Service Response Discussion: Do we need a Self-Service response?
September 12th, 2006 by Andrea MercadoThis post is part of a series designed to further discussion of the PLA Results service responses, designed in 1998 to describe “what a library does for, or offers to, the public in an effort to meet a set of well-defined community needs.”
The bulleted comments below were gathered in conference sessions by the PLA Results team, in an effort to update the current service responses, which were originally written almost ten years ago. The PLA Results group is looking to the community for feedback on how to update these service responses to better reflect current public library methods and standards.
Currently, there is no formal Self-Service service response. The discussion points below are seeds for discussion, and your added commentary can help to develop the new Self-Service service response (for examples of service responses, see the Library Service Responses page.)
Self-Service Discussion Group Comments
Do we need a service response related to self-service?
- Is self-service a service response or a means to an end.
- Self-service opportunities are not the same as self-directed services.
Go back to the Service Response Discussion Index.
Tags: PLA, PLA Blog, service responses
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October 10th, 2006 at 11:07 am
I think ’self service’ is a means to an end. It is a way to add efficiency to the process as new technology allows it, similar to grocery stores and Home Depot. Self service can allow library staff to use their time to add value to customers in other ways, but does not in itself add value.
October 10th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
I am not sure about Self Service as a service response as I agree it is mainly a means to an end. Unless you can identify a community need to be more self sufficient in the library. If giving this option to patrons adds value because it meets their need to avoid long lines, protect privacy in terms of what they are checking out, and to be more autonomous in their interactions with the library, then maybe it fits as a service response.
Some could argue that maintaining face to face interactions with patrons is also a service response as many patrons highly value the personal interaction they get across the desk while checking books out and therefore would see self-service as a rather cold option. I suppose it matters why you are choosing one or the other or both and what value added service you are providing in place of being there for more routine library transactions.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:23 am
Not a service response, a means to an end, I think.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:21 am
At this time my system offers a small community a librarian-less pick-up/drop-off point (at city hall) because of budget constraints. This is the service requested and, as such, is not only a means to an end. One of our library’s offers self check-out. It is a highly used and valued service.
A suggested Service Response for self-service might be: A library that offers self-service addresses the needs of the independent patron with limited time or whose community cannot support a full-service library.
October 13th, 2006 at 9:35 pm
I see Self Check as a way to free my Circulation staff to have more time to do displays that promote reading and awareness of materials and services; as a way to free my Circulation staff to have more time out in the stacks assisting patrons in finding materials, answering questions and guiding them in the use of the library; and as a way to give anomynity and independence to people that seem to seek it.
October 14th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
You could have self-service in all of the existing service responses. Just like the service responses are not age specific .. they should not be specific to the way they are accessed too.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:14 pm
Means to an end. Certainly self service frees up staff time for other priorities, especially more complicated or difficult tasks or responsibilities (but those would be reflected in other service responses). The bigger picture to me seems something like easy or convenient Access to collections and services. As a larger category it might include things like remote pickup and drop off points, drive up windows, electronic borrower services in all forms, library by mail, off-hours checkout facilities, deposit collections, and various types of outreach delivery services/vehicles.
October 19th, 2006 at 2:29 am
How about user-centered customer service as a response instead of self-service?
If you read OCLC’s report on perceptions of libraries and information resources, you will learn that, comparing libraries with search engines, people think search engines are way better than libraries in being cost-effective, easy to use, fast, reliable and convenient and, at the same time, are not less trustworthy; you learn that only 5% of the respondents perceive library’s customer service positively vs 23% perceive library’s customer service negatively; and you learn that only 15% of the respondents consider online library fits their life style perfectly.
In stead of providing excellent customer service, we make our services so hard to use and so difficult to find. I agree with Martina — we should think in a bigger picture and think how this response will benefit the library users, not the libraries.
October 19th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
I agree that the term “self-service” is not what I would be looking for. Perhaps there is another term that would work and can be applied to customer service and not limit the idea to only those things a patron does for themselves.
October 20th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
[...] New Service Responses – Self-Service (9 comments) [...]
November 1st, 2006 at 8:23 pm
Self service is a means to an end. It’s a way to enable us to operate more efficiently with what staff we have. It’s also a trend that consumers expect to find more and more, but that doesn’t make it a service response. We may say we are implementing it in order to empower people, but really it’s about using our resources better.
November 28th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
I agree that self-service is a means to an end, but think that it’s an important means. Let’s not forget that not so long ago, open shelves were seen as a radical means of self-service by library users. I don’t think many of us could imagine going back to closed stacks, not so much because of the labor involved, but because closed stacks seem like inferior service to us now.