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.