How do you ensure excellent customer service
at your library?
Helle Lauridsen, Head of Serial Services, State and University Library,
Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Traditionally technical services — acquisition, cataloguing, e-resource
procurement and so on — have been the quiet machine humming behind busy
circulation desks. But with emphasis having moved from print to e-resources
this picture is changing.
Why this paradigm shift? How come users have taken up e-resources so readily
that more than 50% of our total circulation is now E? Access to extra titles
through big-deal agreements accounts for some of the continuing rise, but not
all. My feeling is much of the rise comes from users. They embrace the ability
to browse and read in their own time, in their own offices and homes, and
without involvement of library staff.
So yes, in making sure our many e-resources are available, links maintained,
holdings updated and correct, and access provided in a user-friendly and
comprehensible way, serials departments all over the world now carry the key
to libraries' most heavily used resources, the electronic resources.
Ensuring excellence in operations of serials departments or technical services
helps ensure excellent customer service at libraries today.
Hilda Kriel, Assistant Director, Academic Information Service,
University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
The “high tech, high touch” concept also applies to excellent customer
service. The X and Y generations, making up most of our client body, expect
service that optimizes all the benefits of technology: anywhere, anytime,
personalized, at the point of need, instantly.
On the other hand it is also true that it takes more than technology to bridge
the gap between the person needing a service and the person delivering a
service. For that you need the right people with the right competencies and
skills who can build lasting relationships.
Listen, listen, listen. Every interaction with a client is an opportunity to
learn what your clients’ needs are. Get feedback from clients on an ongoing
basis, formally as well as informally. Getting feedback should be followed by
giving feedback, to ensure you really respond to clients’ needs.
Excellent customer service must become part of the culture of an organization
and should be supported by every policy and procedure. It is no longer an
option, it is the only way to justify our existence.
Yukiko Watanabe, Chief Librarian, Electronic Resources Management
Section, Contents Division, Kyushu University Library, Fukuoka, Japan
We focus on accurate provision of electronic resources.
At our university, we've over the last five years developed a large collection
of e-resources, but found our homegrown navigation tool did not adequately
help our patrons to use the e-collection.
Last autumn I participated in the U.S. Department of State’s International
Visitor Program and visited various U.S. libraries. I learned much about
e-resource management and services that can be applied at our library.
In April 2005, our library was reorganized and a new section for e-resource
management established. We also introduced an e-journal management tool and an
OpenURL link resolver. Our customers can now search our library’s databases
and e journals more effectively. Through the link resolver we have become the
first library in Japan linking with Google Scholar.
The next step, we think, is an electronic resources management system, which
will help improve customer service even more.
Ling Zhang, Assistant Director, The Library of Harbin Engineering
University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
Offering excellent customer service is our target. To achieve this target, we
look at our customers’ research or teaching processes and then identify our
customers’ information needs. As a librarian I do some research and teaching
regarding information skills. These efforts help ensure our library staff
understand our customers, who are the students and faculty in our university.
Traditional services such as circulation or reading room services are still
popular no matter how digital we have become. We’re never careless about
details regarding traditional services, and this attention helps improve our
services.
Also we are paying increasing attention to customers’ personal information
needs. To deliver our services exactly on time, in suitable places and in
suitable ways we collect much feedback from our customers. Collecting feedback
is part of our daily work.
At our library we meet and inspire customers’ information needs. Excellent
customer service at any library in the end results from interaction between
librarians and customers.
Doreen P. Alberts, Associate Director, Knowledge Management Theravance
Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA
Staying on top of changes in our industry is critical to our success. Making
sure information about new scientific innovations is available to our
scientists allows them to respond immediately. To ensure our products and
services remain competitive, we keep current with the latest technological
advances and resources by networking with our vendors and other information
professionals.
We continually discuss with our staff their current information needs and try
to anticipate their future ones. Our high-quality information resources are
aligned with our business needs and we are committed to the effective and
efficient utilization of these resources. Personalized training sessions allow
our staff to become power users themselves and become better suited to
evaluate new products. We encourage them to come to us with any of their
information needs. They can always rely on a simple, “How can we help you?”
with a smile.
Here's a Special Thank-you...
The Library Connect team would like to take this opportunity to thank
librarians across the globe who’ve contributed to Librarians Speak Up.
Since Librarians Speak Up began in June 2003 this feature has benefited from
contributions by librarians in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark,
England, India, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Scotland, South
Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan and the US.
Here are topics covered so far:
Who or what is your library’s strongest advocate?
What’s the biggest issue you encounter in reaching today’s users?
How do you get to know your users?
How do you direct users to you library’s A&I resources?
What’s the number one archiving challenge facing librarians today?
What’s the most important criterion you use to measure success at your library?
Many questions remain to be explored. To give you a heads-up, following are
questions to appear in the next two issues of this newsletter.
How is your library helping users get the most benefit from digital resources?
How is user behavior at your library changing?
Let us know what you think
If you’d like to suggest questions or contribute, please drop a line to
libraryconnect@elsevier.com. Answers to past Librarians Speak Up questions
appear at www.elsevier.com/libraryconnect.
