Akron-Summit County Public Library Success Story: A Commitment to Transparency

Akron-Summit County Public Library (ASCPL) consists of nineteen locations in Akron, Ohio. After following OrangeBoy for several years, their Digital Marketing Specialist, Tim Hite led the library to join the Savannah Community in September 2021. We had the pleasure of talking to Tim about the Savannah features that he has implemented in just under a year.

Net Promoter Score
Net Promoter Score (NPS) became a strong Savannah feature for the Ohio library, almost immediately. ”We did not have a strong history of surveying customers, as it had been done minimally and randomly in the past. NPS gave us a nice, automated way to stay connected with customer needs, complaints, and feedback in general,” Hite shared. The Akron team sends out about five hundred requests for surveys every week through Savannah and has about ten percent of those returned. “We’ve had good insights from people” Hite added, “A lot of very generic “I love the library” kind of stuff, which is great and encouraging for staff, but we are also able to gain insight into practical matters that we can correct, which we probably wouldn’t have identified otherwise.”

With NPS, ASCPL learned that their customers are focused on the collection, they like friendly and helpful staff, convenience, cleanliness, and safety. “We use some of that information to refocus our efforts into collections, collection development, reorganizing physical buildings, further developing the eBook collection to fit customer’s needs, and more,” said Hite. “It’s been the qualitative data that’s been most helpful, so far.”

Like other Savannah Libraries, ASCPL is very proud of its NPS. Hite shared, “Being able to solicit customer feedback and having the opportunity to consider it very closely gives us great insight. Every comment is seen by our entire administration. Every suggestion is closely considered.” ASCPL seems very pleased with the trend of having a pretty high level of promoters and a relatively low number of detractors.

“We didn’t have NPS on our radar when we decided to purchase a Savannah subscription. It has been kind of a bonus feature, and the thing that we find the most value in,” said Hite. The Ohio-based library initially purchased Savannah for the messaging tool and data analysis. “A lot of the things that Savannah can do automatically, we were doing manually before, so it’s freed up a lot of our team’s time,” Hite commented.

A Commitment to Transparency
In the libraries’ pursuit to be more data-driven, ASCPL has recently started making efforts towards showing their team what data tools and resources are available to them. “We’re not strong in data analysis at our library because we don’t have anyone to do that but there has been a real shift in our library system. This year, we’ve started meeting with our librarians to show them what data tools are available to them from door counts, to program stats, to circ stats, to the data that Savannah offers. Seeing all these resources allows our team to interpret this information to make real-world strategic decisions,” Hite shared. “Our administration wants all our librarians to have unfiltered direct access to data. We have a real commitment to transparency and that comes from the administration on down.”

Overcoming Challenges: A Unified Goal
With the pandemic, Savannah data has allowed ASCPL to identify a drop when it comes to in-person traffic and a big boost in digital traffic. “Savannah has helped us stay in touch with those customers that we don’t see anymore. This tool allowed us to navigate the pandemic and stay connected with people,” Hite shared. “A great feature that Savannah Messaging offers is being able to see when and how people are re-engaging with the library.”

The pandemic changed the needs and wants of customers. Those who were visiting ASCPL before the pandemic are not always the ones that are visiting their locations now. “We can easily identify who is coming into our locations. Savannah data has given us statistical insight and has allowed us to share quantifiable facts with our staff which allows us to better serve our customers because we are all on the same page. Institutionally this has allowed us to move forward with our commitment to transparency,” Hite commented.

What’s in the Future for ASCPL?
In the coming future, Hite shared that one of his goals is to use Savannah to develop targeted drip campaigns for new cardholders. Collection development is also a big project that will be impacted by Savannah data. “The statistics that Savannah offers are an untapped treasure. We look forward to strategically analyzing this information to enhance our offerings,” Hite commented.

A Word of Advice for Other Public Libraries
Hite describes Savannah as “enlightening” and “flexible” as it is adaptable to ASCPL’s specific needs. “Like anything in life, you only get what you put into it. Both in terms of data and time, plan for that need. Set aside the time needed to take advantage of the tool. It does take some thoughtfulness and some effort as it requires a human touch and strategy.”