Customer Service in Academic Libraries :Tales from the Front Line ( Chandos Information Professional Series )

Publication subTitle :Tales from the Front Line

Publication series :Chandos Information Professional Series

Author: Mossop   Stephen  

Publisher: Elsevier Science‎

Publication year: 2015

E-ISBN: 9781780634395

P-ISBN(Paperback): 9781843347583

Subject: G25 Library Science

Keyword: 信息与知识传播

Language: ENG

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Description

The term 'customer service' is not new to the academic library community. Academic libraries exist to serve the needs of their community, and hence customer service is essential. However, the term can be applied in a variety of ways, from a thin veneer of politeness, to an all-encompassing ethic focussing organisational and individual attention on understanding and meeting the needs of the customer. For customers, the library’s Front Line team is the ‘human face’ of the library. How well they do their job can have a massive impact on the quality of the learning experience for many students, and can directly impact upon their success. The importance of their role, and the quality of the services they offer, should not be underestimated – but in an increasingly digital world, and with potentially several thousand individuals visiting every day (whether in person or online), each with their own agendas and requirements, how can the library’s Front Line team deliver the personal service that each of these individuals need? Customer Service in Academic Libraries contributes to what academic libraries, as a community, do really well - the sharing of best practice. It brings together, in one place, examples of how Front Line teams from libraries across a wide geographical area - Hong Kong, Australia, Turkey and the United Kingdom – work to ‘get it right for their customers’. Between them, they cover a range of institutions including research-intensive, mixed HE/FE, private

Chapter

List of Figures

List of Abbreviations

About the Editor

About the Contributors

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. “Customer Service”—What’s the Big Deal?

What’s in a Name?

Thinking Like a Customer

Mapping Your Customer’s Experience

Customer Service Standards

Building Customer Relationships

2. Staffing the Front Line

Recruiting, Developing, and Rewarding Staff

Listen and Learn

3. Marshalling a Century of Experience: Customizing Services for the Next Generation of Users

An Institution Amidst Rapid Changes

Historical and Emerging Roles of the Libraries

Holistic Approach to Building a Service Culture

Knowing the Users and Striving for Continuous Quality Assurance

Nurturing a Customer-Centered Team

Strategic Application of User and Staff Surveys

Next Goal—All-Dimensional Experience

4. Customer Service in a 24/7 Environment: The Exeter Experience

Background

Why Rove?

Initial Training and Mobilization

Maintaining a Roving Culture

Roving and Communication

Recognition and Feedback

Ongoing Challenges and Developments

5. Customer Service at Victoria University, St. Albans Campus Library

Customer Service: What Does it Mean to Me?

The Feel Good Factor Really Does Count

Organizational Structure

VU Focus on Customer Service, Drivers, Etc.

Library Structure

Our Libraries

Footscray Park

St. Albans

Footscray Nicholson

City Flinders

City Queen

Werribee

Sunshine

Library Focus: What Does Customer Service Mean to Us as a Service

St. Albans Campus Focus: What Does Customer Service Mean to Our Staff?

How Do We Recruit for Customer Service?

How Do We Train Staff?

Student Mentors: Rovers, Student Assistants, Research Ambassadors, and Writing Space Mentors

How Do We Know When We are Getting it Right?

What Have We Learnt So Far?

Future Considerations?

6. Innovations in User Services at Sabancı University Information Center

About Sabancı University

About the Information Center

Introduction

Rooms Booking System

Nothing endures but change. (Heraclitus, 540 –480 BC) (Fechete 2014)

Customer Satisfaction

Improving Ideas Comes with Erasmus

Standards

Problems with the Reservation System

Teamwork

Finally

Conclusion

7. Library Services for Falmouth University and the University of Exeter, Penryn Campus: Listening to Our Customers in a Sha ...

Background and Context

Library Structure

Customer Care and Our Customers

Customer Consultation and Feedback

User Feedback in a Shared Services Environment

Student Union—The FXU

Partnerships with Students

Formal Feedback

Informal Feedback

LibQual

UCF LibQual Survey 2013

Undergraduate Summary of Core and Local Questions

Postgraduate Summary of Core and Local Questions

Local Questions

Academic Staff Summary of Core and Local Questions

Local Questions

Conclusion

8. Where Next for the “Front Line”?

Bibliography

Index

Back Cover

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