Service Quality Improvement Council

September 18, 2001

3:00p.m. -- 4:30 p.m.

SML 409

Present: Sue Crockford-Peters, Mark Gentry, Holly Grossetta Nardini, Carol Jones, Danelle Moon-Geraci, Danuta Nitecki, Kimberly Parker, Kate Reynolds, Paul Stuehrenberg, Sandy Peterson, Alan Solomon (Chair), David Stern, Jae Williams

Guests: Denise Hersey, Barbara Rockenbach

Absent: Fred Martz, Joan Swanekamp

 

  1. Reports of Subgroups: Alan Solomon continued his intention to invite chairs to periodically report to the SQIC and today two chairs joined the Council for this purpose.
  1. Assessment Group. Holly Grossetta Nardini reported that this group’s charge is completed and stressed that the group will be learning themselves as they undertake some projects. It will address several key actions in the coming year, including the following: assisting with the implementation of the reader survey, building a toolkit of simple resources for gathering comparable data, and develop a clearinghouse for ideas on assessment. The discussion that followed Holly’s summary raised several questions about: the group’s involvement to train staff [expect first year to be more a learning experience but hope eventually to offer staff training], the methods to self learn [readings, tapping campus resource people and learning through doing], the need for raising awareness [suggestion was made to have a plenary session on assessment, what it is, and what value it offers toward developing a culture of service improvement]. Danuta commented that the need to gather data is to make decisions not to be an end in itself, Mark followed with an endorsement that use of data becomes a way of doing our jobs. Several members urged that some staff program be crafted to engage people in understanding the value of data gathering and giving examples of how it might be done in the library. Danuta promoted Holly’s plans for a program to highlight some of the SQI efforts, including the upcoming forums on the document delivery improvement process and the process to design the Front Door. Alan underscored the idea of creating modules from the Online Lyceum course to help train staff on measuring service quality.

B. Document Delivery Group. Denise Hersey joined the Council to give an update on the group’s work since the Document Delivery Implementation Group concluded its service analysis and development work. The D2C2, as it is informally called, continues to work toward the vision of a seamless document delivery service and provide low cost access to ILL services. Denise pointed out that the Group’s membership represents all units in the library providing ILL services and both M&P as well as C&T staff. Building on the previous Group’s efforts, the D2C2 are involved in developing a cost model for measuring document delivery success, implementing the Wings software system [hoping to have it operational by next semester], extending electronic delivery of documents by all ILL units, and seeking customer feedback through a survey. These efforts are explorations toward service improvements as gauged by the four service success factors: fill rate, turnaround (cycle) time, user satisfaction and cost effectiveness. A staff forum will be scheduled in October to share details on the improvement process that arrived at these factors. Several members of the group are attending the Customer Service Institute and are learning techniques and concepts to improve services. Sue Crockford-Peters asked what communication path exists to raise document delivery issues and was advised to tell Carol Jones, as head of the document delivery program, or any member of the D2C2 Group. Kim Parker asked how such input can be encouraged and Alan suggested staff forums be used to raise awareness. Alan asked if this has become a library-wide service and Denise noted that the service criteria for document delivery transcend libraries and aim to appear "seamless" to our readers. The D2C2 Group members functions as an integrated team, working outside the boundaries of ILL services offered by each of their units. Carol also credits a few other factors for evolving the document delivery service as a library-wide reader service, including creating a department separated from circulation, appointing a librarian responsible full-time for it, introducing an automated ILL management system, and subsequently reviewing activities across library units to streamline the services. The Borrow Direct pilot also helped us understand what readers value from document delivery, including notification and quick cycle time to fill their requests. David Stern asked if the group would also consider document delivery in the electronic environment where files have restricted access. Carol noted that it is a future agenda item for further improving the service.

C. Instruction. Barbara Rockenbach joined the Council to report on the activities of the Instruction Group. It identified several goals for the year during which the six members aim to develop competencies for library instructors, assessment tools, and training workshops for new librarians. Danuta urged the group to give early priority to pursue one the goals it identified – to identify the instruction program’s purpose and outcomes relating to student competencies in retrieving and utilizing information. Identifying goals for the year should then follow as steps toward achieving the service objective. Kim questioned the relationship between instruction and course support efforts, citing similar efforts undertaken in the Medical Library. David suggested extending instructional program efforts into campus offices. Barbara asked where to bring recommended competencies as developed by the group. Alan invited use of the SQI Council as a start and perhaps Danuta’s direct reports group as representative managers of public services; Kim acknowledged the authority of the SQI Council as similar to CDC (Collection Development Council) and Paul reminded the group that the AUL has authority to implement service policies and these efforts are advisory to her. Danuta noted the value of buy-in across library units when trying to influence changes in service behavior.

  1. New Business:

Ideas for library retreat. Alan led a brainstorming exercise to gather ideas for presentation by LMC members during the upcoming retreat when the question will be posed, " what must the library accomplish within the next five years?" Since members were not allowed to leave the room without suggesting a service improvement, a long list of ideas was generated, including the following:

Adjourned 4:30 p.m.