Considering my history, it is not surprising that customer service in public libraries has become an interest of mine, especially in applying retail models of service to public library work. I've been to several libraries where service just isn't a priority - either staff are overworked and cramming to get everything done, or the organization doesn't create a culture of service. I wanted to take a look at the attitudes toward service in libraries, see what others had written, see if there was research proving that retail customer service practices could be successfully applied in libraries.
It turns out that the amount of library-centric service information is smaller than I would have thought, compared to most other research areas in librarianship. After all, we are a service profession at heart! Is it being taken as given that if we become librarians, we automatically care about service and know how best to interact with our customers? It shouldn't be. It takes awareness, training, and conscious effort to provide world-class customer service, and I personally believe that providing that high level of service should be our number one priority. After all, without the human element of libraries, we are no more than a warehouse of books and computers!
I've compiled some resources on customer service and related topics for my presentation and decided to share them here as well. Much of the best information is in print only, but below I've linked some wonderful web resources to get us thinking about service as an essential part of librarianship.
Best Practices for the Customer-Focused Library
Public Library Customer Service Tips
Love the Customers Who Hate You
Stores and Libraries: Both Serve Customers!
Not-So-Secret Keys to Great Customer Service: perspectives from library professionals.
The Power of Hello: from NPR's This I Believe series.
Am I Obsolete? How customer service principles ensure the library's relevance
Top Ten Customer Service Skills for Library Staff
Sample public library service policies:
North Adams Public Library | Appleton Public Library | Falmouth Public Library | Flagler County Public Library
What else belongs on this list? Leave me a comment and let me know!
The "Reference Interview", being one of the most important duties of a customer focused librarian, I suggest you could add some material related to that here. Body language/ gesture of librarian is very crucial.
ReplyDeleteI do have some material on the reference interview in the books and journals resource list that I'll be posing here soon, but overall I left out most "reference interview" sources. It's a fairly thoroughly documented and researched topic, whereas general front line customer service and space as an aspect of service gets less attention. The reference interview literature definitely contributes valuable insight into other areas of service, but in my opinion it's getting a bigger share of the research pie already!
DeleteI had given a presentation for my Public Library Administration class, and I used Danny Meyer's book "Setting the Table" as a resource. It may be a different industry, but business is business, and like it or not we are a business. Good customer service, good circulation numbers means that we are an active healthy library that needs an active healthy budget to run with.
ReplyDeleteThis list was just web links - my list of book and journal resources will be posted soon. I just found "Setting the Table" in my university's library, so I'll definitely give it a look and consider adding it to that list. Thanks for the suggestion!
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