The libraries of today are (hopefully) decades worth of evolution away from the hallowed halls of "shhh" where old ladies in specticals, cardigans and their hair in a bun ruled over ancient tomes, the only weapon they needed being a sour look of annoyance. The libraries of today are community spaces where everyone is welcome, young and old, quiet and loud and everyone in between. The library that I work at is especially busy during the school holidays and I could not be happier to see so many customers...
Most recently I, like many of my colleagues received an email from one of the main universities in South Australia explaining that their students of the Librarianship course may stop in and ask to observe a reference query. To my surprise we were visited by a student today.
I am happy to say that my customer services skills are not too rusty, although I must admit I may have lain it on a touch thicker than normal knowing I was under observation and trying to set as great an example as I could to one of the next generation. The thing that stood out for me though as we debriefed after was that I got the biggest tick for simply being friendly. So sorry if this is a spoiler alert for any of the great SA library staff yet to be observed but this is something that really troubles me. This university is not promoting the need to know the importance of knowing just what keywords to use to interrogate the system or where to find the items when they are on the shelf (but not necessarily where they are supposed to be)... It is all about the smile when people first walk through the door. "How can we help you?" "Good morning and how are you today?" Simple statements that let each and every one of our customers know that no matter what sort of day we have had before they came in or who the previous customer was, that customer before us is our focus for that very moment and THEY will be our focus and that the experience will be friendly as much as it is professional and accurate.
This makes me wonder (and seriously worry) is the friendly librarian on the verge of endangerment? I don't think we are extinct yet but why would a uni be trying to teach friendliness unless it is slowly but surely dying out...
No comments:
Post a Comment