Comments on: Dealing with criticism http://www.familymanlibrarian.com/2006/03/25/dealing-with-criticism/ A blog about family, technology, and libraries Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:34:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: <![CDATA[Steve]]> http://www.familymanlibrarian.com/2006/03/25/dealing-with-criticism/comment-page-1/#comment-1700 Sun, 26 Mar 2006 16:24:42 +0000 http://familymanlibrarian.com/?p=432#comment-1700 Meredith, thanks for the comment. There's not a whole lot more I can say; in fact, I've probably already said too much. My problem isn't with you or with your criticism, that's all. Meredith, thanks for the comment. There’s not a whole lot more I can say; in fact, I’ve probably already said too much. My problem isn’t with you or with your criticism, that’s all.

]]> By: <![CDATA[Meredith]]> http://www.familymanlibrarian.com/2006/03/25/dealing-with-criticism/comment-page-1/#comment-1699 Sun, 26 Mar 2006 16:15:08 +0000 http://familymanlibrarian.com/?p=432#comment-1699 Well the people not knowing their products was not an allusion to Endeavor, though it was an allusion to a few others at the conference where I seemed to know more about their products than they did (which is sad, because I don't know all that much). Look, I had a friend in Chicago who also worked at Endeavor and his take on it was that he had very little control over the things people were griping about and all he really could do was his best in his little corner of the company. You can't take criticisms seriously if you are in a position where you can't do much about them. If you are in a position to do something about them, well then you should take them seriously. But I wonder whether the people who should be listening to criticisms from their customers actually do. What I want to see: a clear vision for the future, some sense that the company is working to make the catalog more usable, some sense that they are keeping up with the other vendors (Talis, SirsiDynix, Innovative), good communication of vision and future plans, and for people to return my systems librarian's calls. Really the last one is the one that makes me the most annoyed. If you can't serve your customers, if they have to call you for weeks on end before getting an answer to a question, you are not doing a good job. Case closed. (And that criticism is one I have heard from other libraries in Vermont as well). I have issues with EBSCO from time to time, but what I love about them is that they are responsive and are always quickly answering our questions. They know the value of good customer service. Look, I get criticized by students for things at my library that I have no contol over -- like not having wireless in the library and our catalog being impossible for the average student to use. You just do the best you can with the things you can change and try to work on the real decision-makers who can actually change those things. Well the people not knowing their products was not an allusion to Endeavor, though it was an allusion to a few others at the conference where I seemed to know more about their products than they did (which is sad, because I don’t know all that much).

Look, I had a friend in Chicago who also worked at Endeavor and his take on it was that he had very little control over the things people were griping about and all he really could do was his best in his little corner of the company. You can’t take criticisms seriously if you are in a position where you can’t do much about them. If you are in a position to do something about them, well then you should take them seriously. But I wonder whether the people who should be listening to criticisms from their customers actually do.

What I want to see: a clear vision for the future, some sense that the company is working to make the catalog more usable, some sense that they are keeping up with the other vendors (Talis, SirsiDynix, Innovative), good communication of vision and future plans, and for people to return my systems librarian’s calls. Really the last one is the one that makes me the most annoyed. If you can’t serve your customers, if they have to call you for weeks on end before getting an answer to a question, you are not doing a good job. Case closed. (And that criticism is one I have heard from other libraries in Vermont as well). I have issues with EBSCO from time to time, but what I love about them is that they are responsive and are always quickly answering our questions. They know the value of good customer service.

Look, I get criticized by students for things at my library that I have no contol over — like not having wireless in the library and our catalog being impossible for the average student to use. You just do the best you can with the things you can change and try to work on the real decision-makers who can actually change those things.

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