Delivering training on behalf of the North Wales Libraries
Partnership (NWLP) never fails to produce frank anecdotal evidence from staff, especially
those on the front line, about all elements of library services. Naturally, a
proportion of this involves ILL. Suffice
it to say, discussions in the latest round of training sessions proved as
pertinent as ever; and the question marks previously surrounding those sneaking
suspicions regarding ILL decreases have been replaced by large, shocking pink
ticks. Am I referring to the perhaps more obvious ILL nemeses, namely, e-book
growth, library closures/opening hour reductions, diminishing storage space to
meet budget cuts, significant technological issues with catalogue software (ILL
in Wales, previously increasing by up to 300%, took a bit of a hit!), lack of
marketing (which never fails to rear its proverbial head) and lack of signposting
ILL (which also never fails to rear its proverbial head)? The short answer is “No,
I’m not, many of the obvious ILL nemeses are out of libraries’ control”. However, considering that the short answer would be a somewhat
inappropriate/insufficient/ridiculous place to leave a blog post, I will elaborate
further upon the more covert ILL assassins and the weapons libraries can wield
to stand a chance in mort-ILL (hmmmmmm....) combat……
Covert Nemesis 1: Self-issue Machines
How far would it resonate with front line staff that
self-issue machines have noticeably reduced both, the number of recommendations
they are offering users and the number of users asking for recommendations? Perhaps
more worryingly, how far would staff concur that the self-issue machine invasion
has reduced interaction with users, decreasing opportunities to promote not
only ILL, but OTHER LIBRARY SERVICES ALSO. Consider for a moment that 74% of
survey respondents were told by NWLP staff of the ILL service. If this is true
of all/some/other library services, well, put simply, that is not a good place
for libraries to be in.
However, self-issues wield a double-edged sword – libraries need
them; it shows we’re keeping up with technology, people do like them, and, whilst
staff members dwindle, workloads increase and remits widen, they free up staff
time, which links nicely to covert nemesis 2…
Covert Nemesis 2:
Time
Increased workloads, wider remits and dwindling staff members
equal staff being unable to carry out their jobs in the manner in which they
would prefer, i.e. interacting with users and taking time to help people (as
opposed to serving people as efficiently as possible, in order to clear the
queue as quickly as possible, to be able to execute a myriad of new tasks that
require immediate attention).
Lack of time also hinders staff attendance at the
NWLP training sessions, which can give rise to nemesis 3…
Covert Nemesis 3:
Lack of confidence in promoting ILL
Some staff members are not confident in their understanding
of ILL, equating to avoidance of promoting it. ILL refresher training every year is also considered important.
Nemeses 1
and 2 have reduced opportunities to interact and communicate with users, to say
nothing of the potential implications for the quality of interaction;
nemesis 3 also impedes active promotion.
With nemeses 1, 2 and 3 in mind, a greater onus falls on
other elements. It’s an age-old story that libraries need to market their
services and libraries are, indeed, improving in that respect, so I don’t want
to bang on about it too much. However, it must be noted that lack of marketing
and signposting is a concern to staff regarding ILL.
Yet, there is
weaponry that can be adorned to combat the covert ILL nemeses….
For
example, ILL decreased 2011-13 across two NWLP partners. Management encouraged (ordered?!)
staff to actively promote ILL. The outcome? Stats speak for themselves. ILL increased
by 20% and 25% in one year. Conclusion? Active promotion increases ILL.
What
does active promotion of ILL involve?
- Signposting ILL on self-issue
machines;
- Increasing signposting and links to ILL librarians on library landing
pages;
- Reminding followers on social
media;
- Implementing prompts on library catalogues
– “We can get the books you want from other libraries. Contact ……………”;
- Bookmarks in books by popular authors
and hot subjects/topics etc. to signpost that the library can obtain more copies/other
books (5 fit on 1 side of A4 and most, if not, all of us have laminators!)
- Internal e-flyers;
- Entering into ILL consortia;
- Ask front line staff to tell 10
customers a day, every day, about ILL / hold one morning a week every week where
users are told about ILL; offer incentives for staff who obtain the most ILL
requests;
- HE and FE ILL librarians promote ILL on the library front line for 20 minutes a day;
- Ensure front line staff know enough
to feel comfortable to upsell/approach customers – reminder email, perhaps
training.
Penultimately
ILL is not something that can be promoted for a year
and then put on the back-burner – it requires constant drip, drip, drip, drip
feed.
Is there a bottom line?
Yes, there sure is. ILL requires front line library staff ownership, hands-on,
ongoing, active promotion and improved marketing and signposting to combat the
covert ILL nemeses, so the less covert
nemeses have less impact and ILL remains a core library service.
Digital footprint extended another few feet. FIL blog 3 over and out.
Claudia Howard
North Wales Libraries Partnership Support Officer
Image credits:
- Ninja assassins photo credit: http://pixabay.com/en/black-ninja-swords-masks-cartoon-307983/
-
Bioculars photo credit: <a
href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/beginasyouare/2379018146/">Mike_tn</a>
via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
-
Hourglass photo credit: <a
href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/aidanmorgan/2331754875/">John-Morgan</a>
via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>
'Interact
first, sell second' photo credit: <a
href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/intersectionconsulting/3348598229/">Intersection
Consulting</a> via <a
href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">cc</a>
To
the signpost photo credit: <a
href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/polandeze/308635175/">polandeze</a>
via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>
Stop! Wait for the upsell image credit: imgflip.com
