Library service standards

We will ensure that our Customer Service is consistently outstanding.

Quality assurance:

We will achieve the Customer Service Excellence award. 

Customer satisfaction:

UoP Student Customers will be satisfied with their experience of using the University Library and this will be reflected in their response to NSS Q20. We will maintain or improve these satisfaction levels annually. 

Customer engagement:

Our staff will actively engage in conversations with our customers to monitor customer satisfaction and provide a variety of channels for feedback. 

• Conduct 6 pop-ups a year
• Bi-monthly liaison with UPSU

Customer communication:

We will offer a range of contact options for our customers and ensure timely responses to all customer communication. 

• During office hours we will aim to answer all phone and chat enquiries at point of contact. Any missed calls or chats will be followed up on the same working day
• Letters will be answered within 2 working days 
• Emails received by library@port.ac.uk will be responded to in 1 working day
• Responses provided to our customers via our out of hours enquiries service will be reviewed by our Enquiry Team each working day
• General enquiries received via Hornbill will be responded to in 1 working day

UoP Customers will be satisfied with their experience of using the University Library Chat Service. Where customers choose to rate our service we will aim for ratings of 3 or above. Any ratings of 2 or less will be followed up to seek customer feedback. 

We will offer a range of ways for our customers to provide feedback, complaints and suggestions for improvement of our services. We will act upon this feedback by incorporating it into our action planning activities. 100% of actions taken in response to feedback will be made visible to our customers on our website and social media  channels. 

We will ensure that our building is open and welcoming and that all our physical library spaces are comfortable, clean, safe and well maintained. 

The Library is open:

The library will be open for the advertised opening hours.

Changes to standard; opening hours and services will be published on the library website at least one month in advance.

The space is clean:

The cleanliness of the library space will be maintained by:

• Full building clean everyday between 6.30 and 9.30 
• Toilets cleaned 3 x a day  
• Rubbish is collected 3 x a day  

The space is safe:

We will ensure the safety of our customers in our building through the provision of a Security Team on site during all open hours to oversee access, patrol the building and monitor texts or calls to the University Library’s incident reporting number. 

Continuous improvement of Library spaces:

We will actively seek ways of monitoring issues with the Library environment and take action to improve our spaces as a result of this.

• Monitoring of security incident forms
• 2 x per academic year - sample week review of emails associated with building issues and their resolutions
• Annual review of service level agreements associated with equipment and software used by the Library

We will provide access to the resources our customers need and signpost them effectively.

Providing access to the resources our customers need:

We will actively monitor reading lists through statistical reporting and review processes to ensure availability and currency of reading list resources.  

• Where these items are available for purchase they will be obtained in accordance with our Collection Management Policy
• Where it is possible for items to be digitised this will be undertaken in line with copyright legislation and within the timeframe of the requester

Access to physical items from our collections:

80% of all items will be reshelved within 1 working day. 

We will provide a Click & Collect Service for customers who wish to reserve items for collection.

• Click & Collect items will be available for collection within 1 working day of the request where the book is available in the library

For customers who are not on campus, we will provide remote access to our physical collections through a variety of services.

• Students and academic staff may request loanable items via our Postal Loans Service. Postal loan requests will be posted within 2 working days of their receipt where the book is available in the library
• Students and academic staff may request scans of items via our Scan and Deliver Service. Scan and Deliver requests will be supplied within 2 working days of their receipt where the item is available in the library

Access to items that are not part of our Library collection:

We will provide access to requested articles and books that are not part of the Library’s collection through a combination of purchase and Inter Library Loan, providing the item is available via those routes and all necessary information has been provided by the requester. 

• Where it is possible, books requested via Inter Library Loan will be purchased for stock (in ebook format if available)
• We will satisfy 90% of all other requests that proceed to Inter Library Loan

Electronic resources:

We will provide our customers with support in accessing and using eresources and deal with reported issues appropriately. 

• Ensure currency of the Accessing electronic resources and User guides webpages through regular maintenance and annual review

Signposting Library resources:

We will ensure that we signpost our library collections to the UoP community through the provision of the following: 

• Provision of Subject Pages that link to current subscriptions and supporting materials that are annually reviewed
• Promotion of new resources via blog posts, social media and the New Book spreadsheets published on the Library website

We will provide expert help and advice to our customers at point of need and at a time that suits them.

Face-to-face support for the development of Information Literacy skills associated with literature searching and referencing:

Our Academic Liaison Team will provide teaching and support services to ensure all students, researchers and academic colleagues have the opportunity to develop their information literacy skills. 

• Faculty Librarians and Assistant Faculty Librarians will develop and deliver teaching sessions as requested by academic departments
• Faculty Librarians and Assistant Faculty Librarians will offer 1:1 bookable slots for specialist support
• Faculty Librarians and Assistant Faculty Librarians will participate in the Graduate School’s Development Programme for UoP researchers
• Students will be able to access face-to-face support via our Duty Librarian drop in service during term time
• Students will be able to book referencing support sessions during term time

Provision of learning material to support the development of Information Literacy skills associated with literature searching and referencing:

We will offer a range of ways for our customers to develop their information literacy skills independently through the provision of supporting tools and materials on our website. 

• Annual review of Information Literacy webpages and tools
• Referencing@Portsmouth will be regularly updated to reflect any changes in source types or Referencing Standards

Provision of support for understanding good practice in the area of copyright as it pertains to teaching, learning and research:

We will offer a range of ways for our customers to develop their skills and knowledge in the field of copyright and to ensure adherence to the University’s Copyright Policy. 

• Regular maintenance and annual review of Copyright Guidelines webpages to ensure currency with legislation and best practice guidance
• Provision of specialist copyright enquiries service. All enquiries will be acknowledged and receive an initial response within 2 working days. 

Provision of support in the use of the resources held in the University Archive for teaching, learning and research:

We will offer a specialist enquiry service to support customers who wish to use archival resources.  

• All enquiries will be acknowledged and receive an initial response within 2 working days 

Our staff:

Our professional staff will undertake cost effective development and networking activities and actively seek to maintain their current awareness to identify issues impacting on the services we offer to our customers both locally and nationally. 

We will deliver a highly rated and efficient University Card Printing Service for all of our customers.

Obtaining a University Card for members of the UoP community:

We will respond to Hornbill requests for University ID cards for our new staff in a timely fashion. Cards will be printed and available for collection or distribution within 3 working days of personal data being available in the card printing database and following the submission of an appropriate photograph.

We will respond to Hornbill requests to replace lost, damaged, stolen and faulty University ID cards for our students and staff in a timely fashion. Cards will be printed and available for collection or distribution within 3 working days, where an appropriate photo and all required personal data are available in the card printing database (and where a crime number has been submitted for stolen cards). 

Obtaining a Library card for members of the public:

We will process requests from members of the public in a timely fashion by ensuring that new Library Cards will be printed and available for collection for our Sconul and External Members within 5 working days of receipt of their joining or renewal application (on condition that all required personal data is available in the card printing database and following the submission of an appropriate photograph). 

Customer satisfaction:

UoP Customers will be satisfied with their experience of using the University Card Printing Service. Where customers choose to rate our service we will aim for 5 star ratings on Hornbill for all University Card Printing Requests. Any ratings of 3 stars or less will be followed up to seek customer feedback.