Central Public Library Quality Service Charter

Contents

This Charter

Our Mission

How to Contact us

Our Commitment

How you can help us

How to use our services

Our Services

Extra Curricular Activities

If you are not satisfied with our service

Learning from you

This Charter

This charter is a guide to the Central Public Library. It outlines the services we provide and the standards of service we aim to achieve.

Our mission

Our commitment is to serve all members of the community and enhance the quality of life by providing library material for education, information or recreation purposes.

The Central Public Library provides an outreach service through a number of regional and branch libraries in various towns and villages. We aim to satisfy all our customers' needs and tastes.

How to contact us

You can contact us by:

• Coming personally or writing to the:

Central Public Library

Triq Sir H Scicluna

Floriana CMR 02

• Phoning us on 21243473/21240703/21224044
• Faxing us on 21222654
• accessing our website at www.education.gov.mt/edu/central_public.htm

Our commitment

We deliver a wide range of services. You can expect us to:

• be quick, courteous and helpful at all times
• be knowledgeable, dedicated and well-trained in customer care and library procedures
• identify ourselves by wearing nametags

We publish a library newsletter every quarter to keep constant contact with all our clients. You may pick up a copy at our counters or from Customer Care Unit. We also provide leaflets and brochures giving you more information on the library. We also continuously update our website at the following address: www.education.gov.mt/edu/central_public.htm

We are committed to constantly improving the Library's environment. We provide a pay phone service, vending machines, lift and a fully air-conditioned environment. In our current drive to upgrade our facilities, we are giving particular attention to those customers with special needs.

As recognition to our commitment, we have won the People Management and Satisfaction Award organised by the Employment Training Corporation for the year 1999.

How you can help us

You can help us deliver a better quality service by:

• always bringing your membership card to the library
• handling all material with care
• returning all material on time
• not misplacing books from appropriate shelves
• do not remove reference material from the library
• being courteous and helpful with us.

How to use our services

You will need a membership card to use our services. If you do not have a card, call at our Customer Care Unit where we will ask you to fill an application form. You will need your identity card to apply and junior applicants will need to be accompanied by one of their parents or custodian. Custodians will also be required to bring their identity card. It should not take us longer than 5 minutes to register you as a member.

We are open to the public from Monday to Saturday at these times:

• 1^st October - 15^th June

Monday to Friday

8.30 a.m. - 5.45 p.m.

• 16^th June - 30^th September

Monday to Friday

8.30 a.m. - 1.15 p.m.

• All year round

Saturday

8.15 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.

If you need any information feel free to call our Customer Care Unit on 21252604.

Our Services

Borrowing a book

Our library is fully computerised. Some regional and branch libraries have also been computerised and you may access their material through the search system from our library. Ask our counter staff for information on which sites have been computerised and may be accessed.

You can use our electronic catalogue to find the book you need. If the book you are looking for is on loan, we will reserve it for you. As soon as the book is returned we will inform you by mail within 48 hours. We will keep your reservation for 10 days.

Please feel free to browse through our collection. You may borrow up to 4 books for a maximum of 3 weeks provided you present your membership card. Whether you are borrowing or returning books, our counter staff will not take more than 4 minutes to serve you.

If you want to renew a book, you may do so by telephone. Call the counter staff on 21243473/21240703/21224044 Ext 221 (adult library) Ext 225 (junior library) and give them your identity card or membership card number. You may renew the book for another 3 weeks provided that there are no pending requests for it. Overdue books cannot be renewed.

Special Needs

We make every effort to provide facilities and services that are accessible to people with disability. We offer various audiocassettes that we will send by post within 2 days from receiving your request. You will need to fill in an enrolment form issued by the Special Needs Library in our building. We will send you the form and a catalogue of the cassettes available by post. You may then send your enrolment form, the catalogue and your choice of cassettes in the self addressed envelope provided.

You may borrow audiocassettes for up to one month. Please ensure that you return the material in good working condition.

Acquisition of new books

Our book selection committee meets regularly and will consider any suggestions you would like to make as regards material that you would like us to acquire. Please put any suggestions for new books in the suggestion box at the Customer Care Unit. You may use our feedback form.

Reference Services

You can make use of our various reference libraries, which include Melitensia, books and articles of a generic nature, internet services and audio-visual material such as CD-ROMS, audiocassettes and videotapes. Photocopies are available on request.

The Melitensia library provides books related to Malta and any other material published by Maltese authors. Our staff within this section will assist you to retrieve the information you need.

Audio-visual and Internet services are also available at these times:

• 1^st October - 15 June

Monday to Friday

8.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.

2.00 p.m. - 5.45 p.m.

• 16^th June - 30^th September

Monday to Friday

8.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.

• All year round

Saturday

8.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.

Please book early to avoid disappointment.

Extra-Curricular Activities

Educational Programmes

We organise Story Telling once a week between November-May aimed at stimulating the imagination and creativity of children. These sessions will help children to build up self-confidence and introduce them to reading in a very natural way. Children aged between 4 and 7 years are encouraged to attend with their parents or custodian.

For children aged between 8 and 10 years there is Kemm Inhobb Naqra!, sessions that are aimed to continue building up upon the reading process we have started with Story Telling. During this programme children take part in discussions, story telling, introduction to internet services and quizzes with which the educational potential of those taking part is encouraged.

Il-Pjacir Taghna Nitkellmu Maghkom is aimed for those parents who attend the above named programmes. During this programme various subjects regarding reading are discussed together with a general introduction to all the library services.

Library Orientation Visits

We encourage schools to organise library orientation visits to create and strengthen reading skills in children from an early age. Schools should book in advance so that we can organise these visits.

If you are not satisfied with our service

If you think that we have failed to maintain our service delivery standards you can lodge a complaint, because your complete satisfaction is essential to us. We will look into all complaints as they also help us improve our service.

If you would like to lodge a complaint, it is best to first speak to the person who served you. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you may call at or write to our Customer Care Unit at the following address:

Central Public Library

Department of Libraries and Archives

Floriana CMR 02

We will acknowledge your complaint promptly and you will have a full reply within 10 working days

Learning from you

We continuously strive to provide a service that meets your needs and we welcome any comments and suggestions for service improvement. Kindly give us your comments by filling in a Feedback Form and leaving it in the suggestion box that we have made available in our library

All information is correct at time of going to print. More information is available on the Charter Support Unit website and on the Central Public Library website.