How Much Space Do You Really Need? And How Much Will It Cost?

Dick and Brad Waters generally team on this presentation. We cover the basic elements in any type of library building and how you determine the amount of space needed for each element. We discuss the three different kinds of spaces in every type of building and the impact each has on the total size of a library facility. We show you how to compute space needs and site needs when pushed to provide a quick response. We do the same for determining the capital cost of a library building project. This workshop is best done over a full day, but we did it in half a day for the Arizona Library Association in 2001, and in one hour (we were "flying") for the New Mexico Library Association in 2003.

How May I Help You?

The goal of this workshop is ensuring quality customer service through a team approach to interpersonal communications. The issues of telephone requests, using the behaviors when working with children as customers, demanding and unique customers, and busy service desks are routinely addressed in these workshops. We discuss how they impact service and offer means and methods for handling these issues. Associates James Alsip and Laura Isenstein usually present this workshop. It can be a four-hour up to an eight-hour workshop.

So You Want To Be A Consultant!

We at PROVIDENCE have been consulting with libraries since 1979. We wish to continue to work with libraries of all types throughout the country. We also know there is a need now for more consultants, and that need will probably increase in the years ahead. Therefore, Dick Waters and former partner and colleague Lee B. Brawner, himself a most talented library consultant, developed a workshop that introduces the participants to the joys and pitfalls of consulting. This is usually a one-day session, but can be reduced to half day, or even two to three hours.

Training Options

PROVIDENCE Associates approaches each training workshop as a unique entity in that we customize the content to meet the client's specific needs. This may involve conducting pre-training surveys of the workshop participants, telephone interviews with participants prior to the training, redesign of standard content to reflect the client's unique environment, and long term follow-up and consultation in the post training period.

There are a variety of training options from which our clients may choose when it comes to costing our services. The variables in these costing proposals are length of workshop, number of trainers used and the maximum number of participants per session.

Communication Skills: From Workshop to Workplace

This day and a half workshop is designed for both managers and staff who are intent on replicating the customer service communication skills in the workplace. It provides an in-depth examination of the communication / interview process and the related factors involved. Participants are given extensive opportunities to practice the process. They are also counseled on techniques for transferring the workshop experience to the job site, some of the situations they can anticipate encountering in the transfer and the means they can use to achieve success. Two trainers are required with a maximum of 30 participants; an additional trainer is needed for each additional group of participants numbering from three to fifteen.

Communicating Effectively with Customers: An Overview

This one-day session provides the participants with an overview of the customer service communication process, an understanding of the specific elements involved and an opportunity for limited practice of the process in the workshop setting. Two trainers are required with a maximum of 36 participants; an additional trainer is needed for each additional group of participants numbering from three to eighteen.

Train the Trainers

This three-day workshop prepares staff to become in-house trainers for the Communicating Effectively with Customers workshops. Participants learn about the importance of administrative support, the need to market the training to staff and the steps required for planning, organizing and implementing the effort to insure its success. In addition, workshop participants have the opportunity to prepare several of the workshop modules under the guidance of the trainers. This is an option to be considered by a large organization that has the need to repeat the training frequently either because of the number of staff to be trained and/or the tendency to regularly hire new staff over a period of time. We provide two trainers for a maximum fifteen participants to be trained as trainers.

Architectural Dictionary

For many librarians a building project is their first such experience. Librarians can be confused by architectural terms, and by architects. The purpose of this information-packed and illustrated booklet is to provide you with many of the basic terms used in architecture. Thus, when your architect talks about a coffer and you thought that was what the city fathers told you they had to empty every time you submitted a requisition for a additional part-time position, or that a gable was the greatest actor to ever live, that penthouse was a magazine on the excluded list, and wainscot was where you could find Wayne sleeping 30 minutes after his break was over, well then this dictionary is for you! An Architectural Dictionary for Librarians, is an illustrated, 16-page glossary of terms that you will hear time and time again during your building project.

Surveys

Work Benefits Survey

The 2003/2004 edition of this one-of-a-kind survey is now being compiled. This survey will tell you what dozens of public libraries are paying for health care, how much vacation does a new librarian earn, how do libraries handle staffing on Sundays, and much, much more. This year we will also devote additional information to salaries and wages. This will be our sixth survey.

Unobtrusive Customer Service Surveys: Pre and Post Training

For organizations that are interested in determining their current use of the communication and customer service skills and/or level of information accuracy, PROVIDENCE Associates can conduct an unobtrusive customer service survey, analyze the survey data, and provide a detailed report of the results indicating areas of communication strengths and weaknesses. The survey will provide a snapshot of the staff's customer service and communication skills and overall information accuracy rate. It may be used as a benchmark that substantiates the pre and post training effectiveness of the information center's customer service.

Off-Site Demographic Analysis and Mapping Services.

Associates Ethel Himmel and Bill Wilson lead this effort. We can provide you with a wealth of information about your customers -- where they live, the libraries they use, their educational attainment levels, the number of children under the age of 18 living at home -- this and much more is doable without us having to charge you for travel expenses. This is a great marketing and service development tool!

Discover Library Architecture Tours

PROVIDENCE has planned a series of "Discover Library Architecture" tours and workshops. These have been held in Dallas/Forth Worth, Fort Lauderdale/Miami, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C. These events have enabled us to visit new academic library buildings throughout the country. The Tours also include a half-day building workshop. Each tour is scheduled for three days, including the workshop.

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