Customer comments actions agreed 

 Comments Received

 Action we have taken

Sale of mints and Libraries poster policy (44 comments)

We regret any offence caused by the sale of ‘Messiah Mints’ and would like to reassure customers that these were supplied in error and not selected for sale by Council staff.   They are no longer for sale in our Booklover Store.
Our poster policy is to give priority to library and council information, and public services (ex. health and education).  Posters for local community groups are placed in our community information files held in each library and community information may also be entered into our online community information database.

In order to provide a more flexible and responsive service to our customers, the 3 central desks on the ground floor at Jubilee have been replaced by 8 individual staff desks.  Responding to staff and customer concerns, the original layout of the desks in the main hall has been adjusted to more effectively meet customer needs.  Improvements have also been made to the self-service facility and staff working practices, thereby reducing queues and improving staff/customer interaction.

Stock (8 comments)
lack of BME children’s stock

• audiobooks
• stock purchases
• magazine recycling

We apologise if the range of BME children’s stock appears to be inadequate.  Over the next 3 years, we will be focussing on purchasing a wider range of BME stock across our libraries and will ensure that stock for children is well represented.
We regret if some of our audiobook sets are issued with damaged discs inside.  Both Jubilee and Hove Libraries have disc buffers to help sustain the life of CDs, and staff endeavour to withdraw damaged stock from the shelves in a timely fashion.  We will continue to monitor this situation.  We have also informed our stock supplier to place labels inside audiobooks wherever possible, so that text on the case is not obscured.
Thank you for your recommendations for stock purchases, including periodical subscription requests.  All of these are carefully considered by the relevant staff, who make decisions based on our stock profiles and purchasing guidelines.
A number of our community libraries provide magazine swap boxes which works well in individual communities. However, this would be difficult to manage at Jubilee or Hove, where there would be a danger that library periodical stock may be taken by mistake with donated magazines. 

Thank you for your compliments. These are passed on to all staff involved, who appreciate your positive comments.

IT facilities (5 comments

• dedicated PCs under 19s
• staff support
• booking system at Jubilee

For reasons of health and safety and child protection issues, PCs which are located in childrens’ and young peoples’ areas of our libraries are for the sole use of customers under 19 years of age.
The public IT facilities in all our libraries are set up to be used independently by customers, with a limited staff support service available.  We have details available of local courses for customers interested in enhancing their skills and provide regular IT taster sessions for the over 50s at many libraries.
We apologise for the occasional glitches with the booking system at Jubilee Library, and are currently looking at different software packages to improve the automated booking service.

Consultation of the Land Registry documents has established that the boundary line for the Health Clinic includes the whole of the drive between the clinic and the library but ensures right of access for library users.  The enforcement of the boundary rights has consequently reduced the number of parking spaces available for library users in the rear car park.  We have raised this matter with the Clinic and still hope to find a compromise solution which will improve the situation.

Reservations (4 comments)

• reservation charge
• reservations expired when made online

The 50p charge for reservations was introduced to provide a better and faster reservation service, with improved satisfaction times.  The charge helps offset the cost of administering the service.  This compares favourably with reservation charges in neighbouring library authorities.  Those customers who have difficulty using print material are exempt from the reservation charge.
When making reservations online, it is important to specify an expiry date in the relevant drop-down box.  However, we will investigate with our IT colleagues whether a default expiry date of 6 months, as is currently in place for staff-generated reservation requests, could be made available for online requests.

Jubilee Library (3 comments)

• opening hours
• disabled parking spaces

Jubilee Library is now open 7 days a week, and although we would like to extend our daily opening hours even further, there are no resources available to do so at present.  Our Libraries Plan includes a commitment to review the opening hours across all our libraries, and our focus is on the smaller libraries, some of which are only open three days a week.
There are five dedicated disabled parking spaces in Jubilee Street, with a further four in Church Street, plus three in Regent Street and New Road.

Thank you for this suggestion.  This has been passed on for consideration.

These have been responded to individually