Service vs. Experience

Periodically I catch myself using terminology that reinforces a notion that I am otherwise trying to update.  Here’s the latest example: I am going to try to stop talking about “customer service” and substitute the phrase “customer experience.”  OK, since I’m not so crazy about “customer,” probably “visitor experience.”  This aligns somewhat with what interface designers call “user experience” – UX for short – but has implications beyond information seeking tools, technologies, or behaviors.  In library parlance, customer service has come to signify all the things that staff do when they interact with the people who visit the library.  In other words, it’s all about us and the transactions we mediate.  Once you start to see this issue through civilian eyes, you see how limited that definition can be.  Dirty bathrooms, out of order equipment, or confusing terminology are seldom discussed as part of customer service, but they certainly are a pass/fail part of the customer experience. Let’s look beyond what WE do and take responsibility for improving what THEY do – with or without us standing right there next to them.

–Joan