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Building a service culture in a major Asian academic library.

Building a service culture in a major Asian academic library. Peter Sidorko & Esther Woo The University of Hong Kong. Overview. Libraries and service Librarians, change and stress The HKU approach A focus on internal customer service skills training Measures of success The Future.

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Building a service culture in a major Asian academic library.

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  1. Building a service culture in a major Asian academic library. Peter Sidorko & Esther Woo The University of Hong Kong

  2. Overview • Libraries and service • Librarians, change and stress • The HKU approach • A focus on internal customer service skills training • Measures of success • The Future

  3. 1. Libraries and service

  4. 1. Libraries and service • Respect for the diversity and individuality of all people” and “[e]xcellence in professional service to our communities” (Australian Library and Information Association, 2002) • We provide the highest level of service to all library users through appropriate and usefully organized resources; equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests” (American Library Association, 2008)

  5. 2. Librarians, change and stress

  6. Global pressures on libraries and librarians • Growing user expectations • Accountability and value to the organisation • Shrinking budgets • Financial deficits • Technostress • Infostress • etc

  7. Local challenges • Learning new skills, professional development, retraining • Managing digital/hybrid collections • Meeting growing user demands • Budget shortages including appropriate distribution • Personnel issues, staff management, motivation etc. • Convincing users of the value of the library and its resources • Staff shortages and the need to do “more with less” • From HKUL Leadership Institute Respondents (2007)

  8. Breaking News “Librarians suffer most stress!!” It’s true.

  9. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4605476.stm 12 January 2006.

  10. Librarians 'suffer most stress' • Control over their working day • Workload • Earnings • Absenteeism • Job satisfaction • Work stress spilling over into their private life

  11. More… • Physical environment (sick of being stuck between book shelves all day), • Skills were not used, • More likely than other professions to be absent from work, • "Firefighters and police are trained to deal with the stresses that their jobs undoubtedly entail; librarians and school teachers are less likely to have these support systems in place. • In addition, stress impacts different personalities in different ways, and different personalities may be drawn to different roles."

  12. Stressed librarians do not provide good customer service

  13. 3. The HKU approach

  14. The HKU three step approach • Clarifying perceptions and expectations • Improving communication • Improving skills

  15. a) Clarifying perceptions and expectations • Strategic plan (vision, mission, operational priorities) • Service standards: • We vow to provide all library users with a high level of service that will always be courteous, friendly, helpful and fair. In meeting your information needs we will be professional, accurate, responsive and timely. • Branding exercise

  16. b) Improving communication • Communication surveys (2003, 2004, 2007) • Staff Relations Committee • encouraging “communication among library staff” and advising “management on staff matters according to opinions collected from library staff.”

  17. c) Improving skills • Job training skills • Technology skills • Personal skills • Supervision and management • Communication • Interpersonal • Customer service

  18. 4. Internal customer service skills training

  19. Internal staff training program • Objectives and module outline worked out by an operational priority (strategic plan objective) team in 2005/06 • A series of customer service sharing sessions in 2006 and 2007 • Aimed at all staff • Delivered by in-house facilitators • With emphasis on HKUL situation • Staff involvement in planning and implementing organisational change

  20. Objectives 1. To update the skills and cultivate appropriate aptitude of all library staff for the provision of consistent and up-to-standard servicesto both internal and external customers. 2. To develop a supportive management that ensures successful delivery of customer services by staff. 3. To provide a platform for continuous communication on customer service issues and sharing of good practices between all levels of staff.

  21. Module 1 Philosophy of Customer Service Facilitator: Deputy University Librarian • What is customer service? • library customer service • service culture • Who is the (our) customer? • internal customers • external customers

  22. How you do it IS important你怎樣去做才是最重要的

  23. Organisational culture and customer service • Supportive management (concept of Service Profit Chain) From “The service profit chain : how leading companies link profit and growth to loyalty, satisfaction, and value “ by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, Jr., Leonard A. Schlesinger

  24. Management’s roles (and expectations): • develop objectives • empowerment • encouragement / show appreciation • motivation • future planning for continuous improvement (training staff at all levels, performance measurement, keeping up standards)

  25. Responding to change (i.e. changes affecting libraries and the effect these changes will have on service delivery) by means of emotional quotient (EQ), adversity quotient (AQ) etc.

  26. Module 2 Facilitators: Main Library Services Team Leader, Access Services Librarian, Law Librarian, Information Literacy and Knowledge Management Librarian • Focusing on Library Customers(How customers want to be served?) • customer values (e.g. basic, expected, desired, unanticipated) • customer expectations • skills required • Problem-solving Process(Managing conflict) • customer frustration • skills of conflict resolution • Communication with Customers • Telephone skills • Listening skills • Non-verbal communication • Etiquette/netiquette/behaviour • How to say “No” to patrons (Assertiveness) • Phrases of customer service in library

  27. = 早晨 Good morning 早晨 Good morning 愛生氣Grumpy 開心果Happy

  28. Module 3 - Internal Communication Facilitators: Chairs of Staff Relations Committee and Staff Development Committee • Communication between staff/supervisors/department heads • Interpersonal skills • Conflict resolution

  29. Format of Delivery • Role play by participants • Case studies • audio and video clips tailor made by HKUL staff based on REAL CASES • extracts from famous movies, local TV programs and commercials • Sharing of good practice • Brainstorming of ideas • Games, competitions and small prizes

  30. Response and Feedback of Participants • 200+ regular staff attended • 90% completed evaluation form • General views - Objectives achieved and expectation met • Most agreed that they would be able to apply what they learnt and the sharing would be useful to their colleagues or staff

  31. Attendees’ evaluation of the three modules (5 point scale: 5 – Agree very much; 1 – Do not agree)

  32. How management can improve customer service

  33. How staff can improve customer service

  34. 4 Measures of successUser surveys (2004, 2006, 2008)

  35. User survey feedback on staff service, 2004-2008 (1 = lowest, 5 = highest)

  36. Q1. Library staff are readily available to provide assistance and respond in a timely manner

  37. Q2. Library staff are polite and friendly

  38. Q3. Library staff are knowledgeable and answer enquiries accurately and clearly

  39. Q1. Library staff are readily available to provide assistance and respond in a timely manner

  40. Q2. Library staff are polite and friendly

  41. Q3. Library staff are knowledgeable and answer enquiries accurately and clearly

  42. 5. The Future

  43. The Future • Strategic: Revision of strategic plan • Users: Marketing our services to various user groups to keep them aware of the many efforts we have made in line with our customer service culture

  44. The Future • Staff: • improving physical work environment through renovations; • helping them to cope with the growing pressures through training and staff wellbeing programmes; • encouraging their continuous development through annual staff appraisals that identify training needs, and; • promoting communication by empowering our Staff Relations Committee with a stronger role in this area.

  45. Finally • We firmly believe that our staff “… know how to give good service but if they feel unmotivated and unsupported in its provision they won’t provide good service” (Lin and Darling, 1997).

  46. Thank You!

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