Comments for Designing Better Libraries

Comment on Reader. Patron. User. Member. Why Not Customer? by Bill Grubb

Bill Grubb — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 20:17:53 +0000

Librarians need to get over themselves. Unlike the other terms, Customer implies that we are not a club or other exclusive institution, but an institution that serves people….who matter…and who can go somewhere else. Until libraries are able to verbalize the term Customers they are doomed to live in their own exclusive world that will end when those “patrons” go somewhere else for their brain food.

Comment on Get In Touch With Your Touchpoints by Merchandising the Circ Desk: the importance of visual cues - The Ubiquitous Librarian - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:41:37 +0000

[...] met with members of our team last week to talk about current and anticipated interactions and touch points within our [...]

Comment on Reader. Patron. User. Member. Why Not Customer? by Customer, Patron, Client, User? « LBSCI 705 : Organization and Management

Customer, Patron, Client, User? « LBSCI 705 : Organization and Management — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 20:22:18 +0000

[...] [Stephen Bell?]. (2012, December 3). Reader. Patron. User. Member. Why Not Customer? [Web log post]. Designing Better Libraries. Retrieved from http://dbl.lishost.org/blog/2012/12/03/reader-patron-user-member-why-not-customer [...]

Comment on Library Community Member’s Quality of Life Bill of Rights by Sally Dorian

Sally Dorian — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:26:16 +0000

I will never understand people who say they can’t learn, and make excuses not to educate themselves. With libraries they really have no excuse.
Long live libraries!

Comment on Be A Solutions Provider Not Just An Ingredients Supplier by Library Inspiration from an IT Vision | From the Bell Tower

Library Inspiration from an IT Vision | From the Bell Tower — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:00:38 +0000

[...] and flows seamlessly through the network. I previously stated that academic libraries needed to become a solutions provider, not just an ingredients supplier. I think Gonick is looking in the same direction: The challenge for IT leaders is to cede a modicum [...]

Comment on Library Community Member’s Quality of Life Bill of Rights by Library Community Member’s Quality of Life Bill of Rights « Stephanie L. Gross, MSLIS

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:54:30 +0000

[...] Library Community Member’s Quality of Life Bill of Rights. Share this:PrintEmailShare on TumblrDigg Pin ItLike this:Like Loading… ← Previous post [...]

Comment on Reader. Patron. User. Member. Why Not Customer? by Christina

Christina — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:08:02 +0000

Although it can seem academic, the discussion of language is an important one as it is a powerful mechanism for influencing perception and, consequently, reality. While there is much to learn from the world of customer service, the use of terms like ‘customer’ and ‘client’ in public service, influences our thinking. Following business models subtly and profoundly changes our thinking….forcing us to consider services that support the public ‘good’ as financial liabilities – unless they produce a direct economic benefit. As we watch the erosion of the welfare state, we can see that the idea of free public services become liabilities – if it can’t pay for itself, it has no value.

Our relationships with our communities are more meaningful and deeper than the transactional relationship between a customer and a service provider. We do not seek to ‘sell’, we seek to ‘share’. We are partners…we are a fellow members of those same communities…we ARE our communities. We, of all people, should know that the choice of words has PROFOUND influence in the area of social control. If we maintain that libraries serve members of our communities, we are clearly defining the relationship we have with our communities and our underlying commitment to the public good. And some things are just worth paying for by the collective, if we are to sustain democratic discourse.

Comment on A Reference Service User Experience – Tell Me More by New 18 Usability Resources for Librarians – Stephen's Lighthouse

New 18 Usability Resources for Librarians – Stephen's Lighthouse — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 12:13:17 +0000

[...] A Reference Service User Experience – Tell Me More [...]

Comment on Reader. Patron. User. Member. Why Not Customer? by Celia Rabinowitz

Celia Rabinowitz — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 21:47:09 +0000

And – an addendum to my post above. Think Zappos – and maybe that’s the customer model we want. Because the happiness and satisfaction of the customer is predicated on the happiness of staff.

Comment on Reader. Patron. User. Member. Why Not Customer? by Celia Rabinowitz

Celia Rabinowitz — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:19:11 +0000

I am a customer at the local big box stores and supermarket where I shop. These days I think customers are people who are marketed to, lured in to places to spend money, given attention which much of the time rarely feels personalized (although in the small place I live many store employees do know me).

I go to an extremely small post office (one small room) and the post master there knows me by name, knows if I have been to check mail in a few days, etc. That’s more a model I connect to our service.

I may just be very jaded about what has happened to the way businesses operate. And certainly the word customer could be liberated from it current primary use. I am not yet convinced I want to try.