Customer Satisfaction Management with “Counting Opinion” Surveys

Abstract

This article tracks how Ajax Library Services, located in suburban Toronto, followed up on its designation as the only ISO‐certified library in North America by its adoption of the computer‐based, computer‐survey tools of Counting Opinions. Use of the online survey tool helped to inspire reforms in customer service, collection development and many other library policies. And, with before and after data reports, library administration could see how the library's users reacted to the changes. This intermixing of quantitative and qualitative data represents a level of customer‐opinion‐and‐data analysis seldom seen in public libraries. Collecting Opinions has expanded its public library analytical utilities to include access to data on additional public libraries so that customers can do statistical rankings to rank their own service levels to other libraries who serve communities with similar demographics.