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The Library celebrates achieving the Customer Service Excellence standard
Posted on behalf of: Library, Culture and Heritage
Last updated: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Wellbeing Area
For the 12th year in a row, the Library has successfully achieved the Customer Service Excellence (CSE) award. This national government standard built around 57 criteria in five key areas, from customer insight through to delivery and quality, has become a springboard for innovation in the Library.
Led by the UX Librarian, Simon Polton-Gower, and the CSE working group, 21 new pieces of evidence were submitted this year with 13 receiving Compliance Plus awards - recognising practices that exceed national standards (all others were compliant). At the heart of our approach lies a commitment to consulting, reviewing and benchmarking.
External assessors were particularly impressed by the “excellent submission” that demonstrated:
Embedding consultation
A key driver of success has been the Library’s culture of consultation. From refurbishing major spaces like the Wellbeing Area, Library Café and Sussex Research Hive, to revising College Membership offers and developing service standards, we have engaged users from the start. Through forums, targeted surveys and other UX techniques we work hard to make sure that our services are shaped by those who use them.
Empowering staff
We have a fantastic team working in the Library who are all empowered and encouraged to contribute to the service that we provide. One piece of evidence, assessed as compliance plus, reported how two Library Assistant Officers independently developed and delivered valuable visual impairment and deaf awareness training to colleagues in the Library to help us provide the best support possible.
Continuous improvement through benchmarking
From redesigning the Library website to refining workshop offerings and service standards, benchmarking against peers and stretch comparators has guided innovation, and was recognised by the assessors. Benchmarking both within and beyond the sector is something that we can all do to validate decisions and surface best practices.
If you would like to benchmark against any of our services or case studies, or simply learn a bit more about CSE, please get in touch at library@sussex.ac.uk.