CSU | QI | Roles & Responsibilities - Function Representative

SDSU's Love Library Reaches for Excellence
By Helen Henry, Director, Library Administrative Operations SDSU's Malcolm A. Love Library

San Diego State University is committed to reaching for excellence in its quality improvement efforts. A grassroots effort, initiated by SDSU's Malcolm A. Love Library, is its Library Customer Service Excellence Program.

This program grew out of discussions between the Library Staff Development and Training Committee and the University's division heads, several of whom identified customer service as a high priority. The library hired library consultant George Soete to develop an appropriate program. To date, we have offered training in:

Essentials of Customer Service Excellence;
Dealing with Challenging Customer Service Behaviors;
Supervisory Skills in Support of Customer Service Excellence;
Process Improvement Skills in Support of Customer Service Excellence;
Organizational development work with Administrative Office staff;
Data gathering and survey skills.

Student, faculty and library employee focus groups have indicated that Love Library has been providing an exceptional level of service to its external customers. We are now engaged in efforts to bring our internal customer satisfaction to the same high level.

One recent innovation, in direct response to focus group input, is our use of proxy cards. Faculty members may now assign a proxy card to anyone (such as teaching assistants) they have authorized to borrow materials on their behalf. TA's may easily check out books, while professors keep their own IDs securely in their wallets. Thanks to Circulation Desk Staff initiative this convenient, faculty-friendly system is now in place.

In addition to focus groups, the library utilizes a variety of quality improvement tools. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator has been administered to all division heads, Administrative Office Staff, and our P.C. Systems Group to promote self-understanding and improved interpersonal relations. Other tools we'll begin using this summer include assessment of customer service effectiveness by measuring outcomes (not just effort), and the study of customer behavior and needs through regular data-gathering.

Specific Customer Service goals are outlined explicitly in our Service Pledge, which "places our patrons and their needs at the core of everything we do." Library personnel have universally endorsed the pledge, which is printed on bookmarks distributed to library patrons. In addition, the Customer Service Team has developed and implemented customer service-related performance standards and expectations in job descriptions and in evaluation documents. In this way, Pledge goals are reinforced as an ongoing aim driving the daily efforts of all library staff.

Because student assistants are not given the same level of training as other employees, we have instituted a Student Assistant Task Force ensuring that they receive orientation in Service Pledge goals and broad library operations. The first Orientation Program will receive its trial run this summer, with full implementation in the fall semester.

SDSU's Library Administrative Operations staff will soon conduct an internal survey and process mapping of our facilities work order process to determine where we need to place emphasis next. While our Library Customer Service Excellence Program is very new, and we are in the early stages of our QI process, we are excited about the progress we have achieved so far. We hope to learn a great deal from these quality improvement efforts and look forward to expanding and further improving our services in the future.

Helen Henry has work in SDSU's Love Library in various capacities, since 1977. She now serves as Direcotr of Library Administrative Operations, overseeing personnel, facilities, Copy Services, grants administration, payroll/accruals, and statistics, and acting as chair of SDSU's Library Staff Development and Training Committee. A member of the Library Management Group, Ms. Henry is also a double alum from SDSU with an MBA in Information and Decision Systems. One of the tri-chairs for the CSU's QI effort, Ms. Henry is now taking on the duties of Process mapping for libraries.

SDSU's Malcolm A. Love Library is the largest library in the CSU system, housing more than 1.2 million volumes, 3.9 million microform items, 600,000 government documents, and 170,000 maps. The 510,000 square foot library was the first in the world to develop and implement an electronic course reserves system. The library's addition, opened in 1996, includes a state-of-the art Media Center, and Electronic Reserve Book Room, and two electronic classrooms. The Library also has two other electronic classrooms, a student computing lab, and the Student Computing Help Desk with 104 workstations in the reference areas, 132 workstations in the lab, and 120 workstations in the electronic classrooms.

Author: Helen Henry
Title: Director, Library Administrative Operations
Campus Name: SDSU
E-mail address: hhenry@library.sdsu.edu
Business number: (619) 594-4066
QI Role: Library Process Mapping Function Chair