Hello. I am looking for a great Amish fiction book to read.
Those are 12 words I never, ever thought I would walk into a public library and say.
For my next genre review I am tackling “Gentle Reads,” a category that is incredibly popular at the library branch I work at. Amish fiction, in particular, is white hot and I have to admit that despite it’s popularity I am woefully ignorant about the genre. I know the top authors (Lewis, Brunstetter, Clipston, etc.) but I couldn’t tell you the difference between, say, the Daughters of Lancaster County, the Heritage of Lancaster County, or the Legacy of Lancaster County. (For the record, those are three different series by three different authors.) It was high time to right that wrong.
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My Secret Shopper experience was disappointing and frustrating from the moment I approached the information desk. Some key moments:
* Neither of the two staff members made eye contact or greeted me as I approached the desk. I had to instigate the conversation.
* Both staff members were looking at their respective Facebook pages.
* When I initially asked my question I was asked, in a surprised way, if the book was actually for me.
* I was walked to the fiction area but told that Amish fiction was "just kind of mixed in there."
* When I asked for suggestions or recommendations I was told by the staff member that she didn't really know anything about Amish fiction.
* I pressed on and actually got the employees to do a little bit of work.
* The employees used Goodreads to find some titles. However they used different Goodreads lists. One list had a book by Vannetta Chapman as the highest ranked and another list had a book by Beverly Lewis as the highest ranked. Both books were in stock.
I mentioned in my paper that I had mixed feelings about the experience. On one hand, I did walk out of the library with two Amish fiction books. On the other, it took much more work than any patron should have to do in order to get the books. It was a very frustrating experience both as a patron and as a library employee.
Hi Rob,
ReplyDeleteIt’s so interesting to hear of everyone’s experience with this assignment, mostly because it sounds like each of us had such a diverse experience; with no one having a too similar of a time. Whereas I had had a very pleasant experience from the standpoint of the librarian being invested and personable, but lacked a true interview or probing questions; it seemed as though you perhaps had a bit more of an interview, but lacked a personable experience. Each of us had the titles we were searching for in our hands, however, we each had differing levels of being satisfied as patrons from a customer service or RA interview standpoint. How interesting that Amish Fiction is so popular at the branch. It is disappointing that despite such a popularity at your branch you were greeted with a less than enthusiastic response when you approached the desk. To not really even acknowledge you or look up from their Facebook’s is pretty concerning from the start of the interview, as is their less than eager desire to assist you.
Oh Rob, I feel your pain. It sounds like your two librarians were cut from the same cloth as the one I dealt with. I'm beginning to think that maybe there's a secret training that instructs desk staff to hurry up and get rid of the patrons, and that spending more than 1 minute per person is unacceptable. Sad. As far as Facebook, at my branch library it is absolutely not allowed unless one is specifically sharing or promoting library posts. We can do Pinterest, but it has to be library related and it can NEVER impede customer service. I'm sorry you had to work so hard to get them to help you, but I think it's a good (albeit annoying) experience to have had to help build more empathy and better skills in the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as if this staff was lacking on more than just RA training. Glad it got better towards the end though!
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