Author Archives: Bill Coxsey

February C-MACS

It is a great thing to watch a committee work out solutions to big questions. The C-MACS committee is doing that now as we study Fondren Library’s customer service.  In the last month members looked at the customers served by their departments.  The committee has members covering almost every aspect of Fondren.

They analyzed the Customer Persona: Who are they?  What do they want?  What do they need?  What are the challenges?  What is unique about them?

At the February meeting the committee analyzed the Undergraduate and Graduate Persona. The committee will next build a Fondren-wide persona from the findings.  It is a time consuming process that requires C-MAC to hold a special two-hour session this month to finish with persona such as Faculty, Staff and others.

This analysis will then be used to determine what customer service training the staff can use to do an even greater job that we already do.

We so appreciate the guidance from Melinda English of Rice HR.

Last month I missed writing about the good work Joe Goetz and Debra Kolah did finding stories of great customer service. Sometimes we may have doubts about our customer service but the 2017 Survey of All Students gave us high marks.  Every department has stories to tell from customers at all levels.  I especially enjoy the words used over and over to describe us:  tenacity, focused, knowledge of job, getting things done, proficiency, dedication, optimism, enthusiasm, flexible and responsive.

It is important to keep gathering these stories of success. The DMC and Kelly Center gather feedback from their sessions.  Fondren 101 includes a feedback survey.  Did you know we even have reviews on Yelp?

Keep sharing stories of good work by the staff.

—-Bill Coxsey

C-MACS is concentrating on issues and plans for Customer Service training.

The committee is working with Melinda English, a member of HR’s professional development staff, to guide us in the process.

The committee was given assignments to begin the process:

Norie & Sue looked at Peer Libraries. They contacted 10 and found a wide range of information.  Some say nothing about customer service while others mention it prominently.

Mary & Bill drew up a business case based on established material about library customer service. The case can be a basis of planning customer service training.

Michael & Jeff looked at Existing Service Standards. Like the Peer Library findings, they are all different.  They found in some cases the standards are built into procedures for a department.

Jean & Scott studied Recommendations for Project Communication: There are lots of good customer service stories that should be told.  Sometimes librarians are shy and don’t share them.

Melinda looked at Survey Data for both Undergraduate and Graduate students and reviewed other customer service information from different departments. Often customer services issues are actually Policy/Procedure issues.  They are issues that need clarification/discussion to enhance customer service effectiveness.

Some of the results are being forwarded to other committees for action.

C-MACS will next look at Customer Service Profiles for Fondren.