Roving for Service Excellence workshop, Robinson Library, 5th July

I attended this Roving workshop which was arranged by my employer and delivered by Michelle McArthur-Morgan of Jigsaw@work.  With the current refurbishment of the Robinson Library this summer, particularly the rearrangement of the subject floors and the changes in the Information Desk service, the way we provide assistance to students is changing.  Instead of having static Information Desks, there will be more emphasis on roving and staff will have to be more proactive. I think a lot of people, myself included, are daunted by this idea so I hoped that this workshop would help me get over the fear and offer some hints and tips on how to be a better rover.

The aims of the workshop were to:

• Understand why roving is an important part of delivering a modern university library service
• Increase awareness of the role of rovers
• Be aware of the benefits of roving
• Overcome the fear of roving and other common barriers
• Develop techniques to ease obstacles

Throughout the day we participated in exercises and activities which really made us think about ourselves and our potential customers. I would usually be quite apprehensive about this kind of workshop but the day was relaxed and informal and all the activities were a lot of fun.

To begin with we discussed the role of rovers; why they were needed, the duties and task involved and our perception of roving.  Some of the things we considered were:

• Can’t assume students know anything about the library, especially first years
• Roving is good for library marketing
• Staff represent the library, therefore need to be visible, approachable and friendly (but not too friendly)
• Makes librarians seem less intimidating
• Do it to provide a good service and engage with users
• Can promote other library services, e.g. Libguides
• Need to have a good standard of knowledge (but always have support from colleagues)
• Be proactive – remove barriers

We also talked the benefits of roving in the Robinson Library for both staff and students:

Staff benefits

• Chance to use skills and keep them up to date
• Good learning experience
• Makes a difference to students
• Good for staff morale – get a buzz from helping students
• Good customer service
• More personal and sociable

Student benefits

• Find resources they’re looking for
• Feel valued
• Saves time
• Staff more accessible when they’re not sat behind a desk
• Increases user education and IL skills

My favourite part of the day was the activities which were designed to determine more about our personality types. I could go into great detail about this but that would be a very long blog post.  Essentially there are four types which can be summed up as Creative, Caring, Organised and Action.  Suffice it to say I think the outcome was quite accurate: I was a Carer which means I’m considerate and a good listener, but dislike confrontation, need to feel appreciated and reassured to maintain confidence and like a supportive environment.  I think this was a good exercise to undertake as I embark on the Chartership process as I find it difficult to be reflective, especially when it comes to putting myself under the spotlight. This part of the day also enabled us to determine the possible different character types of students so we had clues on how and when to approach them. 

Following this we discussed confidence, which is something I’ve struggled with. However, when Michelle confessed that 15 years ago she would never have had the confidence to do the job she does, this struck a chord with me; before I completed my MA and began my secondment I would never have had the confidence to do some of the things I’ve done in the last couple of years. So this was quite inspiring and reassuring. This element of the course reinforced for me the need to focus more on my strengths and shout about them more, though I do still find it hard. A good confidence building tip we were given was to record situations and tasks we do well. So I am trying to do this more as it will be good evidence for my Chartership portfolio.

We also looked at body language. As 93% of our communication is non-verbal this is very important. I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with some of the more common gestures and signs in body language, so I won’t go into detail here, but again having some clues can be very important to how we deal with our customers.

I found the day very valuable and I’m sure I will find myself referring back to the accompanying booklet a lot in the future. Initially I was worried that students would see roving staff a bit like pushy, over-friendly sales assistants. When I walk into a shop I don’t want to be harassed unless I really need help. But by the end of the day I realised that you just need some clues on how to read students or staff so that you can spot when it is appropriate to approach them.  After this workshop I’m more prepared to embrace this new part of my role. Essentially it’s not always appropriate for staff to be sitting behind desks and waiting for students to approach them: we need to anticipate their needs and be more pre-emptive.  As well as being a good way to increase user education, it’s also a way to demonstrate that library staff are friendly and approachable and not stuffy old librarians!