Cataloging and Indexing

Acquisition and Cataloguing

Processes: Changes as a Result

of Customer Value Discovery

Research

Sue McKnight

ABSTRACT

Objective

is study seeks to highlight the profound eect of Customer Value Discovery

research on the internal business processes of two university libraries in the ar-

eas of cataloguing and acquisitions.

Methods

In this project, “Customer Discovery Workshops” with academic sta, stu-

dents, and university stakeholders provided library managers and sta with

information on what services and resources were of value to customers. e

workshops also aimed to discover what features of existing library services and

198 Cataloging and Indexing: Challenges and Solutions

resources irritated the students, sta, and faculty. A student satisfaction survey

assessed longer-term impact of library changes to students in one university.

Results

e ndings resulted in signicant changes to collection development, acqui-

sitions, and cataloguing processes. A number of value added services were in-

troduced for the customer. e project also resulted in greater speed and e-

ciency in dealing with collection development, acquisitions, and cataloguing

by the introduction of more technology-enhanced services. Overall customer

satisfaction was improved during the project period.

Conclusion

e changes to services introduced as a result of customer feedback also im-

proved relationships between librarians and their university community,

through the introduction of a more proactive and supportive service.

Introduction

e role of a library director is to establish a vision, based on knowing where a

service ought to be heading, and then to allow sta to make the vision become a

reality. is is easily said, but quite a bit harder to implement. What should our

vision be? is paper describes how customer feedback has been collected and

used as the basis for establishing a vision of excellence for the library.

is paper describes a case study where customer feedback was used to eect

changes in acquisitions and cataloguing processes in academic libraries. e case

study draws on the results and changes made over a number of years following

Customer Value Discovery research undertaken in two universities (Deakin Uni-

versity Library, Australia and Nottingham Trent University, UK). e paper builds

on a presentation to the ‘Exploring Acquisitions Conference’ held in Cambridge

in April 2007, and it focuses on those actions that resulted from the research that

impacted on acquisitions and cataloguing.

Enzyme International (<http://www.enzymeinternational.com.au/>) served as

an external facilitator and provided analysis of data gathered from the Customer

Value Discovery (CVD) research used to drive change at both universities.

Objectives

e aim of the research was to gather data that would be used by library man-

agement to ensure that service and resource delivery within the organization are

A  C P 199

aligned to the actual needs of the customer. Evidence from the research regarding

perceptions of current value delivered, when compared to what customers desire,

provides a gap analysis.

By ascertaining hierarchies of ‘value’ and ‘irritation,’ priorities for action can

then be developed to inform operational planning, service standards, key perfor-

mance indicators, and individual work objectives.

Over time, after implementing changes based on results of the Customer

Value Discovery research, it will be possible to re-test to determine whether the

service is increasing customer value, reducing customer irritation, and closing the

gap between actual and desired performance against the original datasets.

Methods

The Customer Value Discovery Process

Researchers used Customer Value Discovery (CVD) methods to gather data on

customer needs. CVD is based on a model known as the Hierarchy of Value (Al-

brecht, 2000). Its continuum describes the potential experiences of interactions

between customers and service providers.

In a service industry, such as a library, all interactions, either with a sta mem-

ber, a resource (e.g., book), or a service (e.g., Web page) can both satisfy and ir-

ritate a customer at the same time. e aim is to consistently deliver on the basic

and expected services, and to deliver desired and unexpected services (but not at

the expense of neglecting the basic/expected services) and doing these without

causing irritation to the customer. While simple to explain, it is not so easy to

implement on a consistent basis, for all services, at all campuses.

Figure 1. Hierarchy of Value ©: Enzyme International (Aust.)