Effective Reference Encounters: Achieving Service Excellence

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Effective Reference EncountersAchieving Service
Excellence

• Preconference Presented by
• Marie L. Radford, Ph.D.
• mradford_at_scils.rutgers.edu
• British Columbia Library Association,
• Burnaby, BC, Canada
• 130pm-430pm
• April 16, 2009

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AGENDA

• Defining Delivering Excellent Service
• In FtF Virtual Environments
• Promoting Positive Encounters
• Stress Problematic Behavior
• Approachability NV Communication
• Overcoming Barriers to Excellence

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Reference EnvironmentWhats Changed?

• More complex society, systems, sources,
  services.
• Factors adding to complexity
• High Tech
• Rapid Change
• Time Constraints
• Budget Constraints
• Diversity of Users

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Why Bother??

• Dissatisfied?
• Remembers 23.5 months
• Tells 9-16 friends
• Takes 7 things going right to recover from 1
  thing going wrong!

• Satisfied?
• Remembers
• 18 months
• Tells 4-8 friends

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Management Literature Comes to Consensus

• Front-line staff are vital link.
• Must be empowered to address user needs
• Knowledge
• Authority
• Adequate Resources
• Confidence
• Training

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If we can reduce the stressful encounters and
multiply the satisfying ones, our working lives
will be more enjoyable!
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Expectations 2 Views

• Users
• -Short-term objective
• -Immediate gratification
• -Expects to use less effort than actually
  required
• -Technological Idolatry

• Librarians
• -Long-term objective(s)
• -Creation of Independent User
• -Instruction Opportunity
• -Expects good attitude effort

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Service Excellence 2 Views

• From Library USERs Point of View
• Satisfaction increases
• Complaints decrease
• Positive library experience enforces positive
  feelings

• From YOUR
• Point of View
• Numbers go up
• Support up
• PR improved
• Morale up
• Effectiveness up
• Your day is pleasant!

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Reference Research

• Radford Connaway
• Seeking Synchronicity Chat (2005-2008)
• Radford
• Encountering Virtual Users (2006)
• The Reference Encounter (1999)
• Approach or Avoidance? (1998)
• Dewdney Michell (1996) Oranges Peaches
• Ross Dewdney (1994) Best Practices
• Relationships communication important for
  success satisfaction
• Present in all venues FtF, e-mail, chat!

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Dual Dimensions

• Content
• The WHAT
• Information exchange

• Relational
• HOW message is to be taken
• Relationship of participants

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Reference Success 2 Views

• Librarians
• Highly value content, transfer of info.
• Also value relationship qualities (but to a
  lesser degree).

• Users
• Highly value
• Librarians attitude personal qualities.
• Some value interpersonal aspects more than
  receipt
• of info.
• In VR info valued highly.

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ALA/RUSA Guidelines (2004)

• Components
• Approachability
• Interest
• Listening/Inquiring
• Searching
• Follow-up

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Approachability Interest

• Extremely important for service excellence
• Mostly communicated nonverbally

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Activity

• Approachability Quiz

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Nonverbal Communication Messages

• 65 or more of communication
• Powerful, instant, judgments
• Diverse user base, likely to be NV differences
• Wrong to interpret NV behavior of one culture
  NV behavior of another
• See handout for NV behaviors

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Positive NV Behaviors

• Immediately acknowledges user
• Frequent eye contact
• Nods, or indicates that request is being
  understood
• Uses sympathetic noises (mmm)
• Holds head up
• Cheerful facial expression
• Leans forward

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Negative NV Behaviors

• No immediate acknowledgment
• No change when approached
• Stays seated
• Body turned away
• Do not disturb posture
• Annoying nervous gestures
• Makes negative noises
• Uses sharp tone of voice

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Major Cause of Problematic Behavior STRESS

• Interpersonal relationships with co-workers
  library users are the major source of stress to
  library staff
• But also the major source of satisfaction!

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Causes of STRESS

• Modern Life
• Economic Woe
• Emotional Woe
• Relationships
• Staff Stressors
• Short staffing
• Ever-growing competing
• user demands, expectations
• Lack of compensation
• Time pressure - overwork

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TECHNOSTRESS

• Stress brought on by dealing with technology
• Rapid change
• Software problems
• Hardware meltdown
• Training lag
• Technological idolatry
• Upgrade fatigue

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Burnout Another Type of Stress

• Characteristics
• diminished personal accomplishment
• emotional exhaustion
• depersonalization

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Who is Most Susceptible to Burnout?

• People in helping professions who have
  significant amounts of interpersonal contact.
• Sound familiar?

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10 Trends Complicating Our Lives- Making us
Cranky

• Compressed Time
• Communication Overload
• Dis-Connectedness
• Cost
• Competition
• Customer Contact
• Computers
• Change
• Coming of Age
• Complexity
• (Adapted from Charles, 1999)

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Activity

• Cranky Quotient

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Coping with STRESS Yours Theirs

• Lowering Your Stress- Common Sense
• Rest, Exercise, Nutrition
• Spirituality/Meditation
• Balance Work/Fun
• Beating Burnout Triple A Approach
• Awareness, Analysis, Action
• Knowing Strategies when Other is Stressed
• Be Prepared for Stressful Encounters
• Reduce Stressful Encounters

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BREAK TIME

• Please return on time, Thanks!

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Video Clips
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Small Group Activity

• Break into groups of 3
• Remember a difficult interaction you had (or
  observed) recently with a library user.
• What happened?
• What went well? Not so well?
• What did you learn?
• What would you do differently?
• Take turns discussing.
• Report out.

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Take the LAST Approach for Difficult Interactions

• Listen
• Apologize
• Solve Problem
• Thank Them!

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HALT!

• Hungry
• Angry
• Late
• Tired

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When the Answer is NO

• Focus on what you CAN do, vs. CANT do
• Offer alternatives
• Offer partial accommodation
• Show genuine regret
• Provide some explanation
• Broken Record Technique - be polite, but firm in
  repeating no if necessary

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Chat vs. FtF -- Similarities?

• Real Time
• Negotiating Questions
• Answering Questions
• Service Excellence as Goal
• Diverse Variety of Users
• Building Relationships
• Time Pressure!

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VRS Session Times

• Session time
• Mean 12.42 Minutes
• Median 12 Minutes
• Minimum 12 Seconds
• Maximum 71 Minutes
• Wait time
• Mean 1.87 Minutes
• Median 1 Minute
• Minimum 1 Second
• Maximum 67 Minutes

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Chat vs. FtF Differences?

• Keyboard Woes!
• Lack of NV Cues!
• Limited Knowledge of User
• Limited Knowledge of Available Resources
• Technical Problems
• Transcript produced
• Other Differences?

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Transcript Analysis Results

• 2 Major Themes
• Relational Facilitators
• Aspects with positive impact on interaction that
  enhance communication.
• Relational Barriers
• Aspects with negative impact on interaction that
  impede communication.

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Transcript Examples

• Natural Resources of Washington (Positive)
• Question Type Ready Reference
• Subject Type Economics
• Duration 19 min., 21 sec.
• Telekinetic Powers (Negative)
• Question Type Subject Search
• Subject Type Parapsychology Occultism
• Duration 7 min., 29 sec.
• Physics (Negative)
• Question Type Subject Search
• Subject Type Physics
• Duration 17 min., 8 sec.

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Small Group Activity

• Looking at transcripts
• Facilitators, Barriers
• What works?
• What doesnt work so well?
• Comments?

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Recommendations Chat FtF

• See Recommendations in handout
• Training in basic interpersonal skills
• Awareness user may need reassurance
• Recognize provide reassurance
• Awareness of appropriate self-disclosure
• When to disclose
• Acknowledgment of users self-disclosure
• Humor importance of acknowledgment

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More Recommendations

• Greetings Closings.
• Beware negative closure!
• Beware robotic scripts!
• Inclusion (use of we, lets, etc.).
• Take cue from user mirror relational
  strategies.
• Dont B afraid 2 use informal language,
  abbreviations emoticons as appropriate.

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What Library Users Expect

• You care
• Keep Promises
• Fair Fix
• Apology (if appropriate)
• Professional Response

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Bottom Line for Service Excellence

• Area of Ongoing Improvement, but
• Worth it!!
• See list of additional readings.
• Questions?

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End Notes

• This is one of the outcomes from the project
• Seeking Synchronicity Evaluating Virtual
  Reference Services from User, Non-User, and
  Librarian Perspectives
• Funded by IMLS, Rutgers University, OCLC Online
  Computer Library Center, Inc.
• Special thanks to Co- PI, Lynn Silipigni
  Connaway, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, OCLC
• Project web site http//www.oclc.org/research/pro
  jects/synchronicity/