Why not think more like a patron?

Why not think more like a patron
Originally uploaded by iblee....

Why did I never hear from the ILL department?
3 months later: In under one week, I obtained this article from another ILL department.

How many patrons are that persistent? How many have been silently frustrated? Why can't we anticipate or adumbrate or predict our patrons' desires? Why do empathize so little with our patrons’ information needs? Why not think more like a patron and less like a librarian? There are ways we can get peoples' information attention -since we have both skill sets: librarian & patron we should be able to meet their needs before they know they have a need.

Why do we force patrons to think like us? When we hate that very thing in other organizations, like the DMV, Health care, Banking?