Article Note: On Expectancy Theory and Libraries

Citation for the article:

Lee, Seongsin. "Vroom's Expectancy Theory and the Public Library Customer Motivation Model." Library Review 56.9 (2007): 788-796.

Read via Emerald.

While this article is meant for public libraries, I think that it is very applicable to academic libraries as well. We need to understand what motivates our users to use our libraries in order to know what services to provide and how to best provide them. The bottom line of this article is that libraries need to demonstrate what makes them unique and valuable to those they serve. The patrons have to find value, and they also have to trust us. Remember that trust has to be earned.

• "In other words, if public libraries cannot motivate customers to use their products and satisfy their needs, they may lose advantage over other information providers" (788). This is already happening to academic libraries as well. How often do we hear the moaning of how all students use is use Google? We need to be thinking how we can motivate our users so they will see us as their information provider. No, we are never going to compete toe to toe with Google. Our advantage is in the added value that we can provide when compared to Google or any other online search engine. The Effing Librarian made a good point on this when he said that "librarians understand that finding one million results might mean we found nothing related to the request. But the library customers (bless their little hearts), think that one million results are better, in every single way, than fifty results." You see, we bring the added value. We may not come up with the instant gratification, but we will often come up with quality results, and for a college student, that means the difference between quoting some cheap, less than reputable website and a good scholarly source on an academic paper. But we need to educate our students so they see the value in making the distinction.
  
• A definition of marketing: "Workman (1999) defined marketing as 'the process of understanding what your customers want, and then designing and delivering products and services that fit those needs' (as cited in Woodward, 2005, p.130)" (789).
  
• What we should be asking: "Therefore, the following question should be the primary question of marketing activities of an organization: how can we motivate customers to use our products?" (789)
• Finding success in marketing: "In other words, successful service marketing rests on the ability of the service to deliver a solution to the customers' concern, or to deliver various benefits that the customers want" (792).
  
• How customers evaluate: "Generally speaking, it is known that customers evaluate service quality based on five specific dimensions that can be applied to a variety of service contexts. These dimensions are 'reliability', 'responsiveness', 'assurance', 'empathy', and 'tangibles'" (793). I am also noting the definitions for further reference:
  
• "Reliability is the ability of the organization to provide the promised service accurately" (793). Do you provide what you say you provide?
  
• "Tangibles are physical elements of the services such as facilities, equipment, and personnel" (793). Now some libraries may not have the best facilities in the world. Funding is always a concern, and so is the issue of staffing. However, if you have only an average library in terms of facilities, but you still offer excellent service, I think you can make up for the shortfall on tangibles.
  
• "Responsiveness is the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service" (793). Good library staff need to be responsive. However, this does not mean we simple bend over to provide every new trinket or some other unrealistic expectation. But it does mean we should be listening to patron needs and responding as needed within reason.
  
• "Assurance is the employees' knowledge and courtesy and their ability to inspire trust and confidence" (793). In simple terms, we are professionals, and we need to behave and act accordingly. How can we expect others to take us seriously if we don't project the right image? And no, this does not have to do with your dress code (though in some cases, the image could be improved with better dress). We are to be knowledgeable, courteous and confident. This also goes along with being reliable.
  
• "Empathy is the degree to which the organization treats customers as individuals" (793). I don't think this needs a whole lot of explanation. If you lack empathy, odds are you should be in some other line of work.
  
• And this I just thought was a cool thing to remember: "The organization should recognize that every encounter with a customer is 'a moment of truth'" (794).
  

The article draws on Victor Vroom's expectancy theory. The theory is based on the ideas of valence, expectancy, and instrumentality. These are all consumer beliefs related to his/her perception of being able to get a result, to be able to act on the result once it is gotten, and whether it is worth it to pursue it or not in the first place. At least, that is my understanding. Overall, I am thinking that libraries need to make it as easy as possible (notice I throw in the "as possible." I am not expecting the impossible) to find what our patrons need and show that what is found is valuable. Here is an explanation from the article:

"In conclusion, if the customers confidently perceive that they can access library products through a virtual or physical visit of the library, if the products (book, e-book, online journal article, chat reference services, etc.) that they have found are the products that they were looking for, and if they think the library products have valence to satisfy their information needs, they will be motivated to use the library products frequently. However, if they perceive that there will be difficulties with access to products because they have not had any experience with library catalogs, or online searching, chat reference services, their motivational force to use library products will be very low" (791).

Notice that user perception is crucial here. The user does not have to experience any actual difficulty to access a product or service. They just have to perceive that the process is more difficult than it's worth for the system not to work. This is definitely something to think about, especially for those of us who are working to market our libraries to our academic communities. We need to help allay those fears. That is also part of where we add value to the products. Lee may be talking about public library users, but these are lessons to remember in an academic setting as well.

Notes for me:

• Workman (1999) refers to:
  
• Workman, J. (1999), "Marketing basics in a changing information age", Nebraska Library Association Quarterly, Vol. 30, Winter, pp.3-11.
  
• Woodward, J. (2005) refers to:
  
• Woodward, J. (2005), Creating the Customer-Driven Library, American Library Association, Chicago, IL. I actually read this book. See my note here.
  

Food for thought: These are our students

Just take a look, and then go from there. It does make you think.



A hat tip to The Chronicles of Bean.

Article Note: On eliminating the reference desk

Citation for the article:

Bell, Steven J. "Who Needs a Reference Desk?" Library Issues 27.6 (July 2007).

Read via routing.

My director asked me to read this article as we are looking at new ways to provide reference and library services. In my humble view, I fall on the camp that feels the reference desk is not going to disappear. I am kind of a moderate, so to speak. Yes, we will have new ways of providing service, but we are also keeping the reference desk. I am guessing some hybridity will occur. Interestingly enough, I was asked about that very topic in one of the campus job interviews I was out on recently, which made me aware of the recent debate done in Midwinter. Maybe one of these days I will put up that presentation, or parts of it at least. Anyhow, the article I read here does make some good points and gives some food for thought. But I wondered about a couple of things.

One, the apparent dismissal of the fact that some campuses really can say "our students are different." While I am not saying that one cannot be open to mobile options, there are times and places when a reference desk does make a good contact point. When I was working at UHD, the reference desk was the central location for students to get their needs met. The students there expect to have that service. So do the students at my current place of work, though not as much (they are bit more used to finding an area liaison once they learn about that). Along with this is the idea of mobile technology use. UHD would be a perfect illustration. The article does promote the use of mobile devices and things like instant messaging and/or chat. I already know from my three-year experience that those students simply did not use mobile technologies as much. A lot of the things that many 2.0 preachers advocate simply did not work, and no, I am not saying it for a lack of trying. I have been a user of instant messaging and other tools, and stats simply were not there to support the notion of spreading out reference services. Professor Bell writes that "contemporary students register online, chat with their advisor by instant messenger, and keep friends in close contact with text messaging." Yes on the registering and friend messaging, but a big no on chatting with the advisors by instant messenger. They may use the phone and call advising while registering. At least that was the set-up I have seen. I am sure other campuses may offer the messaging option. Does it mean that will always be the case? No. Future always brings change, but one has to work in the moment as well.

The other thing that made me think is that the article did not have any acknowledgment of staffing issues. In some settings (there goes that uniqueness again), there simply is not enough staff. And I am not talking just librarians. I means staff as in all the library staff. Maintaining other forms of reference service, which is what the article advocates, does take resources and staffing as well. Chat and messenger services have to be staffed. And by the way, online chat services are often notorious for very low usage statistics (here is one article discussing the issue from Information Today..Here is another example, and I am just doing the most cursory of searches. I am sure I could come up with more.) So, would that really be efficient use of resources? Other points of service as well. Some campuses will be asking where will the staff come from. I did not really see an answer in the article.


I do think we should always be exploring new reference models. It is one of the things we are doing here at my current place of work. I have been observing the reference desk operations for a bit now. Part of it is to get a grasp on the local procedures and the kind of questions that come in. A couple of my colleagues are already offering suggestions for both the desk and the reference area. All this is feedback I need to hear. But overall, at least for now, it may be a while yet before the reference desk itself goes away.

Short Booknotes on Graphic Novels 15

These two I borrowed from my local branch of the public library back in Houston (HCPL for those who may wonder). I still buy a good amount of books, especially graphic novels since the library selection is limited. I have come to find that the selection here in Tyler is pretty abysmal when it comes to graphic novels, so I may be using ILL a bit more now and then to supplement the ones I do buy. At any rate, this draft had been sitting for a while, and I figure it was time to go ahead and post it. Overall, I think I may start making a small note on where I got the books from for my booknotes.


Hirano, Kohta. Hellsing Vol. 4. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Manga: 2001. ISBN: 1-59307-259-7.


The fourth volume in this manga horror series continues with fast paced action. When a group of Nazi exiles in South America has found a way to raise an army of vampires, it seems old enemies have to unite. England's Hellsing Organization and the Vatican's Section XIII, sworn enemies, may have to come together to fight an even greater threat as a new Nazi leader threatens to launch a new world war with an apparently unstoppable army. Like its predecessors, the action grips you from the first page and then goes on.


Sfar, Joann. Vampire Loves. New York: First Second, 2006. ISBN: 1-59643-093-1.


This is a compilation of stories featuring Ferdinand the vampire. He bites with one fang, so it looks like a mosquito bite. He also has a lot of trouble with his love relationships. Yet, for an undead, he is quite charming and kind at times. This book combines a blend of humor and warmth at times along with some mysticism and folk wisdom along the way. Very entertaining.

Bring on the Chili, 2007

Last Saturday (October 6, 2007) we had our Annual Chili Cook-off here at UT-Tyler. It is part of the events for the week of Homecoming. Given I was the new guy, I was semi-drafted to be on the team. OK, I will admit I would have gone anyways. No way I was going to miss the fun and have some chili in the process. I should warn my two readers that, as a transplant to Texas, I may still be learning the finer points of chili (for example, for some reason, beans on a chili is an offense here). Part of the fun of coming together is doing a little trash talk with the other teams. But it is also a great opportunity for the campus community to come together, have some fun in the booths, and get excited about the soccer game later in the day. Plus visitors get to sample the various concoctions.

Our fearless leader was up and at 'em early in the morning. I think she got there by 7:00am. I did not get there until a little later. She had made sure that a lot of the prep work was done the night before, so that everything would be ready for our cook to start cooking. We also set up the tables, and we put up our decorations and giveaways. We made buttons to give out promoting the team and reading, and with the able assistance of our webmistress, I made some trading cards of Banned Books to give out as well. Reminds me I should probably add one or two of those images to the Flickr set I just made for the event.

When it comes to events like this, I always enjoy listening to people as well as watching the crowd. It is events like these that allow you to relax and have fun with the people you work with as well as meet other people on campus. Joanne, the webmistress, made it a point to introduce me to various people as they came by. I think I met a couple of VP's and other important folks. Just don't ask me if I remember all of them. Since we are a small campus, I know in time I will get to know those folks better. Our fearless leader, Jeanne, had promised that she would not interfere with the cook. As the saying goes, "promises, promises." It was clear that her penchant for stirring the pot as she saw fit would manifest itself anyhow, and sure enough it did. After all, as she said, "I am a bossy lady," and that was that. Eric, our cook (and Business Librarian, among other hats he wears) humbly cooked along. Eventually, the air was filled with the fine smell of chili that would be simmering in time. Jeanne did observe that we had more students in teams at the chili event, and that was a good thing, as it would help balance things from just mostly campus staff.

The morning also featured other activities, including the golf cart parade. I was wondering how could we get a cart so we could "pimp it up" next year. My director heard it, and what she wants is for us to make a bookcart drill team. I am sure those of you who are librarians have heard of bookcart drill teams (example here). Of course, guess who gets to plan that little detail. We'll see what I can come up with. I have a bit of time to plan now.

Overall, it was a pleasant day. A bit cloudy at first, but it was not too warm. I did take some photos, which I have placed on my Flickr for now. Here is the set for the event. I know our webmistress took a few more, so there may be some additions later.

And the chili? Well, we did not make it to the winner's circle this time around. But that's ok. We did get good feedback from those who visited our tent, and in the end, it was all about the fun.