Exercise on Customer-Defined Service Standards
Check out the SERVQUAL adaptation by ARL -- LibQUAL+. The Jan 2001 article by Colleen Cook cited on that page is useful. There's also a link from the ARL main page to a SPEC flyer on Marketing and PR in ARL libraries cited on the Reading List I gave to you that you might profit from. SERVQUAL dimensions include Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy. If you were to design an SQI (Service Quality Index) for an organization of your choice, what combination of elements would you include? Please describe. What do you think are the 1-2 customer top priorities for service? (You will probably need to specific one customer group as it may differ).
Exercise on the Servicescape
For an organization of your choice, identify the elements of physical evidence (facility exterior and interior and other tangibles) that most or all the customers see. Pick 2-3 of the facility aspects and at least one of the other tangibles and describe it from the customer perspective. What inferences do you think the customer makes from these physical aspects? Do you have any recommendations for change as a result of this analysis?
You may use a website or an actual site for this exercise.
Post your response to the appropriate discussion forum. Be prepared to discuss it and to generalize from it to a library/information situation.
August 15, 2002.