Shop Your Way to Service Excellence: Secret Shopping for Academic Libraries

QQML Conference2012

Kathy CroweAssociate Dean for Public Services

University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG)

• Publicly supported• University of North Carolina 17 campus system• Enrollment: 17,540 (16,090.25 FTE)• Undergraduate: 14,315 (13,583.25 FTE)• Graduate: 3,225 (2,507 FTE)

University Libraries

• Jackson Library and Music Library

• 1.2 million book volumes

• 37,000+ e-subscriptions• 500 databases• 95 faculty & staff

Previous assessments of public services

• LibQual+ overall score 7.5 in 2008• Qualitative comments indicated some issues

at service desks• 3.5 out of 4 for staff responsiveness on

University of North Carolina system satisfaction surveys in 2010

• Sought more in-depth assessment of services

Outcome of study

• Customer service will reflect the values and standards established by the University Libraries

Secret or Mystery shopping

• Used often in retail and service industries• Applied in public libraries but not often in

academic libraries• Kocevar-Weidinger, Elizabeth, Candice Benjes-

Small, Eric Ackermann and Virginia R. Kinman. "Why and How to Mystery Shop your Reference Desk." Reference Services Review 38, no. 1 (2010): 28-43

Secret shopping at UNCG Fall 2010

• Reference Desk (Jackson)

• Check out Desk (Jackson)

• Music Library

• Desk, phone, chat

• Desk, phone

• Desk, phone

Shoppers

• Recruited Hospitality Management students

• Attended training session

• Received extra credit and $10 food coupon

• 6 shoppers completed the exercise

Procedure

• Survey team included Associate Dean, Human Resources Librarian, Assessment analyst

• Staff told exercise would happen “sometime this semester.”

• Questions suggested by public services department heads and by survey team

Protocol

• Focused on customer service experience• Developed rating sheet based on Libraries’

established customer service values • http://

library.uncg.edu/info/mission_statement.aspx• Protected anonymity of staff

Rating sheet

Behavior• Greeting• Follow up questions to

clarify request• Confirming satisfaction• Referral

Rating• 1 Poor• 2 Satisfactory• 3 Very good

Yes/No questions

• Treated with respect• Avoided jargon or technical language• “Went the extra mile”

Results - Greeting

Clarifying questions

Confirmed satisfaction

Referral

Treated with respect

Avoided jargon

Went the extra mile

Follow up

• Departmental results shared with heads• Overall results shared with entire library• Public service “standards” developed• Training developed

Training

• Training on “going the extra” mile developed and delivered for full-time staff during Summer 2011

• Online training developed for student staff http://uncg.libguides.com/customerservice

• New staff encouraged strongly to attend day-long campus customer service training

• Customer service values and standards in new employee packets

Student training comments

• “These skills seem like common sense, but it's amazing how people you see that don't follow it. You should send this video to the workers in Subway”

• “I easily get flustered when a person is frustrated at me, however this video taught me how to properly handle the situation and remain calm and respectful”

• “I’ve never thought to look for people who need help because I always assumed they would ask, now I know.”

Staff training comments

• “More helpful would be a workshop of case studies of difficult interactions or reference interviews and have public service employees think and talk through these interactions.”

• “I thought it was a really good and informative workshop. If we have the workshop again though, I don't feel like it needs to be four hours long. I think what was taught could have been done in half the time.”

• “I felt as though the group discussion was the best part, so who was at your session was really important to how much you got out of it.”

2012

• Repeated assessment to determine if training had impact

• Added newly created Special Collections service desk

• Had LIS graduate student• 9 shoppers completed exercise

Improvement!

Improvement!

Questions and comments