I am constantly impressed by the level of customer service that our library staff provide to the public. We have a recognition for staff called a GEM for Going the Extra Mile, but quite frankly going the extra mile is the standard rather than the exception.

When I began working at the library I had never worked anywhere that provided such a high level of service excellence. I soon found that I expected this same level of service everywhere. It’s tough to find.

Tonight a friend and I took our kids out for dinner. Our goal, to go somewhere fairly cheap where the kids can play and get tired. With two moms and four kids between the ages of 0 and 3 it’s tough to go anywhere, let alone go somewhere and actually be able to eat!

Ask any mom what her favorite fast food place is and you are sure to get one answer…Chick-fil-a. There’s a reason for this. Someone at Chick-fil-a has gone to the trouble to find out what moms want and need. If you haven’t been recently they just came out with these great placemats for kids. They’re disposable plastic with an adhesive strip so the kids can’t fling their food across the restaurant (they can still throw their food but just not all at once).

It seems like every time I go to Chick-fil-a I am amazed as the consistent level of outstanding customer service that they provide. Tonight the manager not only carried our food to the table, he also brought us straws, ketchup, and lots and lots of napkins. Ironically I had just spent the day at one of our branches training staff and customers on using our new self check out system. Even more ironic is the fact that the mom who I was having dinner with was just telling me the other day how great it is that our library has self-check out but she really wishes we had self check-in as well.

So as we are moving towards borrower self-sufficiency fast food restaurants are moving towards full-service. It makes you wonder, who’s right?

The customer!

It’s all about the customer. It’s about thinking on your feet, reading the customer, and making your best guess as to what he or she wants or needs.

Not everyone needs help getting a tray of food to a table, but for those who do that small gesture is going to make a huge impact. It took maybe 30 seconds of time and did not cost any extra money. That’s a huge return on investment!

How many usernames and passwords do you think the average person has? Microsoft studied the habits of 500,000+ users over a three-month period. The study found:

The average user has 6.5 passwords shared across 3.9 different sites. Each user has about 25 accounts that require passwords, and types of average of 8 passwords per day.

That sounds about right for me. Although I have to admit I’ve never actually counted them all. Now that I use ewallet remembering user names and passwords is not a problem. Occasionally I run across a site where I created the account before using ewallet. Then I have to try out a plethora of user names and passwords.

Earlier this week I was unable to log in to Bank of America’s site. I thought about calling, but I hate navigating through phone trees (plus there is the fact that I do not sound like my husband–whose account I was trying to log in to–but we won’t go there). I was just about to give up until the following window popped up on my screen:

My first thought was, “How cool, I don’t have to talk to a person!” Yep, I am officially a geek. My second thought was, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we offered a service like this to patrons using our catalog.” After so many attempts to find an item a window would automatically pop up and offer to let the patron chat with a librarian.

I can’t tell you how many reasons people will give for not asking for help in the library. They don’t want to bother anyone. They’re not sure who to ask. They’re embarrassed to ask the question.

This is how we need to reach out to people. People should not be forced to look for help whether it be face-to-face or online. Help needs to come before it’s needed. By the time people actively seek help it’s really too late. For every person who asks for help there are many more who just give up and leave empty-handed.