Creating Customer Service Training for the Academic Library

Abstract

Academic libraries serve patrons with various needs and position themselves as trusted partners across the campus community. To understand how each staff-patron interaction develops the image our users have of us, the MIT Libraries, with the help from consultants, created a customer service training tailor-made for our mediated services staff. The training had two overarching goals: to ensure users have a great experience no matter where they start and to recognize that every staff-patron interaction contributes to the Libraries’ image. While creating customized training, we acknowledged the challenges of serving a diverse community--from Nobel laureates to the Greater Boston public--and the various modes of communication we use to serve them. We sought to understand our users’ perception of our services and to develop our colleagues’ skills to meet them. This session details our training curriculum as well as the obstacles and successes we encountered during the implementation process.