Customer Care: A Training Manual for Library Staff

by Pat Gannon-Leary, Michael McCarthy

Overview

Customer Care provides a detailed course suitable for delivery to library staff at all levels. It can be used as a stand-alone reference work for customer care processes and procedures or, alternatively, it can be used by library staff to tailor a customer care course to suit the requirements and training needs of their own staff.

• Dual use – reference work and/or training manual
• Potential as a text book
• Applicable to a wider context than LIS – could be used for a whole HEI institutional approach to customer care or in local authorities/public services

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780630311
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	03/15/2010
Series:	Chandos Information Professional Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	262
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Dr. Pat Gannon-Leary is a consultant and joint partner of Bede Research&Consultancy with Mike McCarthy. Prior to that, Dr Gannon-Leary worked as a researcher at the Universities of Northumbria and Newcastle. Her earlier career experience includes working in academic libraries in the UK and the USA in a variety of roles including Customer Service Manager. During that time she facilitated customer care courses for library staff.
Michael D McCarthy served as a Senior Officer in the Logistics Branch of the RAF, including 3 years as a specialist instructor to Officer Cadets. On leaving the RAF he moved into the management of Customer Support in major Aerospace Companies in the UK and in Sweden. He has wide experience of customer support activity throughout the European aerospace community, covering both major contractors and suppliers. Following early retirement, he has recently spent 2 years working in a support role in a University Library in order to obtain ‘hands-on’ experience of the demands of customer care in this particular environment.

Table of Contents

List of figures and tables

About the authors

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1: Preparation

Your role as a facilitator

Notes on venue and facilities

Chapter 2: The introduction

Aims

Background

Aim 1: Introductions

Aim 2: Expressing concerns and creating a climate for learning

Aim 3: Understanding the aims of the course

Aim 4: Establishing the ground rules

Aim 5: Clarifying the role of the facilitator

Chapter 3: What is customer service?

Aims

Background

Aim 1: Identifying the constituents of good/bad/excellent service in practice

Aim 2: Recognising the importance of customers’ expectations and feelings

Chapter 4: Who are our customers? The customer service chain

Aims

Background

Aim 1: To identify more clearly the different kinds of customer

Aim 2: To recognise the special needs of different customers

Aim 3: To recognise from whom we receive service in general

Aim 4: To recognise our internal customers

Chapter 5: Communication

Aims

Background

Aim 1: To recognise the barriers to communication

Aim 2: To recognise the importance of body language or NVC when dealing with customers face to face

Aim 3: To improve communications, whether face to face, over the telephone or in writing

Final comments

Chapter 6: Questioning and active listening

Aims

Background

Aim 1: To identify the different types of questions and their effect on communication

Aim 2: To use questions to communicate more effectively

Aim 3: To encourage more active and effective listening

Chapter 7: Handling complaints

Aims

Background

Aim 1: To identify the appropriate steps in handling customer complaints

Aim 2: To develop a positive proactive response to customers’ problems and complaints

Chapter 8: Dealing with challenging situations

Aims

Background

Aim 1: To identify behaviours that create positive relationships with customers

Aim 2: To recognise signs of aggression in a person

Aim 3: To identify appropriate strategies for dealing with challenging situations

Chapter 9: Life positions and the OK Corral: being more confident and assertive

Aims

Background

Aim 1: To recognise aggressive, assertive, adaptive and apathetic styles of behaviour

Aim 2: To use assertive language in response to customer and staff statements

Chapter 10: Suggestions for improvement

Aims

Background

Aim 1: To identify how participants can help improve the effectiveness of their section

Aim 2: To identify how managers can help participants make improvements

Chapter 11: Teambuilding

Aims

Background

Aim 1: To foster team spirit

Aim 2: To help understand how we work in groups

Chapter 12: What are we good at, and what is our future? Action planning

Aims

Background

Aim 1: To celebrate success and take pride in achievements

Aim 2: To actively share information about team successes

Aim 3: To make a commitment to improving customer service skills

Chapter 13: Wrapping it up

Concluding remarks

Feedback

Chapter 14: Conclusion

Plenary

Some final words…

Index

Editorial Reviews

This title is recommended for library administrators and courses in library and information science programs on public services management and improvement., Reference and User Services Quarterly

From the Publisher