This has gone on for years. Our Value Line subscriptions, which are supposed to arrive on Fridays, come on Saturday and then Monday, and then Tuesday, and maybe later. I always call and complain and claim issues that have not arrived. Value Line sends copies, and we eventually have duplicate issues.
After each complaint, Value Line sends us a form to track our issue arrival dates. I fill it out and send it back to them. For a few weeks the issues arrive nearly on time and then they slide back into very late arrivals.
I once threaten to cancel the subscription, which was not really serious because we have so many people who read it. The issues came on time for nearly three months.
I have been told that for another $100 plus we can get the subscription sent first class and have it arrive on time every week. We already pay $795 for the survey. Every other periodical we purchase comes on time. We should not have to pay extra to get what should be standard service.
One service person suggested we refer to the online service that we get with our subscription. I think that is good advice, but I have not been able to sell the idea to the folks who come to the desk and ask for the binder. Many of them are computer shy. Hard to believe, but it is true.
Recently, the issues have been very late most of the time, and use of the service has fallen by about 50 percent (not scientifically proven, just observed). Throughout the winter issues were almost always nearly a week late. (I again filled out a survey.) Some of the users have become quite negative about the service, saying that they doubt it will survive in today's information world.
Today, I placed another claim. The agent told me that the issues are not officially late until the Tuesday after Friday.
I decided to look at the online service again to see how easy it would be to just print it out. To my surprise, for it is Monday, the current issue is next Friday's issue. Online the information is there four days before the issue date! I am not sure yet whether this is always the case.
The lateness of the print copies now looks really, really bad. How can it take nine or ten days to get the information to us by mail? (Value Line agents always infer the problem is with the postal service, but I counter that the postal service delivers our other publication on time.)
I have an idea. By printing from the online version an issue of Value Line on Monday before the Friday issue date, we could suddenly go from being far behind to being far ahead. I think our library users would like that.
Unfortunately, printing is another headache. The "Summary and Index" section and "Selection and Opinion" section can be printed quickly as they are each multi-page documents. The reports on the companies are another matter, as there are individual one-page documents for each company. There is no overall document for the Reports section. I would have to have a staff member sit at the computer and open 140 plus PDF documents and print them separately.
We are tired of being passive victims of Value Line (lack of) service.
I am going to make a notebook with the easily printed pages and include a list of the companies in the current issue. With it will be a note that we can get these reports online. Maybe someone will take us up on the offer.
I also intend to make a "Want Value Line early?" sign to put on the shelf where the binder resides.
I am going to draw up instructions for the staff so they can find the online service. Value Line does not make it easy to find the issues of the survey on their website.
I will report later if this makes a difference.
Showing posts with label user expectations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label user expectations. Show all posts
Monday, April 09, 2007
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
How Do You Learn Best? Material Types in Libraries
On Tuesday I went to the hospital for pre-surgery testing. Upon arrival, I was asked to complete a four-page medical history. Among the lines about previous surgeries (appendix and tonsils when I was a kid) and about medications I regularly take (none), I found the following question.
Do you learn best by: 1) reading, 2) video, 3) listening, 4) demonstration?
I was uncertain how to answer, as I learn by all of those methods frequently. I have never had my abilities to learn ranked. Instead of totally skipping the question, I wrote to the side, "It depends on the subject." I thought the topic might then come up in the interview that followed, but it did not.
I assume that the question was asked so I can get effective self-care information. I think that I would like to get a combination of the four instruction methods. Before or after the surgery, I will have time to watch a video about my surgery and caring for my incision. I will listen to anything the doctors and nurses say. (I doubt they have recorded audio instruction.) I hope they demonstrate exactly how to do whatever it is I have to do. I will gladly take home reference material to remind me what it is I have to do.
Our clients would also like instruction from all four categories in our libraries. We do well having print material to read, but we sometimes fall short on the audio and video material. I try to keep (I sometimes slip) a list of requested items that my library did not have. Many of the items on the list are video related: a DVD on pioneer women of Kansas, a video on Anthony of Egypt, a video on the Tower of London, a DVD on Irish soccer stars, a DVD for mandolin instruction, and so forth. The expectation that we will have these materials is growing, sometimes fueled by class assignments that require a bit of video in the final presentation.
We use interlibrary loan more now than ever before, and getting video material is part of the trend. Unfortunately for us, there are still some libraries that will not loan video material. In some schools and colleges, the videos are on reserve for class assignments, which is understandable. In other cases, libraries want to keep their small number of videos and DVDs local. Whatever, we have some difficulties getting what is requested.
The other problem is that our clients request materials that do not exist. There is no profit to be made by making videos of some of the specific topics for which we are asked.
We are slowing shifting our budgets to buy more audio and video material. Whether we ever have a building as full of DVDs as books may depend on what happens on the Internet. Will higher transmission speeds foster more content that will be readily available for public use at a reasonable cost? Will libraries be left out of the loop? It is hard to say. I suspect our collections will never fully meet our users expectations, but we can try.
Back to my body. It may never meet my expectations either. On Friday, I have outpatient surgery for an inguinal hernia. I may not be posting for a few days. Wish me well.
Do you learn best by: 1) reading, 2) video, 3) listening, 4) demonstration?
I was uncertain how to answer, as I learn by all of those methods frequently. I have never had my abilities to learn ranked. Instead of totally skipping the question, I wrote to the side, "It depends on the subject." I thought the topic might then come up in the interview that followed, but it did not.
I assume that the question was asked so I can get effective self-care information. I think that I would like to get a combination of the four instruction methods. Before or after the surgery, I will have time to watch a video about my surgery and caring for my incision. I will listen to anything the doctors and nurses say. (I doubt they have recorded audio instruction.) I hope they demonstrate exactly how to do whatever it is I have to do. I will gladly take home reference material to remind me what it is I have to do.
Our clients would also like instruction from all four categories in our libraries. We do well having print material to read, but we sometimes fall short on the audio and video material. I try to keep (I sometimes slip) a list of requested items that my library did not have. Many of the items on the list are video related: a DVD on pioneer women of Kansas, a video on Anthony of Egypt, a video on the Tower of London, a DVD on Irish soccer stars, a DVD for mandolin instruction, and so forth. The expectation that we will have these materials is growing, sometimes fueled by class assignments that require a bit of video in the final presentation.
We use interlibrary loan more now than ever before, and getting video material is part of the trend. Unfortunately for us, there are still some libraries that will not loan video material. In some schools and colleges, the videos are on reserve for class assignments, which is understandable. In other cases, libraries want to keep their small number of videos and DVDs local. Whatever, we have some difficulties getting what is requested.
The other problem is that our clients request materials that do not exist. There is no profit to be made by making videos of some of the specific topics for which we are asked.
We are slowing shifting our budgets to buy more audio and video material. Whether we ever have a building as full of DVDs as books may depend on what happens on the Internet. Will higher transmission speeds foster more content that will be readily available for public use at a reasonable cost? Will libraries be left out of the loop? It is hard to say. I suspect our collections will never fully meet our users expectations, but we can try.
Back to my body. It may never meet my expectations either. On Friday, I have outpatient surgery for an inguinal hernia. I may not be posting for a few days. Wish me well.
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