Personalising Library Services in Higher Education: The Boutique Approach

Citation

Neville, K. (2013), "Personalising Library Services in Higher Education: The Boutique Approach", Library Review, Vol. 62 No. 1/2, pp. 84-85. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531311328212

There are many new challenges facing academic librarians in the current climate including financial pressures involving cuts from government funding, technology changes and increasing use of social media by students. In addition, higher university fees have led to students having increased expectations from library services. While typically academic libraries have adapted to the changes and embraced new technologies, new personalised methods of delivery of library services are needed. The editors of this topical book, Personalising Library Services in Higher Education, Andy Priestner and Elizabeth Tilley suggest academic librarians should develop a “user centric” model to respond to the high expectations from clients, using the boutique hotel as inspiration. This book describes methods that can be used to tailor library services to the specific customer using new collaborative and innovative techniques. A boutique library focuses on the library user and identifies issues that are important to them and then delivers to the customer, rather than using a generic approach.

Priestner and Tilley have many years' experience as academic librarians at the University of Cambridge, UK, and bring a wealth of knowledge to the topic of boutique library services. Each chapter is written by a professional academic librarian and includes a list of “top tips” (practical ideas that summarize the important points), and a list of current references for further reading. A large part of the book consists of contemporary and relevant case studies and includes many recent examples from academic libraries in Australia, America, the UK and Russia. For example, case study H examines the Australian Catholic University, which used campus‐based liaison librarians to establish a personalised connection with academic staff and promote lifelong learning. These subject librarians responded to local needs and used collaborative activities such as attending faculty meetings to establish personal connections and to give them the knowledge needed to assist academic staff and students in that faculty. The case studies that are outlined in this book provide plenty of helpful ideas for academic librarians that could be integrated into their own libraries.

Improved communication and marketing of services are two of the essential components needed to supply “boutique” library services. Younger library customers, especially students in academic libraries, communicate using social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter or blogs. Librarians need to tap into this social media trend to remain relevant and to deliver library news and services in an efficient and low cost way that reaches the target library patrons. Librarians need skills in promoting library services and in the past many staff lacked knowledge and confidence in this area. The topical issue of marketing libraries is explored by Emma Thompson in Chapter 7 where she suggests the current librarian need to be a “sales rep for your library”. This chapter includes an outline of the basic steps in marketing comprising researching the library market, identifying library patrons, examining the marketing mix, brand development, innovation and creating good customer service. The key to boutique marketing is knowledge of your specific market. This chapter includes many interesting and practical ideas that could be adapted for any academic library such as the use of positive student and staff testimonials on your library web site and highlighting the key benefits of the library service to academic faculty who have limited time.

This current and easy to digest book explores the issue of personalised library services and describes ways to introduce a boutique library service to the customer. It is recommended for academic librarians in university or colleges of advanced education who are exploring new ways to deliver library services and interact with students and staff. This title is also available as an e‐book. This practical and straightforward guide provides innovative ideas that any library professional could apply to their library services and it would be a useful purchase for any educational library.