Sunday, February 4, 2018
Secret Shopper Summary
I had a great experience during my secret
shopper assignment! Analyzing my interaction from a reader’s advisory standpoint,
we really skipped over appeal terms and a lot of the foundational questions. I
think that since I had read a lot about how to ask those questions from this
class, I may have offered the librarian more information initially than I would
have a few weeks ago. This allowed what felt like a real organic conversation,
where the librarian picked up on just one of the descriptive words I used to
define some of the books I liked to offer a book. While this sounds kind of
negative, I was wowed by the librarian’s effort in offering to guide me to the
book and checking up on me after a few minutes had passed. I also learned that
against common readers’ advisory advice, a recommendation followed by the
phrase “it is one of my favorites” made me feel really comfortable and want to
read the suggested book. I left the library feeling like I had been listened to
and had received excellent customer service.
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Hi Dustin! I agree with you that there's something about hearing "It's one of my favorites!" that makes a reader feel enthusiastic about trying something new. I entirely understand that it's important for RA to be able to suggest books that we're not familiar with first-hand, but I also think there's something special about getting a personal recommendation from someone who's read the book in question. I'm glad you had such a great experience!
ReplyDeleteHi! I wonder if your experience was made better because you knew what to say. Do you think the librarian would have been as effective if you had just stood there and told her what you wanted and waited for her to get something? You say you skipped over appeal terms and foundational questions. How would that have worked if you didn't know what you were doing?
ReplyDeleteGreat summary! I find myself saying "I loved that book!" at least once during every RA interaction and multiple times a day when I see patrons check out something that's a favorite. Even if the patrons hates it, they at least get a little more hyped to check it out and they know they have something to talk to you about next time they come in.
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