Week 5: How Can I Help You?

This week I felt like I was becoming more accustomed to the demands of the reference desk. I was more confident answering questions about library services and using the catalog software to fulfill patron queries. Having been accustomed to different library policies and software, it was interesting to navigate the similarities and differences between the two systems. For example it seems counterproductive to only allow circulation staff to renew materials for patrons. I recognize the need to divide responsibilities between different departments, but when patrons want items put on hold, they also often want to renew items. It seems like poor customer service and needlessly complicated to transfer these patrons to circulation. My former library had no such limits on what staff could or could not do. I think that making the decision to transfer a patron should be left up to staff members, not forced by software limits.

Providing good customer service is an important part of the reference desk experience, and one I'm familiar with from four years working at Barnes & Noble. In this library, the reference desk is the catch-all help desk, assisting with issues that can vary from quickly locating a particular book to doing basic computer trouble shooting for patrons. My reference class adequately prepared me for dealing with the basic reference questions, but I have been relying on my own knowledge and a bit of trial and error to help with technology issues.

For example, a patron needed help transferring photos from her USB device onto her iPad using the library computers. As I own an iPad, I knew that she would not be able to do this directly without syncing her iPad to iTunes, which the library does not allow to be downloaded onto their computers. I told her the simplest way to accomplish this would be to take her iPad home and sync it using her personal computer. I also showed her a way to transfer photos by emailing them to herself and opening the emails on her iPad. She had trouble with this because she couldn't remember her password, so I ended up helping her reset her password too. While this was probably not the best alternative, I was at least able to use what I knew to fulfill her request.

Tip of the Week: When library patrons need help with anything they are going to come to the reference desk and ask for a librarian to help them. While librarians can't be expected to be experts in all areas, they need to be experts at applying problem solving to all patron problems. Sometimes that means helping patrons yourself, sometimes it means finding an expert to help them.

Article Annotation and Abstract Area

Fry, Amy. "Lessons Of Good Customer Service." Library Journal 134.14 (2009): 33-34. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 June 2012.

This article discusses lessons in customer service learned from working in retail and at public libraries and how to apply them in an academic library. The author suggests training librarians to apply a service-oriented attitude to helping patrons and being personable in order to create a more satisfying library experience. She also relates how the collections of academic and public libraries can work together to meet the needs of all patrons.