SJRLC Connections

Great opportunity to hear Joan Frye Williams

From NJLA, great opportunity to hear Joan Frye Williams:

The New Jersey State Library and New Jersey Library Association invite you to attend an extraordinary program: Managing the Library Experience …  changing the experience for your customers as well as yourself, with Joan Frye Williams. This powerful and humorous program will help you to learn everything you need to know about what to start, what to stop and how to ensure your customers will return. And have fun while you’re learning.

Whether you’ve seen her before or not come see Joan Frye Williams, who wowed them at the Mid-Atlantic Library Futures Conference, at the Old Bridge Public Library on January 16, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The cost of the program is $20 for NJLA members and $30 for non-members.  Directions:  http://www.oldbridgelibrary.org/directions.htm

 

The deadline for registration: January 11. Call NJLA at 609-394-8032 or email srice@njla.org for further information.

Send registration form with payment (check or credit card) or

PO

to: NJLA,

PO Box 1534

,

Trenton

,

NJ

  or Fax to: 609-394-8164

Registration form at: http://www.njla.org/programs/jfwilliams_registration.pdf

Mount Laurel's "Funday Sunday"

(Posted to SJRLC listserv, 10/16)
-----------------------------------------------------

Our Funday Sunday customer appreciation day at the Mount Laurel Library was a great success.  Why am I telling you this? Because I think the DJs, Hy Lit and Sam Lit, who supplied the music outside on the lawn definitely added to the excitement. We had over 1,100 poeple attend.

 

If you're planning an event and need a DJ, give them a call.  They will do what's needed to make it a success. The folks at HyLit.com are a delight to work with and are true professionals. Although Hy Lit is associated with oldies (1950s and 60s music), he and his associates are ready to supply you with any music you want. They gave us a great, upbeat mix and it kept the party going the whole afternoon. Sam even offered to announce our activities throughout the day...and he takes requests!

So, if you're planning something, consider booking them. I guarantee you won't regret it.

Cheers -

Joan Bernstein

P.S. This is an unpaid announcement.

Joan E. Bernstein, Director
Mount Laurel Library

Books By Mail Incubator Project: RFP Available

RFP for SJRLC's "Books By Mail" Incubation Project Now Available at:  www.sjrlc.org/booksbymail

Coping With Difficult Customers

Successfully Coping with Difficult Customers
Led by Bob Kieserman, Bob Kieserman & Company
Registration: http://www.sjrlc.org/spice/2007_06/difficult.pdf

Tuesday, July 17, 2007,  9:30 - 3:30 (9:00 coffee)
Cost:  $40 (Lunch Included)

Cherry Hill Free Public Library,  1100 Kings Highway N., Cherry Hill
Directions: www.sjrlc.org/directions/chpl

Customer service can be a joy until THAT customer walks in, and then...

Customer service can be the most rewarding aspect of our jobs, and it can be the most dreaded. 

As everyone who's worked a public service desk can attest, one difficult customer can not only ruin our day, but can take up our limited time and resources, and deplete our emotional energy.   This workshop will help you successfully cope with those "difficult" customers

By the end of this workshop you will be able to:

• Identify different types of "difficult" customers
• Identify the underlying emotions of the different types of "difficult" customers
• Identify "difficult" behaviors and employ appropriate strategies for defusing situations
• Employ strategies that can minimize the frequency of "difficult" customer interactions

-- Earn 5 Professional Development Hours for attending this program ---

Complete details and registration at: http://www.sjrlc.org/spice/2007_06/difficult.pdf

Workshop: Write a Customer Service Management Plan

Workshop Announcement...

Write a Basic Customer Service Management Plan in Three Hours
Led by Christine Hill, Assistant Director, Willingboro Public Library

May 22, 2007
9:30-12:30 (9:00 coffee)
Cost:  $20

Cherry Hill Public Library,
1100 Kings Highway N., Cherry Hill
Directions: www.sjrlc.org/directions/chpl

CLICK HERE for complete details and registration form

Click here for list of all workshops being offered by SJRLC

Customer Service Workshop

CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION FORM

It Takes All Types Customer Service for Everyone Led by Frank Felsburg, Cogent Training & Consulting LLC Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 9:30 - 4:30 (9:00 coffee) Cost: $40 (Lunch Included) Cherry Hill Free Public Library,  1100 Kings Highway N., Cherry Hill Directions: www.sjrlc.org/directions/chpl

Did you ever notice that what works well for one customer doesn't work so well for another?

Have you ever applied the golden rule and treated a customer just the way YOU would like to be treated -- and then found that they were still unsatisfied???

This workshop will incorporate the DISC personality profile to help you determine your personality/communication style, and give you a better understanding of how to provide great service to customers with different personality/communication styles.

By the end of this workshop you will be able to:

• Apply a universal attitude of customer service excellence
• Communicate with customers (and coworkers) of all types.
• Improve service through increased awareness of body language.
• Actively listen for the customer's overt and implied needs and requests.
  
  -- Earn 6 Professional Development Hours for attending this program ---

CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION FORM

2007 Spring Membership Program & Meeting

2007 Spring Membership Program & Meeting: WHAT PEOPLE WANT With Guest Speaker, Dave Genesy
Director of the Redwood City Public Library and Consultant to the "Trading Spaces" project at Mount Laurel Library

Pine Hill Golf Club
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Noon - 4:00(lunch at Noon-1)

Dave Genesy, consultant to the "Trading Spaces" project at Mount Laurel Library, returns to New Jersey to share his great ideas about creating a positive customer experience in the library. By focusing on what people want, and giving it to them in a warm, welcoming environment, we can make our libraries and library services more customer-centered and community-centered.

For complete details and registration form, click here.

Karen noted in AL Direct and PLA Blog

Those of you who get AL Direct delivered to your email may have noticed a familiar face--our own Karen Hyman was noted for her talk, "The Customer-Centered Library: How to Stop Tweaking and Start Doing It with 12 New Steps", which she delivered recently at the PLA Spring Symposium in San Jose.

The blurb links out to a longer, and quite positive posting at the PLA blog.  Take a look!

Workshop: Connecting with IM

Connecting with Instant Messaging (IM)
Led by Heather Huey, NJIT

Thursday, March 8, 2007
1:00 - 4:00
Cost: $30

CAMDEN COUNTY LIBRARY
3rd floor computer lab
203 LAUREL ROAD, VOORHEES
Directions: http://www.sjrlc.org/directions/ccl

For complete details and registration form, click here.

Bookswim: Books by mail

via Tame the Web

Michael Stephens Writes...
 

Add this to Starbucks book clubs, wifi, and music sales, iTunes movie downloads and "third place" contenders like the aforementioned Starbucks or Panera Bread and you have a whole bunch of services, physical spaces and web sites competing for what libraries used to have a hold on.

Frankly, if a site like BookSwim flies, we need to be very aware and plan accordingly. I hope some of those innovating libraries out there are working on a Netflix model and that they will share it openly ASAP.

This troubles me. In fact let's look at the big picture of the last few days in notable news:

A library CLOSES to prevent young people from being rowdy

A site LAUNCHES soon that duplicates the successful Netflix model for the library "brand" - BOOKS!

What do these two events forecast for the future of libraries folks?

SEE ALSO:

• Hello, Grisham -- So Long, Hemingway?   (Wash. Post, Jan 2)
• How I would Run a Library System. (Ross Notes, Jan 2)
• BookSwim Homepage

 

Mr. Inspiration Indeed!

For those of you who attended our 20th anniversary membership meeting at the Seaview Marriott yesterday you know that Patrick Jones more than lived up to his moniker, "Mr. Inspiration" (bestowed upon him by School Library Journal.)   While his presentation was ostensibly about serving teens I thought much of his material was perfectly applicable to serving, well, anyone (with the possible exception of genealogists--- no offense, you had to be there...)

Patrick was good enough to share his powerpoint presentations which are available here:

|Morning Presentation:  Reaching Reluctant Readers  |Afternoon Presentation: Moments of Truth|

Here, in no particular order, are my takeaways from yesterday; the ideas that really resonated with me:

• Patrick's realization that he couldn't change all of the teens in Savannah, Georgia, "But what could I change? "  A great awareness, whether we're serving teens, adults, genealogists or just trying to make our way through this crazy world.  It reminded me of Stephen Covey's point that we frequently expend energy on things that are in our sphere of concern but not in our sphere of influence.  this makes for a long day.  We are happier and more effective when we focus on things that are both within our sphere of concern and our sphere of influence. 

• Our job is not to build YA Collections.  Our job is to build collections for young adults.   Our job is to help create stronger, better, healthier youths.  Later in the day Patrick made a similar point:  Our job is not to build collections or answer reference questions.  Our job is to make our communities better places to live (or work, or study.) 

• Regarding our assumption that boys don't read: "When we talk about boys not reading, we assume that reading means fiction.  Boys read a lot.  Just not Pride and Prejudice."  I recall hearing Stephen Abram making a similar point.

• It's good to remember that teens act the way they do because their brains are not yet fully developed.   "Our brains our big hunks of Colby...theirs are swiss cheese!"
  

• After helping a teen, give them a business card and tell them, "If you need help, let me know."  Wow!   Great idea.  I know many librarians don't have business cards, but it's easy to run them off, either for individuals or for the department.  How about putting an IM address on that card too?    As Patrick said, "Every transaction is a relationship.  Let them know you want it to continue."  That's so...respectful!

• Find a way to say Yes.  (i.e., In response to teen who wants to check email on an OPAC only machine: "Yes you can check your email.  Let me show you which computer is available for you to do that."

• Say Thank You.  Simple, positive reinforcement goes a long way.  Teens made a choice to come to the library.  Thank them for that choice.   Tell them it's good to see them, by name if possible.  ("Thanks for being here Bill. Tomorrow we're not going to throw chairs, right?  OK, have a good night.") 

Well, those are my big takeaways, what are yours???

For more info on Patrick check out his blog, his website, his myspace page, publications, and links to his other presentations.

Customer Service Management Plan

Thanks to Christine Hill, Assistant Director at Willingboro Public Library, for sharing handouts from her workshop, "Write a Basic Customer Service Management Plan in Two Hours". 

More than 45 people from all over the state attended the workshop, cosponsored by SJRLC and NJLA, on Friday, November 17th.

Christine described how Willingboro PL developed a customer service management plan.  She shared many of the positive and practical ideas that the library has implemented to ensure that their customers receive a consistent, high level of customer service. 

One idea that really struck me was to have library employees keep a "customer service diary" for three weeks, where they logged all of their experiences as a customer (i.e. at the store, with the doctor, calling for cable service, etc.).  They were then asked to review there own positive and negative experiences and develop a list of concrete behaviors on the part of the service provider that resulted in a positive customer experience.  Likewise, they were able to clearly see what behaviors lead to a negative experience and should therefore be avoided.

A big thanks to Christine for putting together such a wonderful, practical program!   And thanks to NJLA for cosponsoring the workshop with SJRLC.

Link to Handouts: sjrlc.typepad.com/customer_service_management_program.pdf

Library Elf Presentation

Thanks to Ralph Bingham, Gloucester County Library System, for presenting a wonderful tech talk on Library Elf, a free web-based service that allows library users manage their accounts. 

What does Elf offer?

• Email and/or RSS alerts before items are due
• Email and/or RSS alerts on overdues and holds
• Consolidated list of yours or your family's library loans and holds
• Cellphone text message alerts for holds (and now for overdues too!)
• Real-time account checking by browser

If you want to see if any of your customers are already using Elf, take a look at the list of libraries on their roster.  If you want to add your library just send the name of your library and its URL to request @ libraryelf.com.   Originally, Library Elf was designed to work with Polaris and Dynix systems, but they've recently they've started supporting others systems such as III, and they quickly added Camden County Library at my request.  As a customer, I love the email reminders!

Ralph has graciously agreed to share his powerpoint presentation on this blog.   Thanks Ralph!  For more information, see also Liz Burns wonderful article in LJ.