I've worked a lot in customer service professions, and customer satisfaction is one of my goals as a librarian (even if the terminology becomes something more like "patron" or "client.")
Today a sweet middle-aged lady came in looking for a book called Getting in Touch With Your Inner Bitch. We didn't have it. I offered to put in a request for purchase for her, but after talking to her for a minute, it became apparent that what she wanted was not that particular book so much as something fun to read with her sister, who was coming in from out of town. I did a quick keyword search for "assertiveness" and then scanned the list for other titles that looked fun (discovering quickly that the only ones that sounded like fun had the word "bitch" in the title, and by the way, it's awkward to say that word over and over from the reference desk) and found one that was checked out. I gave her the call number and she headed to check out, but at the last minute I saw another title that was in. I ran over to circulation, told her the title, and took her back to the shelf, telling her that other books near that one might also be fun. About 10 minutes later, I saw her leaving the library with a stack of books she hadn't had before. I hope she and her sister have fun reconnecting.
A few minutes later, a man came in hoping for a complete list of colleges in Indiana - specifically to the person they would contact for a job. "I know that's a big request," he said, "but a good reference librarian can find anything, right?" Right. I did a search for HR Departments at Indiana Universities, and soon I had a list of universities with links to their HR pages. "Oh, you're good," the man said. "How many times a day do people tell you that?"
Well sir, not nearly often enough. Clearly. (Have I mentioned that I love this job?)
