Awards

Awards for Library’s phone, fax and email service

Christchurch City Libraries’ Contact Centre has won the Technology Category of the 2002 New Zealand Post Management Excellence Awards presented at the Society of Local Government Manager’s Conference in Auckland on Sunday 8 September. It has also been short listed for the 3M Award for Innovation, the winner of which will be announced in November.

Christchurch City Libraries launched its centralised phone, fax and email service for customer service and information, in June 2001. The Library has dealt with more than 132,000 calls in its first year of operation.

"We love meeting our customers face to face and now we’re able to help people who want to make contact other than by walking into a library building. They simply need to ring or email us with their information request and a team of dedicated professionals is ready and waiting to provide them with answers. We’re working hard to spread the word that as well as helping with library reserves and account status, we can access answers to challenging questions or point customers in the right direction if they want to look for themselves," says Sue Sutherland, Christchurch City Libraries Manager.

The majority of answers come from web-based resources; the library’s Intranet, catalogue and other databases, and from subscription databases. Late nights and weekend hours reflect people’s busy lifestyles, and the fact that they want answers outside of business hours.

"Our friendly and helpful library team is available to answer phone, email and fax enquiries 79 hours per week. If you’ve got the questions, chances are we’ve got the answers," says Sue Sutherland.

You can contact the Library from 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday, and 9am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday. Phone 941 7923, fax 941 7075 or email library@ccc.govt.nz. The website address is http://christchurchcitylibraries.com.