Thursday, January 27, 2011

From the Learning Round Table of the American Library Association
by Marianne Lenox




A Collaborative Learning Experiment: Top Ten Customer Service Skills for Library Staff


Recently I was asked to give a 15 minute talk on customer service skills to the Huntsville – Madison County Public Library Public Service staff at their regular monthly meeting. Though I started the discussion with ten points outlined below, I knew that our front line staff could contribute even more and wanted to capture the exchange. We live-blogged it on our Drupal-based staff Intranet, adding notes during the discussion and encouraging comments afterward. Here are the results of that conversation:

1. Greet every customer
Every single patron deserves your eye contact: A smile and a hello are even better. Jackie Matthews (Youth Services) spoke of introducing herself, letting the patron know that she is willing to help if there are problems or questions. “Be alert for customers that come in the library angry or upset, a greeting validates the patron and let’s them know they are valuable to us. Sometimes a patron just doesn’t know where to go and will hover around a public service desk or in the stacks, often not asking for help.” Cerene Prince, of the Computer Training Center, spoke of engaging the patron in conversation to create a friendly, accessible atmosphere in the library.

2. Be aware of non-verbal clues
Occasionally a customer will approach a desk or a staff member with a set jaw and a fierce look. Typically this type of body language might alert us to an impending conflict and allow the staff member to create the proper tone for the conversation. Kill them with kindness and anticipate the solution, reminding yourself where supervisors are at the moment. Also consider the non-verbal clues you might be projecting: slumped posture or arms folded indicate an unwillingness to help.

3. Listen
Sometimes to be heard is all a patron really wants. Listening skills allow you to get past “Can I help you?”

4. Restate the problem or question
Not only will you make sure you’ve heard the issue correctly, but restating the customer’s issue will validate the situation. Give the patron a chance to ask questions after your restatement. David Lilly, head of reference and adult services reminded us to, “ask open-ended questions to help narrow down the issue if it seems vague.”

5. Be Empathetic
Find common ground, and have compassion for the issues at hand. Even if you don’t agree, apologize for the situation. You really can be sincere when you say, “I am so sorry this is causing a problem.”

6. Provide alternatives to “No”
If you can’t find a solution, find someone who will. Trying to find something else to say when your first impulse is a negative reply proves that you have been listening and truly want to help. Susanna Leberman, of Heritage and Archives, often uses “Let me confer with my colleagues” as a customer service catch-all to a quandary. In the session, she noted a recent episode in which a pair of genealogy patrons needed a particular book from the archives. As it sometimes happens, the book was not on the shelf where it was supposed to be. After a five-minute search, she returned to the pair and explained that the book was missing and asked how long they planned on visiting the library that day, indicating that other staff were willing to help. Susanna rallied the department and reported that, “Though it was a bumpy road getting the researchers what they wanted, with team effort and a little time, the problem was solved.”

7. Reserve judgment
Always be a professional representative of our mission: This is the public’s library. It doesn’t matter how a patron is dressed or what they are checking out, it’s important that we never are seen to be critical of the customer or the materials he or she checks out.

8. Get (back) to them as soon as possible
Whether on the phone, email or in-person, treat the patron with respect by following though. A real, live customer comes first over those on the phone. Often a patron’s phone call may be transferred from one department to another in search of resolution. Computer training center coordinator Stormy Dovers noted that she learns as much about the other departments as possible so that when patrons call with questions she can answer… instead of sending them to someone else.

9. Follow your gut instinct
If you get feeling that something is wrong, it probably is. I noted that staff should immediately contact security or a supervisor, but call 911 if you see a crime being committed in the library.

10. Thank them for using the library
Your parting words to the patron may very well be what is remembered most about a visit to the library. Are there upcoming programs or new resources to discover? Let them know we’re glad they came and offer them a reason to come back!

That afternoon, Development Director Stephenie Walker added to the talk’s blog post on our staff Intranet: “In a time when funding is at an all-time low it can be easy to be discouraged and feel helpless, but no matter what, we always have control over how we interact with patrons. In the end, they are why we do what we do – from placing a book on hold, to fundraising, to advocating with a commissioner, we do it for them.”

We do it for the patron. I just love that. Thanks, Stephenie, and all our staff who helped with this project. We learned a lot.

Like any set of skills, evaluation and practice go along way towards mastery. Customer service is no exception. In this case, the conversations around each issue during the talk allowed us to explore beyond the bullet points. As the discussion continued online, staff added even more examples of excellent customer service: I am considering this experiment in collaborative learning a success.

Can you think of other learning methods that can be used to combine content and real-life experiences? Please share!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

From guardian.co.uk
By Maev Kennedy
Friday 14 January 2011 17.47 GMT




Library Clears its Shelves in Protest at Closure Threat
Users Urged to Take Out Full Allowance of Library Books in Campaign to Keep Stony Stratford Branch Open







Stony Stratford library is one of two branches being considered for closure by Milton Keynes council. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian The library at Stony Stratford, on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, looks like the aftermath of a crime, its shell-shocked staff presiding over an expanse of emptied shelves. Only a few days ago they held 16,000 volumes.

Now, after a campaign on Facebook, there are none. Every library user was urged to pick their full entitlement of 15 books, take them away and keep them for a week. The idea was to empty the shelves by closing time on Saturday: in fact with 24 hours to go, the last sad bundle of self-help and practical mechanics books was stamped out. Robert Gifford, chair of Stony Stratford town council, planned to collect his books when he got home from work in London, but left it too late.

The empty shelves, as the library users want to demonstrate, represent the gaping void in their community if Milton Keynes council gets its way. Stony Stratford, an ancient Buckinghamshire market town famous only for its claim that the two pubs, the Cock and the Bull, are the origin of the phrase "a cock and bull story", was one of the communities incorporated in the new town in 1967. The Liberal Democrat council, made a unitary authority in 1997, now faces budget cuts of £25m and is consulting on closing at least two of 10 outlying branch libraries.

Stony Stratford council got wind in December and wrote to all 6,000 residents – not entirely disinterestedly, as the council meets in the library, like many other groups in the town. "In theory the closure is only out for consultation," Gifford said, "but if we sit back it will be too late. One man stopped me in the street and said, 'The library is the one place where you find five-year-olds and 90-year-olds together, and it's where young people learn to be proper citizens'. It's crazy even to consider closing it."

– they should be finding ways to expand its services and bring even more people in."

Emily Malleson, of the Friends of Stony Stratford Library, said: "I was lucky, I got in early, so I got some nice children's books – and my children came along and took out all their books too. I had to bring the car to get them all home.The late-comers just had to take whatever was left."

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011

Thursday, January 6, 2011

New Book

  • Reading Group Choices (Selections for Lively Book Discussions) 2011 edited by Reading Group Choices

FYI: Selections include Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers, The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet, The Red Thread by Ann Hood, and Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

New Books

  • Writing Reviews for Readers' Advisory by Brad Hooper

FYI: "Reviews are an important resource for readers' advisory and collection development. They are also a helpful promotional tool, introducing patrons to what is new on the shelf. This resource includes

- Tips for writing strong, relevant review

- Different ways reviews can be used to promote your library

-A chapter by Joyce Saricks covering the how-tos of reviewing audiobooks

Whether the ultimate goal is writing for a library website, book club, or monthly handout, or freelancing for a newspaper, magazine, or professional journal, readers will find plenty of ideas here." - from the back cover

  • Fang-tastic Fiction: Twenty-first Century Paranormal Reads by Patricia O'Brien Mathews
  • Doing Social Media So It Matters: A Librarian's Guide by Laura Solomon