Management at Parramatta Libraries wanted more information about customer-staff interactions. A spreadsheet was designed to collect data on common questions asked by customers over a 2-week period. The questions were categorized and staff could record questions. Uncommon questions that became frequent were added to the common questions list. The results were analyzed and compared over time, showing trends like an increase in customers relying on the library for digital services and office tasks. The spreadsheet helped bridge the gap between frontline staff and management.

1. Analysing customer
enquiries as a pathway
to service improvement
Reference @ the Metcalfe Seminar
State Library of New South Wales
9.5.2018

2. 2
Introductory remarks
At Parramatta Library the call came from management for better information about the
interactions between customers and staff. In particular the sorts of questions customers were
asking. My team, Information & Customer Services, a recently formed amalgam of traditional
reference and general customer service, was asked to design a tool to complement existing
data sets such as ECR.
In public libraries it can be difficult to prevent a distance developing between management -
absorbed as they are in complex, long-term projects such as Council amalgamation, or a
cutting edge new library at Wentworth Point - and the subtle evolutions of customer-staff
relations.
Hopefully this tool, known in-house as the Parramatta Questions spreadsheet, has gone some
way to bridging the gap.

3. Management at Parramatta Libraries was looking to gather more
information about the interactions between staff and customers​
A spreadsheet was designed to gather this data
As a shared document, it is open simultaneously at all customer-facing
service points of the Parramatta branch – 6 PCs in total
To limit the impost on staff time, data is collected for 2 weeks only
The process is repeated after an interval – such as 6 months - then the
results compared
3

4. 4
the core of the spreadsheet is a list of common
questions arranged in 16 colour-coded categories
clicking anywhere in the cell containing the question
text increments the counter for that question

5. 5
a little VBA code runs behind each worksheet
code found by Google…

6. 6
separate worksheet for each day data is collected
data collected is quite granular –
109 common customer questions
are listed, arranged in categories
navigating links are placed through the
worksheet to speed up the process of
getting from one question to another

7. 7
staff can type out uncommon questions in rows at the bottom of each worksheet
uncommon questions that occur frequently
enough graduate to the list of common
questions in the next data period
apart from widening the data net, this seemed to
have a therapeutic value for staff

8. 8
all individual sheets for a survey period are
added, and the results sorted to find the
most common questions

9. 9
0
5
10
15
20
Question categories: August 2017
a bar graph can be produced within Excel to
present the ranking of question categories…

10. 10
0
5
10
15
20
25
Question categories: May 2018
…and the results compared across different data periods

11. Document Title Section Title 00.00.2018 11
Interpreting the results: clientele
Continuation of previously observed trends: shift in clientele towards those dependent on the
library for:
• internet access and digital services
• clerical and office processes (certifying, scanning, copying)
Dependence on the library for access to resources vital to modern life changes the mood of the
library environment
• government departments reducing practical assistance with forms etc.
• instances of customers travelling from one branch to another hoping for another 90 minutes of
internet access
Clientele skewing towards lower socio-economic profiles; hollowing out of established, well-
resourced cohorts (artist’s impression people)
results are analysed and presented to senior staff

12. 12
3.How do I print?
1.Graphical fold-out instruction sheets, post card size or smaller / minimal or even no text
(perhaps translated into major community languages)
• Wall-mounted instructions involve customers reading / interpreting, and generally blocking
other customers waiting to access the device (the amount of detailed information to be
conveyed suits neither the location nor the format).
1. To simplify the printing process, investigate lowering frequency of pin requests in Monitor
processes (Is this configurable in Monitor set-up?)
team brain-storming sessions develop solutions for situations where customers require a lot of assistance

13. 13
Closing remarks
In parting, I would offer that the Parramatta Questions spreadsheet, imperfect as it is, does
transmit some fragments of the customers’ collective voice to decision makers. In that sense, it
has a significance for an earlier theme of today’s seminar - the relation of justice and library
work. Justice inevitably has its beginning in proper respect for a voice.