From the Director's Desk

May 18, 2007

Beverly J. Obert, Executive Director

Creating a YES culture @your library — Part 8

Last Fall I began talking about creating a YES culture @ your library. Over the year we have covered various aspects of customer service. One of the exercises suggested was to create a No log of instances when library staff are saying “No” to the library customer. Several libraries did take part in the No log exercise. When I reviewed the ones turned in, I found that often the same question or action resulted in the no answer. Let me give you a few examples.

The customer comes in and asks, “Do you have a copier I could use?” This one particular library did not have a copier and the number of times this question came up seemed to be several times every day. Another common “No” comes when people want to access the library computers. Library customers are required to have a valid library card in good standing. When the customer comes and they do not have their card then a “No” answer often results.

Now I know people say we have to have rules in a library or we can not afford a copier, however, I feel we often get stuck in a rut and never go back and look at the library services or policies to see if a change or modification is needed.

How can these “No’s” be turned into a “Yes” or a more positive interaction? For the copier situation, I would suggest that they look into renting a copier from a company that will check and maintain the machine and collect the money. Often times the library will get a little of the fee in exchange for having the copier placed in the library. A few calls could result in a change from saying “No” to saying “Yes”.

Signing up for Internet use especially in our larger libraries can be a daunting task. The number of people that want to use the internet keeps growing and making the process of accessing the computer as streamlined as possible is the goal. If you have rules requiring that they show a library card, then make sure that there are signs by the computers that clearly state the rules. Place the rules on the library web page or have a short half-page flyer that can be given to new patrons that explains the rules. If your staff finds they are saying “No” many times, log these responses, examine them and see if parts of the procedure need to be changed. If you cannot answer the question “Why do we do this?” then it is time to change or stop what you are doing.

With computers, it may be time to do a survey of the patrons that come to the library to see who they are, why they use the computer and how often they come. The November/December 2006 issue (9.5 Mb pdf) of Public Libraries had an article about the “Baltimore County Public Library Computer Users’ Survey” (pp 28-39). I would encourage you to read this article if your library has been thinking of conducting such a survey. The complete survey used is included with the article as well as their analysis of what they found.

If you are now wondering what you could learn from using a No Log, it is not too late. Look at the archive of Director’s Desk articles and Part 2 of Creating a YES Culture. All the information about No logs is there. Try it for a week and see what you learn about how your library customers use your library.

“Funding for Creating a Yes Culture grant was awarded by the Illinois State Library (ISL) a Division of the Office of the Secretary of State, using funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), under the Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA)”.

Rolling Prairie Library System
A Library for Librarians
Helping Libraries Serve Illinois Citizens