The document discusses the role of public libraries, emphasizing that they serve as community hubs rather than just places for checking out books or answering queries. It critiques the notion of relying on 'heroes' in library services and advocates for a focus on collaboration and enhancing user experiences. It highlights the importance of librarians in fostering information literacy, community engagement, and lifelong learning among patrons.

1. The Best Service Is No Service
Roy Kenagy
rjkenagy@netins.net
www.whatwouldranganathando.org
November 11, 2013
Council Bluffs Public Library

2. Should your library depend on
heroes?
Heroes: who needs them?

4. What are some of the issues in thinking of Circ
& Reference as “the public library system”?
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•
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Statement doesn’t cover that the
library is the heart of the
community
Leaves out the patron completely
We’re not separate; we’re
intertwined
Implies that everything happens at
the library
Implies that all we do is check out
books and answer reference
questions
Tasks are not that narrowly defined
Doesn’t mention other programs
that are offered
Doesn’t mention community
services
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
don’t find items; we facilitate finding
items
Missing the story; an interaction
between the library staff/each
other/the public/give them an
experience
Items have to be bought, paid for, and
processed before they can be checked
out
Implies that reference people are
professional, circ “staff” are flunkies
Other staff and functioned not
mentioned; check out not confined to
circ
All departments are not equal in
budgets or staffing
Leaves out people who just come and
don’t check anything out

5. “Reference” includes reader’s assistance.
"A reference transaction is an information contact that involves the knowledge,
use, recommendation, interpretation, or instruction in the use of one or more
information sources by a member of the library staff. Information sources
include printed and non-printed materials, Internet, FirstSearch, or EBSCOhost,
machine-readable databases, catalogs, and other records. Also, count referrals
to other libraries, institutions, and persons both inside and outside the library.
The request may come in person, by phone, fax, mail, electronic mail, or
through live or networked electronic reference service from an adult, young
adult, or child. "
"Do not count directional transactions or questions of rules or policies.
Examples of directional transactions are "Where are the children's books?"
and "I'm looking for a book with call number 612.3." An example of a question
of rules or policies is 'Are you open until 9:00 tonight?'“
~Scott Dermont, quoting the rules on IOWALIB, Oct 4, 2013

6. Who does the most work in the
Public Library System?
Transactions
Visits per contact
Checkouts per contact
Internet sessions per contact
Iowa
11
17
2
Council Bluffs
10
18
2
"Contact": reference or reader's assistance transaction
From annual data for Fiscal Year 2011-2012

7. For FY 2012 In Iowa,
the ratio of reference
transactions to library
visits was 1:11.
Why might the reality
be even higher?

8. Bell System:
How to Make
Friends by
Telephone
(1940s)

9. How do we communicate
with the hidden 90%?
Kathy Sierra. "Presentation Skills Considered
Harmful." Serious Pony (October 4, 2013):
[blog]; available at
http://seriouspony.com/blog/201310/4/presentation-skills-considered-harmful.

10. “And if they’re my users, then this presentation is a user experience.
And if it's a user experience, then what am I?
Ah... now we’re at the place where stage fright starts to dissolve.
Because if the presentation is a user experience, than I am just a UI [User Interface].
That’s it.
I am a UI.
Nothing more.
And what’s a key attribute of a good UI?
It disappears.
It does not draw attention to itself.
It enables the user experience, but is not itself the experience.
And the moment I remember this is the moment I exhale and my pulse slows.
Because I am not important. What is important is the experience they have. My job
is to provide a context in which something happens for them.”
Kathy Sierra, "Presentation Skills Considered Harmful."

12. Felicia A. Smith. "Helicopter Librarian: Expect
the Unexpected | Backtalk." Library Journal
Web site (August 28, 2012).

13. Building relationships with students is a
crucial component of Helicopter Librarian
instruction sessions. I make a strong first
impression dressed either in a complete
pirate costume or as a Wonder Woman
avatar in Second Life. But even when I am
not in disguise, students are extremely
comfortable approaching me because they
just sense that I am no ordinary librarian.

14. Frei & Morriss:
Uncommon
Service

15. • Staff aren’t the problem
• Treat your customers as part of your
staff
• Design systems so that heroes aren’t
required
Frances Frei and Anne Morriss. Uncommon
Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at
the Core of Your Business. Boston: Harvard
Business Review Press, 2012.

16. “Eliminate slogans,
exhortations, and targets
for the work force asking
for zero defects and new
levels of productivity. Such
exhortations only create
adversarial relationships, as
the bulk of the causes of
low quality and low
productivity belong to the
system and thus lie beyond
the power of the work
force.” (p.24)

17. “All the women are strong, all the
men are good looking, and all the
children are above average."

18. The Normal Curve

19. “There's a simple and compelling economic
argument in favor of design over training:
design is a one-time investment; training is an
ongoing investment over the life the product.”
Gene Smith. "Training vs. Design." nForm. (April 10, 2013):
http://nform.com/blog/2013-04/training-vs-design.

21. Oldenburg:
The Great
Good Place

22. Cafes  Coffee Shops  Community
Centers  Beauty Parlors
General Stores  Bars  Hangouts
&
How They Get
You Through
The Day

24. The Servicescape
Ambience; setting; physical and
symbolic environment.

25. Zeithaml, Bitner, &
Gremler, Services
Marketing:
Integrating
Customer Focus
Across the Firm

26. Weaver:
Creating Great
Visitor
Experiences

27. Creating Great Visitor Experiences
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Invitation
Welcome
Orientation
Comfort
Communication
Sensation
Common Sense
Finale

28. Service Rules that Don’t Suck
Practices
• Free, good coffee
• Service without asking –
expired reservation
• Home depot: Taking you to
the shelf
• Target: just to be there
• Creating repeat customers:
gluten free at restaurant
• Getting away from the desk
Policies
• Perks & reward cards
• Recognizing repeat
customers (personal)
• Service desks without
phones
• Empowering employees to
correct customer service
issues
• Taking expired coupons
• Exceptions to the rules

29. Who do you want your readers
to become?
The value of transformation

30. Pine &
Gilmore:
The Experience
Economy

32. OCLC:
From
Awareness to
Funding

34. Readers are
makers.
Narratives of making
one’s life are at the
core of the public
library reading
experience.

35. Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami
Tamimi explore the vibrant
cuisine of their home city—with
its diverse Muslim, Jewish, and
Christian communities. Both men
were born in Jerusalem in the
same year—Tamimi on the Arab
east side and Ottolenghi in the
Jewish west. This stunning
cookbook offers 120 recipes from
their unique cross-cultural
perspective, from inventive
vegetable dishes to sweet, rich
desserts. Ottolenghi and Tamimi
have collaborated to produce
their most personal cookbook yet.

36. Source: Library Journal Book Buying Survey 2012

37. Steps Toward Transformation
Self-service; coproduction; the Ask.

38. Create engaging self service.

39. The original Piggly-Wiggly store, Memphis. 1917
photo by Clarence Saunders (Library of Congress).

40. Honebein &
Cammarano:
Creating Do-ItYourself
Customers

41. Co-Production
•
•
•
•
Vision
Access
Incentives
Expertise

42. Schrage: Who
do you want
your customers
to become?

43. The “Ask”
Who do we ask our customers to
become?

44. Librarians are masters of the
circular “Ask”
• Information Literacy
• Others?

45. What is the “Ask” in these
Service Responses?
• Connect to the online world
• Satisfy curiosity
• Know how to find, evaluate, and use
information
• Create young readers
• Build successful enterprises

46. Connect to the Online World
Residents will have high-speed access to the
digital world with no unnecessary restrictions or
fees to ensure that everyone can take advantage
of the ever-growing resources and services
available through the Internet.

47. Connect to the Online World
• Leveling the playing field for those who don’t
have internet; look outside of themselves and be
aware of the world; globally aware.
• So they can become gainfully employed.
• Find answers instantly.
• Self-sufficient, competitive, and informed and
productive citizens.
• Able to function in our changing world.
• Information 24/7.

48. Satisfy Curiosity
Residents will have the resources they need to
explore topics of personal interest and continue
to learn throughout their lives.

49. • Enrichment to their lives; asking them to
continue learning throughout their lives; develop
their individuality – not just a product.
• So they won’t be bored or boring.
• Explorers.
• Problem-solvers. Getting beyond the commodity
level.
• Self-motivated.
• Allowing them to learn at their own rate of
understanding.

50. Know How to Find, Evaluate and
Use Information
Residents will know when they need
information to resolve an issue or answer a
question and will have the skills to search for,
locate, evaluate, and effectively use information
to meet their needs.

51. Know How to Find, Evaluate and
Use Information
• Create repeat customers; know that the library will
help them. Informed individuals; critically analyze,
think for themselves.
• So they can make informed decisions.
• Part of life-long learning; take what they want to do
and go on with it.
• So they won’t be duped and misinformed; helps
bullshit detectors; build their personal narratives.
• Being able to experience the joy of discovery.
• Realize their potential as an individual; helps them
redefine their lives.

52. Create Young Readers
Preschool children will have programs and
services designed to ensure that they will enter
school ready to learn to read, write, and listen.

53. Create Young Readers
• Have to learn the basics; have social skills; find the joy in
learning, reading, discovery. Asking them to start on the
path toward maturity, encouraging them to learn about the
world they live in. Asking them to love books/reading.
• Literacy-based programming, help fill the gap for the haves
& have-nots.
• Enjoy the experience of reading; successful in future
endeavors.
• Be curious so they can be successful in school.
• Ready to learn; our future depends upon it.
• Meet challenges; develop confidence. Asking them to think.

54. Build Successful Enterprises
Business owners and non-profit organization
directors and their managers will have the tools
they need to develop and maintain strong,
viable organizations.

55. Build Successful Enterprises
• Benefits community, encouraging growth on individual
and collective levels. Encourages people to follow their
passions and meet community needs.
• Builds stronger community.
• Start; improve; change to be a successful business.
• Individuals benefit from a strong community;
communities benefit from strong individuals.
Empowering individuals. Builds rapport/buy in
between business community and library.
• Collaborate and share resources; people as resources.
• Improves the city image. Attracting businesses and
young people; and not be boring.

56. What to do next
Inoculate | Innovate

57. Inoculate
against
calcification.

58. Gawande:
The Checklist
Manifesto

59. Hertz: Eyes
Wide Open:
How to Make
Smart Decisions
in a Confusing
World

60. “Become aware that we have to make
over 10,000 decisions a day.”
We decide how to frame our attention,
and thus what we pay attention to.

61. Eyes Wide Open
• Where possible, don’t make big decisions way before you
actually need to.
• Where you have the ability to “dress the environment,”
create as blank a backdrop as you can.
• Get second and third opinions, at least.
• Push yourself to tap into the lay experts in your immediate
environment who you are not sufficiently valuing.
• Start thinking about how you might use listening-in
techniques.
• Online, beware sock puppets.
• Whenever you’re given data to consider, think about what
you might not be being shown, and why.
• If you know you’re stressed, watch out that you’re not
falling back on innate and probably unconscious
stereotypes and prejudices.

64. (1)
Random fluctuation in the
quantum multiverse.

65. An Amusing Coincidence: The
Mirror Scene

66. (2)
Amusing coincidence.

68. (3)
Duck Soup.

69. As a rule, the third time it happens,
you have Duck Soup.
• Your thoughts on monitoring the production
of Duck Soup in your library’s system.

70. Diagram by Karn G. Bulsuk (http://www.bulsuk.com)

71. • Eliminate dumb contacts
• Create engaging self
service
• Be proactive
• Make yourself easy to
contact
• Own your actions across
the library
• Listen and act
• Deliver great “customer”
service experiences

72. Eliminate dumb contacts.

73. A
B
Hot water
Coffee

74. Create engaging self service.

75. Be proactive.

77. Make yourself easy to contact.

78. Own your actions across the library.

79. Listen and act.

80. Deliver great “customer” service
experiences.

81. The Implied Author
Wayne C. Booth. The Rhetoric of
Fiction. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1983.

83. The Implied
Librarian

84. Lao Tzu, trans.
Mitchell:
Tao Te Ching

85. "When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware
that he exists. Next best is a leader who is loved. Next,
one who is feared. The worst is one who is despised.
If you don't trust the people, you make them
untrustworthy. The Master doesn't talk, he acts. When
his work is done, the people say, Amazing: we did it, all
by ourselves!"
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 17, trans. Stephen
Mitchell