satellite television seminar aimed at improving customer service.

Nearly 25 librarians from the public libraries, government, business and law offices took part in the satellite link-up on Wednesday at Bermuda College.

The "teleseminar'' was sponsored by the American Library Association and featured two Harvard Business School experts speaking on the subject of "Achieving Breakthrough Service in Libraries.'' Professors James Heskett and Earl Sasser Jr. demonstrated that "improvements in customer service create impressive gains in productivity and generate service excellence that leads to better patronage and support.'' The president of the American Library Association Mr. Hardy R. Franklin said: "Our nation's libraries are like any other organisation, they have to use the best models and tools to remain a vibrant force in the community.

"This teleseminar offers librarians and other library workers the opportunity to learn about customer service strategies from one of the world's leading experts.

"The fact that the breakthrough service model was presented through the lens of a library management system makes it extraordinarily valuable for our members.'' Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira joined Bermuda's 24 participants, including representatives from the Bermuda Library, the Bermuda College Library, and the libraries of ACE Insurance, Appleby, Spurling and Kempe, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Bermuda Institute, Bermuda High School, Mount St. Agnes, and the Berkeley Institute.

During the four-hour programme, participants exchanged ideas and experiences with librarians from other jurisdictions.

At the end of the session each participant took home a "breakthrough service'' audit to assess their own library's performance against key aspects of the service model outlined by the Harvard professors.

The breakthrough service programme is based on a business model for customer service developed through years of research at the Harvard Business School.

It can be customised to library management systems using case studies from public, academic, and school and business libraries.