Comments on: Be an agent for the customer: Hospitality Revisited http://librarygarden.net/2010/06/01/be-an-agent-for-the-customer-hospitality-revisited/ An ongoing conversation among librarians with differing perspectives (public, academic, school, consortial, youth) but one shared goal: ensuring the health and relevance of libraries. [insert your own gardening metaphor here] Fri, 17 May 2013 18:44:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Marie Radford http://librarygarden.net/2010/06/01/be-an-agent-for-the-customer-hospitality-revisited/#comment-5941 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:33:15 +0000 http://librarygarden.net/?p=2962#comment-5941 Great post Pete! Will be very interesting to hear of your experiences in customer service as you do transition back to the public library. Although I am not in a library, as a faculty member I try to be an agent for all my students and advisees.I strive to keep their best interests as primary.

]]> By: Marie Radford http://librarygarden.net/2010/06/01/be-an-agent-for-the-customer-hospitality-revisited/#comment-5940 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:32:28 +0000 http://librarygarden.net/?p=2962#comment-5940 Great post Pete! Will be very interesting to hear of your experiences in customer service as you do transition back to the public library. Although I am not in a library, as a faculty member I try to be an agent for all my students and advisees.I strive to keep their best interests in the forefront.

]]> By: Ann Wilberton http://librarygarden.net/2010/06/01/be-an-agent-for-the-customer-hospitality-revisited/#comment-5937 Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:06:47 +0000 http://librarygarden.net/?p=2962#comment-5937 Love this article. The property manager at my condo building thinks he is a gatekeeper and it results in horrible customer service. I think sometimes, in libraries, because we are not making profits we slack off on being committed to SERVICE and rely on policy to shape all our behaviors.

The customers leaving our libraries will remember the experiences they had not the policies we followed. Customers want us to listen and be understanding. It’s really not a lot to ask. And when we take the approach of being committed to providing exceptional customer service, it’s more fun to go to work. There are less confrontations, less unpleasant interactions and more satisfied, happy customers and workers. Don’t we all want that?

]]> By: customer service: all hail the Nordstrom shoe department « Across Divided Networks http://librarygarden.net/2010/06/01/be-an-agent-for-the-customer-hospitality-revisited/#comment-5934 Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:28:48 +0000 http://librarygarden.net/?p=2962#comment-5934 [...] tagged customer service, why librarians at 11:28 am by Andromeda Peter Bromberg wrote about being an agent for the customer rather than a gatekeeper (a topic sure to make me gleeful as the gatekeeper model drives me batty), [...]

]]> By: lemasney http://librarygarden.net/2010/06/01/be-an-agent-for-the-customer-hospitality-revisited/#comment-5933 Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:27:00 +0000 http://librarygarden.net/?p=2962#comment-5933 Wow. I’m first post?! Amazing. Peter, to quote you, “yes, yes, yes!” I love this article. Now, I kind of feel guilty about a recent episode where I had a chance to be an agent, and wanted to be an agent, but I let my nagging internal “you’ll get yelled at for bending the rule” voice tell me to be a gatekeeper. Thanks for reminding me what’s most important in such an eloquent and convincing way.

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