What's really going on at the reference desk??

Given the general theme of this issue of Library Life, I'd like to focus on the Reference Desk as well this month, and think about what could really be happening when one of your many customers approaches with a request for help. I want to keep it light, yet relevant. I acknowledge that some of this will not be the case in all libraries, but see what you think. Hindsight is a superb thing as they say, but looking back on more than a few years behind a range of reference desks, most of them are true for me, and now, I feel just a tad uncomfortable about that ! .

I want to suggest that when aforementioned typical library user approaches a reference desk, some of these things could just be true . . . . .

Your knowledge of the library system is vast compared with 90%, or maybe 95 %, of your users. By "system" I do not mean just the catalogue and things technical. I mean the way your library is arranged, what is where, and how one area links to another, how the shelves are arranged, the sequence of the shelves, separation of normal sized and outsized books, the "rules" around reference and lending material and so on and so on. There will be a myriad of others.

And what about the classification system ~ all those decimal points if you use Dewey, the proliferation of letters and numbers with others. And the letters that follow the numbers? Not everyone knows that they have a connection with the author, if in fact they do. And then there is the catalogue. "Have you checked the catalogue?" we blithely say, as if everyone knows how to use it, make sense of it, get to the title/subject/periodical issue they want, make the connection between classification and shelf arrangement, know where to look if the first search proves unsuccessful, reserve it, check other display areas, outsize sequence, returned today area, trolley waiting to be shelved . . .and so it goes on. Are you getting a sense of the confusion in the mind of our average Joe or Josephine Borrower??.

Think about your personal reaction to the user's query. Do you find yourself thinking . . . What do you want to know that for? Or Don't you know how the system works ? Or I finish in precisely 5 minutes and you want to know whaaaat ?? So you've never thought any of these thoughts? Well done - you have superb inter-personal skills and a wonderful sense of your role. I mean this most sincerely.

But for those of you who have felt less than very customer focused at times, we are all human. We have the normal range of responses, but this is no excuse for letting our personal situation, our (often wrong) assumptions, or long held beliefs get in the way of a good service. Working at the front line on any desk in any library, in my view is very hard work, and requires a particular set of skills and personal attributes. It is not automaton-like, where every request has a one-size fits all solution, and every interaction is a linear process. Reference work, or any customer interaction at any desk, is a unique opportunity to satisfy a particular request, and can be done very well or very poorly, and every which way inbetween.

Think about one or two queries you answered today, or 1 or 2 customers you interacted with. How did it go? If you had had a video camera recording the event, what would you think when you rewound it and watched the sequence of events. Again, would it be a time for congratulations ~ or cringing !!. What would you notice?. What would you want to rewind and wipe ? Or what would you want to use as training scenario of exactly how to do this particular interaction superbly.

For most of your customers their interaction with you is a one-off event on that day. It may be the 31 st or the 87 th or the 123 rd customer you have had, but the customer does not know that, or really care! You are the person they seek help from and it is a unique inter-action which they will remember, comment on, be delighted or disappointed by.

For just a moment, consider how you as a customer will react when you are next in the bank, or the supermarket or the video shop or the hairdressers or any service provider and you get a sense that the staff member is going through any of the thoughts and reactions I have outlined above? Impressed ??  

The slightly scary thing about all of this, is that all or some of the above is going on in your head. We have not even considered yet what is going on in the library user's head. They are part of the equation too, aren't they ?? So what could they be thinking ? Maybe something like this : Shall I bother them? What if they think my question is stupid? Do they even write books about this? Oh, it's a woman at the desk ~ I'll wait till a guy appears. Oh bother, it's a guy, I would really rather wait for one of those nice ladies I talked with last time I bet they ask me if I've looked in the catalogue and I haven't a clue how it works Oh maybe I won't bother today / leave it till next time / try and find it myself / go to the bookshop and buy something instead. . . . and so it goes on. Little wonder that things go a little awry when the customer with these thoughts finally gets to talk to a staff member with their assumptions and reactions - a recipe for excellent customer service ?

So what to do? I think the answer is pretty simple, but a real challenge to crack. Every one of your customers, every day, every week, every time they make contact ~ is very special ~ as YOU are when you are the customer of other service organisations. Superb customer service is not common I know, but aiming high is exciting. Each of those customers you interact with offers you a unique challenge to do whatever it takes to delight them. And yes, that must happen, even though you are necessarily affected by a range of policies and procedures, distractions and constrictions, limitations and assumptions, and that is just the stuff at work. There is no room here to mention the impact on your work and energy levels of the often vast range of out of work things in your life.

The challenge is for you to consider how best to meet the needs of your customers, in your library, given your situation and circumstances. And yes, whoever said that library work is easy, should be shot (just joking!)