Library Customer Care & Standards
Our Customer Care Statement, Our Values & Principles
Customer Care Statement
In your Library you can expect that:
- We will offer you a friendly, courteous and professional service
- We will provide you with a comfortable, clean and safe learning environment
- We will provide high quality resources and services available 24/7 with expert support available at core times to help you
- We aim to meet your individual needs and offer a personalised service
- We will aim to provide you with relevant and accurate information on our services in a timely manner
- We will publicise our service standards and use them to ensure we are meeting our objectives and continuously improving
- We will respond to your feedback and use it to innovate and enhance our services, endeavouring to anticipate your needs
You can help by:
- Respecting other Library members and university staff
- Looking after the Library environment; using the bins and recycling containers to tidy your study space.
- Talking to us if you are finding it difficult to obtain resources in your subject area.
- Carrying your smartcard with you at all times and understanding why we ask to see your card
- Regularly checking your University email account and responding to Library communications.
- Telling us what we are doing well and where we could improve.
- Providing feedback to improve our services
The Library's values and operating principles
The Library is committed to supporting the University values of Excellence, Creativity and Impact, along with its guiding principles of Working Together, Visibly Leading, Freedom and Opportunity to Succeed, and Responding to current and future challenges. We embrace the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion in order to allow all to reach their full potential.
This commitment informs and shapes our Library values and principles, which are encapsulated by the belief that the customer is at the heart of everything we do.
Excellence
We offer extensive, high-quality resources and services to facilitate the delivery of an outstanding educational experience.
We encourage our staff to maintain and grow their expertise through our commitment to their professional learning and development.
Creativity
We consult with and listen to our customers, using their feedback and experience to develop and enhance our services.
We are flexible and innovative in responding to future challenges and evolving customer needs.
Impact
We actively engage with the wider University community to facilitate and promote its education, research and public engagement activity.
We deliver excellent customer service by empowering staff to work collaboratively within a supportive and inclusive team environment.
Library standards
Performance against Library Standards
The University Library is committed to providing you with a high quality service and to continuous improvement. The following key activities are measured and reported as core performance standards.
We welcome feedback on our standards. Are they what is important to you? Please, Tell us what you think about them.
During 2021/22 we used 6 standards to judge our performance.
| Service Standard | Result |
| 1. TThis learning material/session/workshop/ interaction has contributed to my knowledge, skills and / or personal development. | 96% |
| 2. We will provide an initial response to feedback, enquiries and complaints within 3 working days. | 97.4% |
| 3. We will achieve at least 90% satisfaction with responses to enquiries, feedback and complaints. | 96.3% |
| 4. 95% of e-book orders* will be activated for access within 5 days of ordering. | 100% |
| 5. We will process at least 90% of inter-library loan requests within 3 working days of receiving the request. | 100% |
| 6. What percentage uptime did you record for your main discovery/library catalogue system? | 99.98% |
* Individual ebook titles
During 2020/21 we used 6 standards to judge our performance.
| Service Standard | Result |
| 1. This learning material/session/workshop/ interaction has contributed to my knowledge, skills and / or personal development. | 99% |
| 2. We will provide an initial response to feedback, enquiries and complaints within 3 working days. | 96% |
| 3. We will achieve at least 90% satisfaction with responses to enquiries, feedback and complaints. | 99% |
| 4. 95% of e-book orders will be activated for access within 5 days of ordering.* | 100% |
| 5. We will process at least 90% of inter-library loan requests within 3 working days of receiving the request. | 100% |
| 6. What percentage uptime did you record for your main discovery/library catalogue system? | 99% |
* Individual ebook titles
During 2019/20 we used 9 standards to judge our performance.
| Service Standard | Result | Comment |
| 1. We will achieve a ranking within the upper quartile of universities nationally for a satisfaction rating for question 19 (the library questions) in the National Student survey. | Achieved | |
| 2. We will be open for at least 99% of our advertised staffed service opening hours, during semester or term time. | 100% | Up until the national lockdown in March 2020. We reopened for Click and Collect on 14th July. |
| 3. We will provide an initial response to feedback, enquiries and complaints within 3 working days. | 97% | |
| 4. We will achieve at least 90% satisfaction with responses to enquiries, and complaints | 97% | |
| 5. We will ensure that at least 90% of returned books are available to customers within 24 hours. | 100% | |
| 6. For books ordered, we will ensure that at least 90% of orders are processed within 5 working days and books are available on shelves within 10 working days of receipt. | Ordered: 99.4% Shelved: 99.7% |
Up to national lockdown when we were only able to order electronic resources. |
| 7. We will process at least 90% of Inter Library Loan requests within 3 working days of receiving the request. | 100% | |
| 8. What percentage uptime did you record for your main discovery/library catalogue system? | 98% | |
| 9. At least 95% of the time there will be daily checks of learning environment defects and cleanliness. At least 95% of building defects will be reported to the University's Estate Support Service within one working day. | 100% | Except duing the national lockdown in March 2020 when there was no customer access to the Library buildings. |
During 2018/19 we used 10 standards to judge our performance.
| Service Standard | Result | How we did |
| 1. We will achieve at least a 90% satisfaction rating on Question 19 (the Library question) in the National Student Survey | 90% |  |
| 2. We will be open for at least 99% of our advertised staffed service opening hours, during semester or term time. | 100% | |
| 3. We will acknowledge 90% of all feedback, enquiries and complaints within 1 working day (where contact details are provided) and will provide an initial response within 3 working days. | 96% | |
| 4. We will achieve at least 90% satisfaction with responses to enquiries, feedback and complaints | 95% | |
| 5. We will ensure that at least 90% of returned books are available to customers within 24 hours. | 100% | |
| 6. For books ordered, we will ensure that at least 90% of orders are processed within 5 working days and books are available on shelves within 10 working days of receipt. | 99% | |
| 7. We will process at least 90% of inter-library loan requests within 3 working days of receiving the request. | 100% | |
| 8. We will achieve at least 90% rating on our timetabled teaching sessions and organised drop-in clinics on the following question: "Do you think what you've learned on the session today will be useful to you in the future" | 99% | |
| 9. What percentage uptime did you record for your main discovery/library catalogue system? | 98.2% | |
| 10. At least 95% of the time there will be daily checks of learning environment defects and cleanliness. At least 95% of building defects will be reported to the University's Estate Support Service within one working day. | 100% | |
Customer Service Excellence
Newcastle University Library is proud to hold the Customer Service Excellence Award.
Customer Service Excellence (CSE) is the UK national standard for customer service delivery. The standard provides an independently verified framework, enabling the Library to measure and continuously improve its services. The Library has held the standard since 1995 from its original incarnation as the Charter Mark to its recent Customer Service Excellence reaccreditation in 2023.
