1. Shop Your Way to Service Excellence:
Secret Shopping for Academic Libraries
QQML Conference
2012
Kathy Crowe
Associate Dean for Public Services

2. University of North Carolina at
Greensboro (UNCG)
• Publicly supported
• University of North Carolina 17 campus
system
• Enrollment: 17,540 (16,090.25 FTE)
• Undergraduate: 14,315 (13,583.25 FTE)
• Graduate: 3,225 (2,507 FTE)

3. University Libraries
• Jackson Library and
Music Library
• 1.2 million book
volumes
• 37,000+ e-subscriptions
• 500 databases
• 95 faculty & staff

4. Previous assessments of public
services
• LibQual+ overall score 7.5 in 2008
• Qualitative comments indicated some issues
at service desks
• 3.5 out of 4 for staff responsiveness on
University of North Carolina system
satisfaction surveys in 2010
• Sought more in-depth assessment of services

5. Outcome of study
• Customer service will reflect the values and
standards established by the University
Libraries

6. Secret or Mystery shopping
• Used often in retail and service industries
• Applied in public libraries but not often in
academic libraries
• Kocevar-Weidinger, Elizabeth, Candice Benjes-
Small, Eric Ackermann and Virginia R. Kinman.
"Why and How to Mystery Shop your
Reference Desk." Reference Services
Review 38, no. 1 (2010): 28-43

7. Secret shopping at UNCG Fall 2010
• Reference Desk • Desk, phone, chat
(Jackson)
• Check out Desk • Desk, phone
(Jackson)
• Music Library • Desk, phone

8. Shoppers
• Recruited Hospitality
Management students
• Attended training
session
• Received extra credit
and $10 food coupon
• 6 shoppers completed
the exercise

9. Procedure
• Survey team included Associate Dean, Human
Resources Librarian, Assessment analyst
• Staff told exercise would happen “sometime
this semester.”
• Questions suggested by public services
department heads and by survey team

10. Protocol
• Focused on customer service experience
• Developed rating sheet based on Libraries’
established customer service values
• http://library.uncg.edu/info/mission_stateme
nt.aspx
• Protected anonymity of staff

11. Rating sheet
Behavior Rating
• Greeting • 1 Poor
• Follow up questions to • 2 Satisfactory
clarify request • 3 Very good
• Confirming satisfaction
• Referral

12. Yes/No questions
• Treated with respect
• Avoided jargon or technical language
• “Went the extra mile”

13. Results - Greeting

14. Clarifying questions

15. Confirmed satisfaction

16. Referral

17. Treated with respect

18. Avoided jargon

19. Went the extra mile

20. Follow up
• Departmental results shared with heads
• Overall results shared with entire library
• Public service “standards” developed
• Training developed

21. Training
• Training on “going the extra” mile developed
and delivered for full-time staff during
Summer 2011
• Online training developed for student staff
http://uncg.libguides.com/customerservice
• New staff encouraged strongly to attend day-
long campus customer service training
• Customer service values and standards in new
employee packets

22. Student training comments
• “These skills seem like common sense, but it's
amazing how people you see that don't follow it.
You should send this video to the workers in
Subway”
• “I easily get flustered when a person is frustrated
at me, however this video taught me how to
properly handle the situation and remain calm
and respectful”
• “I’ve never thought to look for people who need
help because I always assumed they would
ask, now I know.”

23. Staff training comments
• “More helpful would be a workshop of case studies of
difficult interactions or reference interviews and have
public service employees think and talk through these
interactions.”
• “I thought it was a really good and informative
workshop. If we have the workshop again though, I
don't feel like it needs to be four hours long. I think
what was taught could have been done in half the
time.”
• “I felt as though the group discussion was the best
part, so who was at your session was really important
to how much you got out of it.”

24. 2012
• Repeated assessment to determine if training
had impact
• Added newly created Special Collections
service desk
• Had LIS graduate student
• 9 shoppers completed exercise

25. Improvement!

26. Improvement!

27. Questions and comments