Learn
how to use the phone! Make sure you know how to:
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Ask your supervisor for the preferred way for you to answer the phone in your department. It should be consistent for everyone in that department, whatever it is. |
| Be sure that you are calm and attentive when you answer. The caller can usually tell quickly if you are going to be pleasant and helpful or if you are preoccupied and unhappy. |
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Be accurate and as complete as possible with your answers. If you can't answer a question, find someone who can. If it is someone in the department, put the caller on hold briefly while you explain the situation to that person. |
| If you transfer the call, always alert the other library staffer at the other end as to why you are making the transfer and what you have learned from the caller so the caller doesn't have to repeat everything yet again. |
| When someone calls you by mistake, a wrong number, and they don't have the correct number, see if you can help them get the correct number. Look it up in the University Directory or the Mobile telephone book. We are in the business of providing information--we should be able to do it for those who demonstrate an immediate need. |
| End phone calls just as you do questions in-person. Remind the caller to call back if they need more information. If your supervisor allows, give them your name as a contact. |
This page resides at http://library.southalabama.edu/training/phone.html
Modified on 3/03/04js
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