There's a rather defensive tone emerging here, and rather too much
evidence of an "us and them" view of readers
Don't forget that "confidence in advice given" is a reasonable measure
of customer satisfaction, and you're not going to get that unless you
satisfy enquirers that material genuinely doesn't exist. "I'm fairly
sure we don't have this .. but here's how to check for yourself" is
generally the way to handle it.
Also, with regard to finding and searching catalogues, remember that
supermarket policy is to guide customers to the right shelf and product
rather than simply point or say "half way down the fouth aisle". It
doesn't take a lot longer for staff, but does hugely improve customer
satisfaction. The person who uses the store regularly doesn't need that
help - the occasional user probably will.
That said, I think it's reasonable to warn potential users of likely
difficulties - and perhaps a degree of negativity is unavoidable. Both
academic research advisers and archives need to make the limitations of
services and likely levels of assistance clear to users in order to
manage expectations and "train" users.
As professionals, we need to be acutely aware of the fine balance
between what we see as necessary procedures and expectations and what
users might feel justified in regarding as unhelpfulness and
obstruction. Two views of the same issue, and perceptions colour overall
views of experiences.
--
Chris Pickford 4 Walmsley Court, High Street, Kinver, DY7 6HG Tel: 01384
878435 or (mobile) 07811 453525 E-mail: [log in to unmask] or
(interchangeably) [log in to unmask]
Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask]
For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
|