Customer Care : A Training Manual for Library Staff

Customer Care provides a detailed course suitable for delivery to library staff at all levels. It can be used as a stand-alone reference work for customer care processes and procedures or, alternatively, it can be used by library staff to tailor a customer care course to suit the requirements and training needs of their own staff.

• Dual use – reference work and/or training manual
• Potential as a text book
• Applicable to a wider context than LIS – could be used for a whole HEI institutional approach to customer care or in local authorities/public services

Dr. Pat Gannon-Leary is a consultant and joint partner of Bede Research & Consultancy with Mike McCarthy. Prior to that, Dr Gannon-Leary worked as a researcher at the Universities of Northumbria and Newcastle. Her earlier career experience includes working in academic libraries in the UK and the USA in a variety of roles including Customer Service Manager. During that time she facilitated customer care courses for library staff.

Michael D McCarthy served as a Senior Officer in the Logistics Branch of the RAF, including 3 years as a specialist instructor to Officer Cadets. On leaving the RAF he moved into the management of Customer Support in major Aerospace Companies in the UK and in Sweden. He has wide experience of customer support activity throughout the European aerospace community, covering both major contractors and suppliers. Following early retirement, he has recently spent 2 years working in a support role in a University Library in order to obtain ‘hands-on’ experience of the demands of customer care in this particular environment.