North Ayrshire Council Link

North Ayrshire Heritage Service

Customer Charter

North Ayrshire Heritage Service aims to work with local people and other partners to collect, record, and care for North Ayrshire’s unique cultural heritage and to promote understanding and enjoyment through access and education for all.

Looking after you

We will:

  • Communicate clearly with you and not use jargon
  • Provide a service for you irrespective of your age, your cultural background, your ability or your gender
  • Be fully trained and skilled to help you make the most of your visit
  • Be clearly identified by our name badges
  • Welcome you as you enter our centre with a greeting or a smile and will acknowledge your departure
  • Recognise where you require assistance and offer to help
  • Give you our full attention
  • Ensure that we understand your needs correctly when you visit and direct you to the appropriate resources.
  • Ask if you have been successful in finding what you are looking for
  • Ensure your heritage team are trained to provide a polite, welcoming and effective service
  • Give complaints the highest priority for investigation and written response

Looking after your Heritage Centre

  • The Heritage Centre will be safe, clean, welcoming and attractive
  • The entrance area will be uncluttered and will inform you about our service
  • All counters will be kept tidy and free of clutter and will promote Heritage Service business only
  • Posters and notices will be displayed only in designated areas and selected in accordance with our poster policy. They will be weeded regularly and preference will be given to those carrying local information
  • We will display accurate information about our services, prices, opening hours and events and we will give you at least four weeks notice of any planned changes to service times or facilities
  • The shelves will be well stocked and tidy
  • We will ensure that all equipment, including computers, printers, scanners and photocopiers, is maintained in good working order.

Telephone calls

We will:

  • Always give our name when we answer your call
  • Try to resolve your query while you are on the phone and close 80% of calls at the first point of contact
  • Call you back if the query is more complicated. We will provide you with a timescale for a call back and we will ensure that we meet that timescale
  • Call you back within 24 hours if you leave a message
  • Only transfer calls if it is necessary
  • Transfer calls quickly and correctly. We will tell you who you are being transferred to and tell the person taking the call who you are and why you are calling.

Email and postal enquiries

We will:

  • Answer enquiries professionally, effectively and discreetly
  • Acknowledge all email and postal enquiries within 3 days
  • Give an approximate timescale in the case of enquiries of a more complex nature, which may result in a longer response time
  • Deal with enquiries in chronological order
  • be responsible and accountable for the accuracy and quality of our work

Community Engagement

We will:

  • build effective, positive and proactive relationships with local people and communities
  • provide high quality services and information that is easily accessible to all
  • provide displays which interpret our collections in ways which are interesting, stimulating and enjoyable for visitors
  • support schools by presenting our collection material in a form compatible with current learning practices
  • deliver a wide range of activities for young people which relate to the curriculum, and provide opportunities and experience which support and encourage the development of personal, social and community skills.
  • seek and encourage feedback by actively canvassing the comments and perceptions on the quality of service from individuals and groups
  • provide forms for visitor comments, complaints and enquiries in reception areas.
  • Continue to document the collection in order to ensure that our responsibilities towards donors and lenders of items are fulfilled, and that information about our collections can be made readily accessible to users
  • publish our acquisition and disposal policy, and make this available to all users upon request

To help us achieve our aims we ask you to:

  • Treat all Heritage Centre materials with care and respect
  • Be courteous to other users and staff.
  • Help improve our services by giving us your feedback

To let us know your views, please:

  • Speak to any member of the Heritage Centre staff.
  • Complete a North Ayrshire Customer Comments Form available at the reception desk or from the Council website: www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk

How to contact us

You can contact us at:

North Ayrshire Heritage Centre

Kirk Gate

Manse Street

Saltcoats

KA21 5AA

Tel: 01294 464174

Email: naheritage@north-ayrshire.gov.uk

Website: www.naheritage.co.uk / Contact Form

Facebook: North Ayrshire Heritage and Cultural Services

X: @NACHeritage