Aalborg Public Libraries

Bodil HaveLibrary Director

Tina Bang JakobsenHead of Development

Next Library15.6.2013

Agenda

About Aalborg Public Libraries

Hosting and service

• A project in Aalborg

• Effects

• Follow-up and evaluation

A building promoting

• The main library

• Principles of library design

Library Tour

Main Library (Central library for The North Denmark Region)12 open branch libraries 1 integrated (school/public) libraryHistoryAalborg 3 mobile libraries 2012 in numbers

Visitors 1.800.000Circulation (excluding digital circ.) (3.200.000 ) 1.700.000Homepage visits 1.000.000

Weekly opening hours, total 1.084- 421 staffed, 663 staffless

Employees156 full-time equivalents

Aalborg Public Libraries Fact Sheet: Library Tours

Hosting and service

World Class- a world of difference

It’s easier to teach a shop assistantthe basics of the librarian’s tradethan teaching a librarianthe basics of the service trade

Steffen Gulmann, 11 Design” ”

Why hosting

An uncertain future for the public libraries

Keen competition from other players of the experience economics

Declining circulation and increasing digitization

From collections to connections – from transaction to relation

Professional competencies under great pressure - the librarian profession as service profession

Why hosting

From theory and good intentions to PRACTICE

Change management and corporate culture

The absence of a common service concept

Open libraries as a huge success - distinctions between staffed and staffless hours

The retail and tourist trades as sources of inspiration

Think as a guest

… act as a host

Hosting and science – the theory

Your attitudeX

Your actions=

Your hosting

Is your hosting

?

The common denominator for good experiences

Cordiality Professional competencies

Working with library hosting

• Affects everything – and takes time• Everyone must contribute – including management • ” What you focus on – will succeed”• Follow-up is important• A common basis and standard for homogenous service• Increases awareness of

external and internal servicedoing things in new waysself-service emphazising the need for hosting

… more and more guests are complimenting the library hosting

Visibility and recognizability

Reception

A physical product

A reception-standard followed by staff enrolling guests (i.e. borrowers)

Floorwalking and briefing

The floorwalker is a host roaming the library spontaneously, welcoming and assisting guests

Targeted Lending

Directly mediating library servicesSalesmanshipUnsolicited ”customer” contact

Mystery Shopping

Interviewers posing as regular guests, testing specific library services

– observing…… and reporting

Dialogue between management and employees

Frontstage and backstage

The Hosting Code

• We are smiling and forthcoming – always welcoming our guests

• We always ask our guests, if they are familiar with the library – and guide them to their destinations

• We return answers competently, asking clarifying questions enabling us to present spontaneous alternatives and related library services – inspiring our guests

• We sum up the encounter in order to ensure “customer” satisfaction - and close the encounter with a smile and a kind remark

Evaluation

•We evaluate all initiatives

•We allways reflect onwhy, who, how ?

•Evaluation is the possibility of development, prioritizing and follow-up

92 % receive the assistence they require89 % indicate that staff is attentive and easily picked out

60 % use the library more often after it became an open library91 % indicate that the open libraries are user friendly

45 % indicate indifference to the presence – or absence – of staff35 % prefer to visit the library during staffed hours

75 % feel safe

Service and customer satisfaction has improved remarkablesince the last study in 2011

National Benchmark Study spring 2013

Værtensklasse 1.0• 2011 – 2012 (main library)• The staffed opening hours

Værtensklasse 2.0• 2012 – 2013 (open branch libraries)• The staffless opening hours

Værtensklasse 3.0• 2013 (open branch libraries)• Experience and experience design

The World Class• 2012 – (national competence development)• teaching processes in 25-30 municipalities in Denmark - so far

World Class projects