Overview of Humanized Service of University Library

[a]Library， University of Jinan， Jinan， China.

*Corresponding author.

Received 20 June 2013； accepted 25 August 2013

Abstract

Humanized service is an important embodiment of the social value of a library. In order to achieve the humanized service， it is necessary to change all kinds of abuses existing in the traditional university libraries and establish various rules and regulations and measures for the fulfillment of the humanized service to provide rich cultural atmosphere and a comfortable environment of learning for readers and further enhance the level of library service.

Key words： Humanized service； University library； Librarian； Reader

WANG Hui （2013）. overview of humanized service of university library. Management Science and Engineering， 7（3）， -0. Available from： URL： http：///index.php/mse/article/view/j.mse.1913035X20130703.2608

DOI： http：///10.3968/j.mse.1913035X20130703.2608

INTRODUCTION

With the development of the economy， university libraries have set up the “student-centered” core development ideology and are dedicated to serving the contemporary university students having strong feel of the times and meeting their demands to the fullest possible extent. Any attempt to change the traditional modes of service and achieve the new “people-oriented” concept requires the humanized service， which is an important means to improve the library service， one of indicators of library modernization and an important embodiment of the social value of a library.

1. WHAT IS HUMANIZED SERVICE

The humanized service of library， a “people-oriented” service philosophy and approach， is to wholeheartedly provide readers with targeted information and services based on their knowledge structure， information requirement， behavior mode， psychological tendency and other factors （Han， 2011）.

University library provides services for teachers and students. The library of our university offers 4 classrooms as study rooms to students， and there are places available for reading and studying on every floor. During serving teachers and students， whether directly or indirectly， librarians shall create humanized conditions and embody the humanism care to make teachers and students feel that library is not only a place where they can borrow books but a spacious， quiet， and warm family.

In which form does humanized service is set up and relying on what can we realize it？

First， it is important to establish the incentive mechanism and various rules and regulations. The establishment of the mechanism relies on institution and system. Institution refers to the adjustment and configuration of organizational functions and position responsibilities； system refers to the state and local laws， regulations， and any internal regulations of an organization， that is， we can form appropriate mechanism through the establishment of appropriate institution and system. Library， which was a place where students could only borrow or return books， is now the second classroom and a good teacher and helpful friend of students. Therefore， a modern library should establish and improve rules and regulations and incentive mechanism； it should implement the principle of setting positions on demand， equal competition and strict appraisement. The incentive system should be impartial in the dispensation of reward and punishment and against average allocation. Also， it is necessary to fully mobilize librarians’ enthusiasm and creativity and promote them to constantly improve their operational quality and operational capacity. The leadership of our library attaches importance to the development of high-quality personnel by frequently sending them to study outside and providing facility for their study and research projects and develop new talents who can skillfully apply new knowledge and make innovation. In addition， all rules and regulations should follow the principle of “people-oriented and reader first”； the layout of library and opening hours should start from providing efficient services for teachers and students. Only in this way can we guarantee and implement the humanized service that we have been advocating.

2. MEASURES TO REALIZE HUMANIZED SERVICE

2.1 Create an Environment for Humanized Service

Library should create a comfortable， quiet， spacious， tender and well-lit cultural environment for teachers and students. For example， the library of our university is a new library， of which the design of the physical space fully reflects the philosophy of humanization. Coming close to the library， readers will have an open and clear visual field. Different layers and rooms have become a coherent whole. The color arrangement of the library environment is elegant， and there are no contrast colors. The library space， illumination， lighting， temperature， humidity， ventilation and seating are suitable for study and reading. Starting from the aesthetic sense， it provides teachers and students with a comprehensive feeling of affinity between human beings and their surroundings. Moreover， the library leadership makes every effort to create a comfortable and easy library environment for teachers and students. Over 60 new distinctive sofa chairs and more than 500 bonsais have been purchased for the eastern campus； the curtains in the eastern area have been replaced and those in the western cleaned. The arrangement of the artworks and potted plants in the hall corridors and the reading rooms， such as paintings， ceramic works and bonsais， makes a more beautiful and harmonious reading environment. In order to enhance the construction of working style of the office service windows， the library leadership has purchased new tables and chairs and potted flowers for them and standardized their service expressions； furthermore， the office staff are asked to receive every visitor and consulter more patiently and warmly and be more thoughtful in every service.

2.2 Implementation of Humanized Service

The service form of a library is an embodiment of the level of its service. In order to achieve the humanized service， it is necessary to grasp and understand the needs and preferences of users to provide targeted and proactive service. For the ultimate purpose of providing readers with simple and convenient service， the humanized service demands librarians to provide service in different forms according to readers’ different needs （Yang， 2005）.

The main object of a university library service is the students and teachers in the university. The daily traffic of the library of our university is nearly 10，000 person-times. As a major window providing service for the teachers and students， its service quality and working style have a direct impact on the image of our university. To this end， the library leadership requires librarians to be fully aware of the importance of the humanized service.

2.2.1 Smiling Service

The philosophy of humanized service regards the respect and care for teachers and students as the purpose， and it aims to establish an intimate， equal and harmonious service relationship. Librarians should provide direct and indirect services for teachers and students with a warm attitude and smile and in befitting expressions. Smiling service is one of occupational requirements. A smile， as an occupational facial expression， should observe the etiquette requirements， proper， natural， and moderately warm. When answering questions for teachers and students， librarians should behave in a good manner and use proper expressions and their skilled library knowledge to fully demonstrate their personality fascination. In addition， librarians should constantly improve their aesthetic culture， dress correctly and cleanly and behave in an elegant manner to give teachers and students a sense of reliance and a good first impression. Only in this way can they make students and teachers consult them actively， and their friendly answer with a smile will give pleasure to students and teachers. Smiling service is efficacious， as a philosopher said， “Smile can create many results although it does not cost anything”. It can enrich those who receive the smile without impoverishing those who give the smile； it appears in a moment but leaves a lasting memory.

2.2.2 Standing Service

Standing service is a proactive service status. The standing librarians send a message of “I always stand ready to help you” rather than “I am waiting for your asking” to teachers and students.

Standing service can make librarians closer to teachers and students. Because the contemporary university students are characterized by selfhood and they have a strong sense of self-esteem， self-reliance and self-improvement. Driven by a strong desire for show， they represent their unabashed individuality and seize every opportunity and condition to demonstrate their talents. The standing service can make students feel that they are treated with respect and it is conducive to the emotional contact between students and librarians and the improvement of librarians’ service philosophy of “reader first”. Meanwhile， when there is a problem， the standing service will help to soothe the grievances of students. However， the standing service also has some shortcomings. For example， some older librarians feel that their physical strength cannot stand up. Furthermore， university libraries generally have the shortage of human resources and insufficient personnel quota. However， standing service is an innovation in the humanized service mode， and its existing shortcomings can be definitely overcome through the regulations and humanized management of library.

2.2.3 Two-handed Delivery and Repetition Service

Two-handed delivery and repetition service is a service mode through which librarians in the circulation department of the library provide service for the students borrowing or returning books. Librarians take books returned by students with both hands and deliver books and information to students in the same way. In this way， they give full expression of the respect for students and high quality service.

2.2.4 Polite Expression is a Linguistic Art of Humanized Service

In the “second classroom” of library， the tender and favorable atmosphere should be created for university students. When university students borrow books， librarians should ask them in a very kind manner： “May I help you？” “What kind of books do you need？” An utterance or a facial expression may leave a good impression deep in students’ heart. The polite expression of every librarian has a subtle function for students. In addition， librarians should follow the principle of “question asked， question answered” when they receive students’ consultation； in case of any problem that they are unable to answer， they should make explanation for the problems rather than deliberately skirt round them； they should keep their promise and tell the students the time when they can offer a reply. Librarians should regularly report the situation of their library and provide a variety of information. They should learn about students’ satisfaction rate and the literature utilization rate through the forms of dissemination， interview and symposium to enable students to demonstrate their talents and skills； they should offer students a sense of warmth and belonging as soon as they enter the library.

2.2.5 Humanized Service for Teachers and Students

First， it is necessary to have a good idea of teachers’ latest knowledge and attach importance to the systematization and specialization. The teachers in a university undertake dual tasks of teaching and research， so they have a need for comprehensive， systematic， extensive， deep and professional literature. They request massive， accurate and reliable information. Assuming different teaching and research tasks， the teachers require library literature information in different scope， breadth， depth and category； they consult different literature related to their research subjects and use various reference books； they have their own characteristics in the extent to which and the way in which they use the library information. Therefore， with the ultimate goal of improving teachers’ satisfaction with library， librarians must set up a feedback bridge， carry out follow-up service and establish databases when providing the humanized service for teachers. They should serve them in different forms according their specialties and age groups to provide teachers with convenient services.

The humanized service for students can be divided into two aspects： first， for the freshmen， librarians should introduce the knowledge on library structure and retrieval， identification and collection of the information from the Internet， application methods of network navigator and search engine and guide them to query on-line directory. As incoming students， they are sensitive to the emergence of new disciplines， new ideas and new problems； they are concerned about not only the professional information but the social hot spots and focus information， and therefore they have abundant and massive requirements for reading. Librarians should provide the humanized service according to their features. Second， with their deepening studying of specialty and armed with fairly rich knowledge base， the junior and senior students require more scholarly and professional document information and begin to select books systematically and purposefully. Librarians should provide comprehensive information services， including literature retrieval， literature ordering， data connection， etc.， within their specialty field to help students increase their level of scientific and cultural knowledge and set up a correct outlook on life and values through reading literature and information in library. The humanized service is a pursuit of value and a truly humanized service.

The leadership of our university’s library has strengthened and improved the working style and carried out the activity of “happy year of service” to preach making happiness at work and smiling service and pursue for zero complaint for service attitude. The staff is required to wear the badge， implement responsibility of initial inquiry and standardized service and accept supervision； these practices make librarians closer to teachers and students （Chen， 2013）.

In short， the humanized service is the need of the survival and development of university library and teachers and students’ expectation of the work of library. Therefore， it can be said that one of the important aspects of library’s humanized service is to strengthen the communication and interaction between library and teachers as well as students and set up a relationship of unity， friendliness， mutual assistance and collaboration. For example， teachers can participate in book selection and recommendation， make on-site purchase in book stores according to their own research needs and provide targeted and rational proposals on library’s working procedures and contents. Students can participate in the work-study programs， arrange stack， experience the work of circulation department， serve as a library supervisor and offer comments and requirements to library in a timely manner. Librarians should conduct regular surveys of student satisfaction， provide information integration service for teachers and students， and connect library’s information resource security system into an organic whole and provide integrated services. In this way， the atmosphere for the sincere cooperation between library and teachers as well as students can be created， so that people will be happy and the humanized service of library will rise to a higher level.

The humanized service of university library is a systematic undertaking and an eternal theme. Library should establish incentive mechanism and various rules and regulations and create the environment for the humanized service. Librarians should provide “smiling service”， “standing service” and “two-handed delivery and repetition service” for teachers and students and use polite expression to strengthen the communication and interaction between staff and teachers as well as students. Only in this way can we make the service modes of library meet the requirements of the development of the economic times and make contributions to the development of the undertaking of university library.

REFERENCES

Chen， M. （2013）. Excerpts of speeches in the symposium on construction of working style of executive branches. Journal of University of Jinan， 16， June 19， （in the second edition）. （In Chinese）.

Han， X. D. （2011）. On humanized service of school library. Theory and Practice of Education， （12）， 30-31. （In Chinese）.

Yang， X. N. （2005）. Connotation and implementation of humanized service of universities library under network environment. Modern Information， （12）， 109. （In Chinese）.