Improving the Customer Experience – Working Together to Make All Our Lives Easier! Lesley Crawshaw University of Hertfordshire

Aims Of Workshop Identify Problems with Current Situation Look at Current Solutions Identify Areas for Improvements

Defining the Customer? Often disagreement over who is the customer –Agent –Institution/Library –End-User

What’s The Problem? Big deals have increased amount of content previously available to many libraries Large volume of changes taking place annually with licensed/subscribed content Transfers/Takeovers Changing Subscription options –Tiers, FTE counts, Backfile options Platform changes Problems in the renewal process Access problems Issues with currency/accuracy of third party information

What’s the Problem (Cont’d) Publisher’s Sites not always easy to navigate Information not always clear or up to date Not always easy to make contact Errors not always acknowledged Resolving problems can take a lot of time Lack of targeting of information Librarians deal with many publishers/intermediaries – you are not the only one! Licences – lack of versioning

Some Solutions Librarian Sites Publisher/Agent/Intermediaries Newsletters Improving clarity of information Use of Listservs for communication Expiry Alerts Automated confirmation of renewals/access Automated tracking of queries Ability to receive copy of feedback Single point of contact for queries Timely release and easy accessibility of price lists Customisation of information

Librarian Sites Information brought together in one place –Subscriptions –Pricing –Title Changes –New titles/takeovers/leavers –News –Licences –Access rights –Usage Statistics – including guide –Librarian Handbook/Quick Guide

Publisher/Agent/Intermediaries Newsletters Useful source of information but…. –Can be difficult to find the time to read all of them –Not all information of relevance –Important information can be missed –Frequency can be an issue – information over load!

Use of Listservs Important information can be disseminated to a wider audience Allows discussion of important issues Sometimes a place of last resort Problems raised are often shared Can be used to drive improvement Onus often on a few individuals to raise issues

Expiry Alerts Advance warning of impending problem –Few sites offer this facility e.g. Highwire, Ingenta, Atypon Allow time to resolve problem avoiding loss of access Cutting off access should be the last resort and only when all other avenues have been exhausted

Automated Confirmation of Renewal/Access Few services currently offer this e.g. NPG, Blackwell Synergy (account updated)

Automated Tracking of Queries Allows the whole history of a query to be seen Few services provide such tracking Allows closure Easy to provide feedback on how query was handled

Feedback Forms Should provide option to receive copy of feedback OR Autoreply should contains details of original feedback

Improving Clarify of Information Is the information provided clear? Is the information open to misinterpretation? Is information provided complete?

Single Point of Contact Helpful to have named person – often the person who has dealt with queries in the past becomes the “contact” Generic addresses not always quick to respond Sometimes need to speak to someone Responses from helpdesks not always helpful and queries often need to be re- submitted

Customisation Too much information can mean essential information can be missed Elsevier’s SD customised title alert very helpful as only the information that relates to one’s own access rights