Blog about Libraries

I am in the midst of carrying out a Mystery Shopper program at MPOW. We started this project because we believe our own experiences in libraries could actually prevent us from seeing things that non-library people might see and we are willing to admit there must be some basic principles of customer service that exist no matter the organization. Sure, we are not Walmart, but at the same time, the "public service" ethic runs high here and we want to find new ways to improve. So, we hired an outside firm to help us out, a firm that works with businesses to improve their customer service through mystery shopping.

We have done the best we could not to hammer people over the head with negativity, but rather to bring an unvarnished, outsider's perspective to the customer service experience that visitors have at our library. It is about viewing services from a different viewpoint in order to learn something new about ourselves.
Overall, I think my staff has been very positive about the experience. They have asked good questions, they have had healthy, yet not obstructionist criticisms and concerns and they have reacted with ideas and suggestions about how we can improve service on the management side. I couldn't ask for much more, really.

We have received negative comments from outside, people who are concerned that we are pandering to the "business model", which they believe has little in common with public institutions. One complaint is that the library doesn't have to compete with other businesses, so that the customer service environment is just not comparable. This seems like a perfectly valid point to me, but at the same time I believe our approach to this project is right on target; we are not presuming that we need to mimic a retail operation, but rather we recognize there is a real need for us to do the best we can to make the experience of our patrons the best possible. They are the reason we are here and anything we can do to make them leave happy and return again is worth exploring. Does that mean we will soon install greeters, or that we will fire staff for not pursuing our patrons through every corner of the building? Highly doubtful. On the other hand, does it mean we will analyze whether we make patrons feel welcome, or how well we follow up with them, or whether patrons feel like they got the best service we could offer? Absolutely! That's not adopting a "business model"- that's just being responsible about treating your patrons, without whom you do not exist, with the respect and the diligence they are due.