Transforming Library Services: A customer-centric approach at Geelong Regional Libraries

Background:

Geelong Regional Library Corporation (GRLC) serves a dynamic and diverse community across the G21 region, with 20 libraries and three mobile units covering over 8,953 km². As Victoria’s largest public library service, GRLC is dedicated to fostering lifelong learning, creativity, and community connection. Recognising the increasing demand for personalised, accessible, and impactful services, GRLC partnered with Change Playbook to design a Customer Experience (CX) Strategy that aligns with its Library Plan 2021-2025 and advances its mission to connect and thrive.

Challenge:

In a rapidly evolving environment, public libraries are expected to provide not only traditional services but also spaces that foster social connection, digital inclusion, and community well-being. GRLC aimed to build on its strengths by adopting a modern, customer-centric approach to strengthen community ties, improve accessibility, and enhance its role as a community hub. By embedding CX into its core strategy, GRLC aligned its services more strategically with community needs, enhancing its relevance and value in the lives of its customers.

Solution:

Change Playbook worked with GRLC to develop a CX Strategy to transform its service model and reinforce its role as a community-driven organisation. The strategy was built on foundational elements that support a customer-centric vision:

  1. Guiding Principles development: Through collaborative engagement with community members and library staff, we identified core themes: accessibility, engagement, care, connection, and ease, which now form the backbone of all CX initiatives, guiding GRLC’s cohesive service delivery approach.
  2. CX Maturity Assessment: To understand where GRLC currently stood and identify improvement areas, we conducted a CX Maturity Assessment. This provided insights into GRLC’s existing capabilities across seven core areas, such as customer understanding, data and technology and operational excellence. The assessment not only benchmarked GRLC’s position but highlighted specific growth opportunities, such as enhanced use of customer insights and operational efficiencies, that informed the CX roadmap.
  3. Customer Personas and Journey Mapping: Recognising the diversity of library users, we developed customer personas to represent key customer segments and conducted journey mapping to gain deeper insights into their experience when interacting with the library. This customer-centric approach enables GRLC to design and deliver experiences that are inclusive, relevant, and impactful, meeting specific customer needs and preferences more effectively.
  4. Three-year Roadmap and 90-day Plan: We provided a structured three-year roadmap to guide CX maturity, paired with an actionable 90-day plan and framework to support continuous planning cycles. This approach allows GRLC to make steady progress, test and refine initiatives, and continually adapt to community needs.

Outcome:

With the CX Strategy now in place, GRLC is set to deepen community and customer engagement and improve service delivery, supported by customer personas, journey mapping insights, a 90-day planning framework, and a three-year roadmap.

As GRLC implements this strategy, they are positioned to:

  • Strengthen customer and community connection and accessibility: By aligning services closely with customer and community needs, GRLC can build stronger, more meaningful relationships, reinforcing libraries as accessible and inclusive hubs for social and educational connection.
  • Foster a customer-centric culture: Through CX guiding principles, iterative 90-day planning cycles, and a focus on service design, GRLC can embed a customer-focused mindset across the organisation, aligning staff efforts with evolving customer and community expectations.
  • Adapt and evolve: The roadmap and 90-day planning framework enable GRLC to respond dynamically to feedback and changing community needs, ensuring the strategy’s continued relevance and impact.

Additionally, the insights and outcomes from this CX Strategy will inform and shape GRLC’s next Library Plan, helping them to continue to meet the evolving needs of the community.

This CX Strategy empowers GRLC to lead as a modern library service, demonstrating how public libraries can thrive by applying CX best practices to consistently put customers at the heart of what they do.

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CASE STUDIES

Testimonial

I had the pleasure of working with Jane from Change Playbook on our Customer Experience project for our organisation, and I can’t recommend her highly enough. Jane's strategic, deliberate and agile approach to Customer Experience transformation, continuous improvement and change management has been instrumental in driving meaningful improvements during this stage of our customer journey. Jane’s attention to detail and focus on delivering to our needs were evident throughout the project. She consistently ensured the project was completed on time and within budget while keeping stakeholders informed and engaged. Beyond Jane's technical expertise, she is an excellent communicator and collaborator, fostering a positive team environment. She was always willing to listen to feedback and make adjustments as needed. If you are looking for a Customer Experience and organisational change consultant with a rare combination of skills and expertise, look no further than Jane. It was a great experience working with Jane, and I look forward to the opportunity to work with her again in the future."
Brendan Coady,
Manager Operational Support and Improvement,
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