their experiments and Jefferson Lab's physics program."

Carl Bennett, Director's Office Administration and
Rebeca James, Directirs's Office Intern

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