The CLIG seminar held on Thursday 13th November explored two aspects of how libraries can seek to re-define and enhance their relationship with customers.

In the first of the two talks, Liz Blankson-Hemans from Dialog addressed the question of measuring and demonstrating value for money for information services. As she explained, the aim of her talk was to trigger ideas rather than to prescribe a methodology for doing this.

The introductory section of the presentation clearly struck a chord with many of the audience, as Liz stressed that now, more than ever, information provision needs to be viewed as a business and not a service. All libraries and information services need to demonstrate that they are a “must have” and not just a “nice-to-have” feature.

One of the main consequences of this is that a library has to assess its competitors more rigorously, if it is to calculate how well it is meeting its customer needs. The range of competition is more considerable than is often realised. The obvious sources of competition are the direct primary sources, such as market analysts, information brokers, free Internet sources of information and databases - all of which enable users to bypass the library. Less visible are the secondary sources of direct competition. Judging by the nods and murmurs of recognition which greeted the example Liz gave - that of other departments within an organisation passing off library research as their own - this is clearly a ubiquitous concern. Previously, such behaviour could be seen as irritating or wryly amusing depending on one’s point of view. Where a library has to demonstrate its worth to ensure its survival, however, this becomes a much greater problem.

Finally, the library needs to deal with the indirect competition. Again, this can be tricky to deal with, since this type of competition is anything that prevents you providing the service you would like to – shortages of resources, staff or anything else.

How do you demonstrate value for money?

The initial advice was perhaps surprising. Liz suggested that one should avoid using virtually all the words and phrases that spring to mind in the context of value for money. The reason for this is that words such as “efficiency”, “increased productiveness”, “time-saving”, “cost effective” “turn the library into a profit centre” are bandied about too freely in this context to convince any hard-headed accountant or Chief Operating Officer. They also carry disturbing implications that the library has been inefficient and unproductive, etc. hitherto.

Instead of these tired phrases, you need to demonstrate how the service solves business problems, by tracking and adducing specific examples and, crucially, why the library is best placed to solve the particular business problems of the organisation.

It is only when these have been illustrated in a convincing way that you can prove how the value of the library exceeds its cost.

In seeking to show this, a library has an immense advantage over its direct competitors. In addition to the obvious value of knowing more about your organisation’s areas of interest than your direct competitors, you also should know more about its financial goals and strategy.

As such, an internal information service should be able to set key performance indicators (KPIs) which relate directly to those of the business. Key to this is appreciating the organisation’s economic cycle. Knowing whether the organisation, or a section of it, is concentrating on generating cash (e.g. if it is establishing a business), generating revenue (seeking the returns on its investment) or at the culmination of the cycle (anticipating profit), enables you to structure and justify your costs in a way which is compatible with the overall business.

Each stage of the economic cycle will involve different financial priorities for all departments. These priorities include: ·

- Cost displacement (for the library, this will involve demonstrating that its service costs no more than its competitors) ·
- Cost avoidance (demonstrating that the library’s products and services help avoid costs) ·
- Cost restructuring (library products and services help the customer shift costs by type)
- Added Value (bringing in revenue or cash flow in new ways)

As with analysing competition, some types of cost are more visible than others. The “hard costs” (invoices etc.) are all too obvious, but a library will also incur “soft costs”, such as wasted resources or staff illness. Such costs can be difficult to quantify and might be missed by the library manager. A Chief Operating Officer scrutinising the budget is less likely to miss them.

Applying the theory

In practice an organisation’s KPIs might include the launch of a new product; the need to make redundancies; or investment in research and development. These priorities need to be matched by the information service, but will often be more detailed. Examples of a library’s KPIs could include: cutting back on print material; investing in staff to create a library intranet; revising the library stock and databases to reflect developing areas of interest within the organisation as a whole.

Such goals have the advantage of being measurable and, as such, will more readily impress senior management. If, in addition, the KPIs capitalise on “inside knowledge” of the organisation and are attuned to its financial strategy, then the library is well on its way to demonstrating its true worth and a world away from vague promises about increasing efficiency.

Service Level Agreements

In the second of the seminars, looking at service level agreements (SLAs), Peter Griffiths explained that he was attempting to condense a full day’s course into 40 minutes. He made a valiant attempt at this and provided an impressive amount of information on the status of these agreements, how to draft them and how to manage their implementation. Peter generously included a large number of practical tips based on his own experience of implementing SLAs in government and public libraries.

Peter described an SLA as a proxy contract – a formal agreement detailing the minimum level of service the customer can expect, clarifying costs and delivery, but generally, not legally enforceable. These agreements have been used successfully in the IT sector, central and local government, especially the NHS, universities and increasingly, within companies. They are becoming increasingly popular with Internet Service Providers for supply clauses in their contracts, as a means of avoiding potentially expensive payouts on service guarantees.

The objectives of a SLA are to provide:

- a written statement of what the customer needs and what the supplier can provide ·
- an analysis of the processes which will be used by the parties ·
- a mechanism for measuring performance.

The SLA should not be a ‘straitjacket’ tying down the supplier to the minimum level of service and, consequently, should not be too prescriptive. Standard brochures are advisable as a general overview of the services provided, but these should be tailored to meet the individual demands of customers. Obviously, this variation has to be kept within reasonable limits. Exceptions to the general service agreement and particular client requirements must be clarified in the agreement, but in view of ever increasing competition in information services, it is advisable for suppliers to be as flexible as possible.

Among the issues the parties need to consider in drawing up the agreement are defining service elements, specifying special services and their charges, stating conditions, such as copyright compliance which may have an impact on the service. Crucially, the agreement needs to specify how the service should be measured.

Other practical considerations include: adding elements subject to frequent change, such as opening hours, contact names, etc., in a separate annex to the agreement, specifying who will possess the master copy of the agreement – necessary once amended versions are produced and specifying arbitration procedures in the event of a dispute.

There are clearly so many considerations in drafting such an agreement that anyone faced with such a prospect will be relieved to know that Peter Griffiths is the co-author of a book on the very subject, providing further drafting advice (Sheila Pantry and Peter Griffiths, The Complete Guide to Preparing and Implementing Service Level Agreements 2nd ed, 2001, ISBN 1-85604-410-6).

The success of working with a service level agreement is not just the result of careful drafting. Communication is also key to its success. It is vital that the staff supplying the service realise that the agreement does not put all the power in the hands of the customers, but has advantages for them as well. At the same time, care has to be taken to ensure that staff do not treat the agreement as restricting the service they give – unfortunately, the SLA does have the potential to be a jobsworth’s charter.

Despite a number of initial problems with SLAs the experience of working with these agreements has in general been very positive. Staff who have worked with them appreciate that customers are better informed about what they can expect and what is outside the library’s control. The launch of a service level agreement is also an excellent way of raising a library’s profile and emphasising the range of services it can provide.