Library-vendor feedback circles: making opportunities with publishers

Citation

Mansfield, E.R. (1999), "Library-vendor feedback circles: making opportunities with publishers", The Bottom Line, Vol. 12 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.1999.17012dab.009

Library-vendor feedback circles: making opportunities with publishers

Library-vendor feedback circles: making opportunities with publishers

Keywords: Feedback, Marketing communications, Libraries, Vendors

Although most of us perceive librarians and publishers as being on opposite sides of the fence, the reality is that they are very much alike. We share a common goal of providing clients with accurate, reliable, and current information in an understandable format. There are numerous opportunities for librarians to influence the design, content, function, and variety of the products publishers' produce. By doing so, librarians are in a unique position to articulate the needs of their patrons. Similarly, publishers are able to gain a deeper understanding of the market they serve. If librarians and publishers are to meet their mutual objective of providing information, they must communicate with each other more effectively. Finding and facilitating feedback circles is critical.

Librarians and publishers communicate far too seldom and usually at only the point of problem or sale. We all need to take advantage of the many other opportunities that exist for meaningful discussion and the sharing of ideas. For example, conferences provide an excellent venue for working on vendor/library relations and communicating product needs and/or expectations. Usually members of the publisher's editorial staff, in addition to sales representatives, are in attendance. The editorial staff are the representatives who work with the data on a daily basis; they are the ones striving to produce a quality product that meets the needs of the library. Their focus is not on selling the product per se; rather it is on making the best product possible. Moreover, editors crave actual user feedback. By voicing concerns and sharing patron comments about products, librarians provide information essential for editorial improvement. We all need to take advantage of these opportunities where librarians can meet face-to-face with the editors who put the products together.

Feedback

A major failing in product enhancements and design is the lack of direct feedback from end users. So, what can vendors do to gain this valuable feedback? Identifiable means of gaining valuable feedback are:

1. 1.

   user/focus groups;

2. 2.

   beta tests;

3. 3.

   questionnaires.

Finding participants, however, can be difficult. In the industry, less than 10 percent response rates to user questionnaires are not uncommon. Such response provides only minimal feedback with which to work. From the publisher's perspective, however, any feedback is better than none. From a library's perspective, we need to realize that this lack of participation results in a small percentage of our colleagues having inordinate influence on product function and design. If it is our desire to have better products made available; it is imperative that we take the time to provide honest feedback.

For example, when we agree to participate in a focus group or beta test, we must be committed to giving the time and concentration necessary to provide meaningful feedback. Obviously it is more efficient to give such rather than to buy the product and invest the time to test it, only to return it because it does not meets our needs.

Publishers also have considerable responsibility in making the feedback circles work. Publishers must be resolute in not only meeting the needs of libraries, but also in delighting them. One company, for example, requires its editorial staff, as part of personnel development, to annually visit with their customers. These visits are not sales calls, but are intended to provide opportunities for dialog about what works, what does not and what can be done to better meet the customer's needs. It also allows librarians and editors to "put a face with a name" and to get straight-talk feedback without a sales quota hovering overhead. All vendors would be well served if they require, at bare minimum, that their design teams regularly meet customers face to face.

Publishers must also make the time to solicit feedback. Company representatives should not rush a new product idea into production without testing its usefulness or soliciting comments regarding desirability. Vendors should be more responsive to customer feedback. If a user suggestion is not feasible, it should be explained why and, if alternatives exist for achieving the same goal, provide them. The best customer service I have ever experienced was when, after purchasing a high-ticket CD-ROM, my sales representative called shortly after delivery. The purpose of the call was see if the product was what I expected, if I was experiencing any difficulties and needed training in using it, and most important, if the product was meeting my needs. The call lasted only a few minutes, but the memory of proactive customer service is lasting a lifetime.

If both librarians and publishers took advantage of already existing opportunities and further, went on to create additional ones, it would foster a more cooperative perception of each other, rather than the adversarial posture which is all to pervasive. Librarians should let publishers know what is good and bad about their products. Let them know what is missing or could make the product better. Conversely, publishers must listen to their customers and be responsive to their concerns by implementing desired changes and producing the products that are being articulated. Everyone shares in the process and goal: meeting and serving the information needs of our clients.

Elizabeth R. Mansfield, MSLS is Editor with The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., in Washington, DC.