Customer Service Excellence

As a city university, our Library customers include students at all points of the journey, from considering joining CCCU, to our alumni. We also include our staff and colleagues across the university as members of our important user community, as well as our local community who may visit as external members or visitors. 

As a library, we follow the university's Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity commitment and aim to offer a safe and inclusive environment to all our users. We try to embody this dedication in all of our practices and engage with committees and groups across the university.

We facilitate regular Student, Staff and User Experience (SSUX) events to learn more about how we can improve our community environment. We also monitor the access of all our services to indicate areas of enhancement, including access to our online resources, tutorials, library attendance, and front-facing service engagement. 

You can learn more about the actions we have taken to listen to your needs in our feedback blogs, linked on the side navigation. 

Compliance Plus Element 1.1.3:

• for our work towards creating a service that is accessible to all students
• for the celebrated commitment to student wellbeing through facilitating StressLess events
• for the collaboration with Library Champions, celebrating students as a key to success

Compliance Plus Element 1.2.2:

• for our work in prioritising staff wellbeing, and enhancing the integration of professional development
• for enhancing staff attitude and professionalism through using a wellbeing-first approach and promoting a range of methods to upskill

We embed our commitment to you and all our users in our strategic priorities. In 2023-24, we will be engaging with our stakeholders across the university to help us write our next chapter, following the release of Vision 2030. 

Each year, our service leaders develop service plans, informed by our continued learning from our customer insights. The service plan operationalises our strategic priorities and provides our staff with service and quality performance indicators. 

Our staff are incredibly important to what we do, which is why wellbeing is integrated into all of our work, and embodied in our staff and student stressless events. Staff are also able to feel empowered to engage with areas of interest from the service plan, applying these to their professional development or personal objectives, enriching their work experience. 

Compliance Plus Element 2.2.1:

• recognising our excellent working relationships between our service managers to other university departments and CCSU
• for working with union representatives to improve all aspects of our service provision

With our users in mind, the Library Services webpages and the Learning Skills Hub have undergone refreshes in the last 3 years. All efforts are made to ensure our webpage navigation is intuitive and meets accessibility regulations.

We also use blogs and social media platforms to keep all our users up-to-date with service provision and availability. Using user feedback, we have expanded our social media platforms to further reach our different user groups. 

Across all of our platforms we promote our service hours and the different methods users can use to contact our Library teams, including telephone, email and live chat. 

Compliance Plus Element 3.1.3:

• recognising our commitment to delivering information to all staff and students using a range of channels
• for our excellence in utilising IT solutions to support students and staff
• for the dedication to professional development in AI and sharing recommendations across the university 

As detailed in Criteria 1, user feedback is integral to our work. 

We have a dedicated Student Insights Working Group that actively monitors and responds to all feedback and analyses the annual survey responses from NSS, PTES and PRES. 

This group ensures that our service delivery continuously strives for excellence, implementing support and guidance for staff where needed, or proposals for improvements in service delivery. 

Enquiry and service data analysis also allow service leaders to identify changes in provision, which informs prompt investigation to ensure service delivery is maintained. 

We have also led on new approaches to gaining feedback and offering channels for complaints, as seen in the feedback banner shown on most library service webpages, and the use of a clear and concise department complaints page. 

Compliance Plus Element 4.1.3:

• in recognition of the effort to increase student engagement with services, to understand and respond to their needs as partners
• for making data-informed decisions in our work with the use of ongoing quantitative and qualitative data streams, all in compliance with GDPR
• For our work in UX (see SSUX) research, which helps us inform and raise our standards

Front-facing services in the department actively use an enquiry management system, which allows service leaders to monitor the timeliness of service provision. Over the last 2 years, the system has been revitalised to improve staff user access, create seamless and efficient methods of recording enquiries, onboarding faculties across the university for improved referrals, and more. 

The library department is also undergoing a refresh to our strategic priorities, connected to Vision 2030. We will be engaging with stakeholders in 2023-24 to write the next chapter of the library, including our core priorities, associated objectives, and their respective quality indicators. In the meantime, we will maintain our dedication to SSUX and annual service plans with quality indicators to monitor our service provision.