Mystery Shoppers – M25 Quality Working Group Joint event

[B]cpd25 & M25 Quality Group: Mystery shopping in academic libraries
Council Room, Main Building, Birkbeck,
University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX
26th July, 1pm[/B]
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/bbk/maps.html

Chairs: Philip Payne & Elaine Salter

Mystery shopping has been widely used by shops, service industries, and other commercial organisations who wish to improve the quality of their customer services. The technique involves employing people to visit and systematically record their experience of using the service. The findings can highlight where services could be made more welcoming, easier to use, and where the customer experience can be improved. How relevant is mystery shopping to academic libraries?

Katherine Everest from Leeds Metropolitan University will describe the Leeds Mystery Visiting Consortium, involving the two university libraries and the public library in Leeds, and how the participating libraries have benefited from their involvement.

Kate Purcell from Birkbeck will draw upon her experience of mystery shopping in the banking industry and discuss the extent to which the technique can be applied to academic libraries.

Participants will be required to undertake a simple mystery shopping exercise prior to the workshop. This can be done beforehand at any library using a template that will be provided. Alternatively, participants can choose to do the exercise on the morning of the workshop at a number of libraries in central London. The workshop will combine presentations with an interactive exercise and discussion.

1.00-2.00 Lunch

2.00-2.05 Introduction

2.05-2.35 Librarians under Cover: the Leeds Mystery Visiting Consortium
Katherine Everest, Deputy Campus Library Manager (Headingley), Leeds Metropolitan University

2.35-2.45 Q&A

2.45-3.30 Exercise

3.30-3.45 Tea

3.45-4.00 Report-back

4.00-4.20 It’s worked in banks, can it work in libraries?
Kate Purcell, Subject Librarian, Birkbeck, University of London

4.20-4.45 Discussion

4.45 Close

Booking Info:

Cost for cpd25 members is £30, and £50 for other institutions.

Please note that there are limited places available for this event. Cancellations less than one week before the event will be charged a 50% cancellation fee. In the event of a ‘no-show’ on the day, the full fee will be charged.

Please book online at www.cpd25.ac.uk/booking, or by contacting Dave Puplett: cpd25@wmin.ac.uk