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ARSL presentation: It's your birthday
- 1. Lauren Drittler & Wendy Wells Arkansas River Valley Regional Library System
- 2. Goals we set & how we scored
- 3. Training
- 4. Kickoff
- 6. Surveys
- 8. Encourage
- 10. Party is over!
Editor's Notes
- Good Morning, I am Lauren Drittler. I am the assistant director of the Arkansas River Valley Regional Library System in Dardanelle, AR. I recently graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with my Masters in Library and Information Science. I have worked in libraries for 10 years, but raised in the library in part because my dad worked in a library for 35+ years. I was his boss for three years (that was fun)……and I am Wendy Wells, program coordinator for the Headquarters Library of the Arkansas River Valley Regional Library. I have worked for the library for two years, but I have worked in ………When your birthday rolls around and some one wishes you a happy birthday…what do you feel? Sometimes we feel a little special that someone remembered. We can feel important. This is where the concept of “It’s your birthday” came from. We feel that our patrons should feel special when they walk in the door. Now by doing this program didn’t mean that our staff was horrible at customer service, we just felt like we could enhance it.We are going to discuss how we set up the program by the goals we set and the training we provided. We will also look closely at this program and the specifics to how we kicked off the program with our staff, the surveys the patrons and staff completed, and how to encourage your staff…plus the prizes we were able to use. Then at the end we are going to wrap it up like a big present with a big shiny bow on top. Please ask questions as we go…
- First we had to have our goals. A list of what we wanted to accomplish was broken down into three groups…Staff, patron, and administration.Staff learn customer service skills and become better acquainted with patrons and patron needs and interest.Administration will gain insight into what patrons need and want and will gain insight into what the staff needs to better assist the patrons.Patrons to become more aware of library services and better acquainted with the staff.The first two groups were easier to measure, but the Patron goals were a little harder to measure, but Wendy will discuss this in a minute.Wendy (talk about how you could measure the accomplished goals under the patron group, those who you greeted at the beginning of the program but how they come in saying hi to you before you can greet them.) We also were able to set our own personal goals that we wanted to accomplish with this program. Score for the library when those patrons who didn’t interact with the staff before this program starts to come in and carry on conversations now.
- Training: There are a lot of customer service training available for you and your staff. Our staff used a combination of using Think & Do Customer Service at the Library Making the Experience meaningful and memorable and a webinar available through the ALA How to Deliver Great Library Customer Service. We also utilized the top ten customer service skills found on the ALA learning round table site created by Marianne Lenox, collaboration of ideas with the staff which served as guidelines for interaction with the patron.Wendy: Training was beneficial for everyone. We saw ways of changing day to day operations to provide better customer service. For example we have letters we mail to individuals with no phone letting them know of library materials being held. Changing the wording to fit a more positive message. We have changed the way we answer the phone and respond to individuals on the phone…
- Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?......DOOR PRIZE TIME!!!I want to know if there is a fan from (?????what school????)Sometimes setting the mood of an event gets people more excited about what is going to be going on. As you can see from our tailgaters, they are ready for some football.
- So I decorated the breakroom for the staff to enjoy. Remember it’s important your staff feel excited when doing this program.Wendy: Talk about how it was reminder of the program and festive.
- Basic for our surveys:Short and simpleLeave a space for commentsWe printed everything in house, I even had a perforator that came in handy. Each patron was asked to complete a survey after the staff assisted them with what they were needing. Most were positive, even the patrons that we dread to see thought we were doing a great job as far as welcoming them. Each week I would collect the survey’s from the birthday boxes we had at our entrances. I would count the number for each staff member and the one with the most would win something. I would also look for the best comment and that staff member would win something.
- Wendy: Discuss the “favorite patron”. The staff completed a survey after week 2 to see what their thoughts were about the program. Some issues that came from the staff survey was: Spanish and the different colors
- Sometimes staff just needs a little encouragement. This showed the week I was out of the office to complete my Comprehensive Finals for school. One survey was completed by a patron. I had stopped by on the weekend to check the boxes and was shocked. I left a little note on the circulation desk and the next week was back were it should be. Making your staff feel important and the job they are doing is key.Wendy: Monday to see who had the most and who had the best comment.DOOR PRIZE: Who has a birthday today? Yesterday? Tomorrow?
- Our patrons understand we don’t have $$$$$$ tree growing out back, so they are okay with any type of prize. Getting donations for patrons prizes is not hard, if you have a good relationship with businesses in your community. Our local grocery store gave a $25 gift card, and then the rest my director and myself gave tickets we purchased from the local Lions Club for their annual pancake breakfast. Even though I say it is not hard to get donations it can take a lot of time and creativity.As for the staff prizes, this was difficult. Each week the staff member with the most would receive a goody bag. We have a list of ideas for prizes as a hand out. Skies the limit. Something simple as The gift car to well we will let Wendy explain the photo.Wendy: EXPLAIN PHOTO.
- Now the party is over what next? Now we look at the information we got…what did we learn. I learned that our staff builds great relationships with the patrons that come through our doors. I learned that our staff is always eager to learn more to help their patrons. And remember that if you find a problem it may be your problem as upper management as much as it would be the employee or patrons. Wendy: What I learned (overall) GO HAND OUT GOODY BAGS!!!!So we discussed goals we set and learned how we scored. We talked about a variety of training options. We also have a list of training sources included in the handouts online. Program: You saw how we kicked-off our program, you saw our the survey plus you heard a sampling of comments, you heard how encouragement is important for your staff, and how to be creative with prizes for patrons and staff.And now like any good birthday party you would attend, you get to go home with a goody bag. So everyone get’s a little prize to take home….YOU GET A PRIZE AND YOU GET A PRIZE AND YOU GET A PRIZE…..I have always wanted to be able to do that and actually be giving something away. Also you will see that inside the goody bags you get a cupcake mix. This is to make one of those 3-2-1 cupcakes you have seen on Pinterest. And if your not on Pinterest, you need to sign up today. The directions of how to make your cupcake and how to create the mix is on the bag along with how to find us on Pinterest. We created a board of the things you have in your goody bag and some of the items we used today incase you are interested where we got them from.