Customer Experience: From Principles to Practice
Toronto Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
Toronto Public Library (TPL) developed an organization-wide Customer Experience (CX) Strategy to strengthen how services, spaces, collections, programs, and processes are designed and delivered. Guided by a shared CX Framework, toolkit, principles, and staff-led implementation model, the initiative supports a more consistent, inclusive, and responsive experience across more than 100 branches, digital service channels, and nine divisions. By providing staff with shared language, practical tools, and a common approach to decision-making, the strategy helps improve experiences for both customers and colleagues while fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
Challenge/Opportunity
Toronto Public Library serves one of the world's most diverse urban populations through a large network of branches, collections, programs, digital services, and community partnerships.
Key challenges included:
- Delivering a consistent customer experience across more than 100 branches and digital channels.
- Establishing a shared service philosophy and common language across nine divisions.
- Supporting equitable, inclusive, customer-informed decision-making.
- Equipping staff with practical tools to design, evaluate, and improve services.
- Meeting evolving expectations for seamless, welcoming, accessible experiences.
- Embedding customer experience into planning, operations, and service delivery.
Opportunity: Create a sustainable framework that enables staff at all levels to design and deliver services through a customer lens while embedding customer experience into organizational planning, service design, communications, and operational practices.
Key Elements of Innovation
- Established a cross-divisional Customer Experience Working Group to lead implementation and champion CX across nine divisions.
- Developed a Customer Experience Framework informed by customer and employee engagement.
- Created a Customer Experience Toolkit to support service, program, space, communication, and process design.
- Introduced six Customer Experience Principles to guide service design, decision-making, and consistency.
- Adopted an "Educate and Embed" model, engaging approximately 2,200 staff while integrating CX into workflows, planning, and leadership practices.
- Embedded CX into strategic planning, project development, operations, and culture initiatives.
A distinguishing feature is the dual-customer model, which recognizes both public customers and colleagues as customers. By linking employee experience to customer outcomes, the model highlights how internal processes, communication, and collaboration shape both staff and customer experiences.
Achieved Outcomes
- Established a shared approach to customer experience across one of North America's largest public library systems.
- Created a common language and framework for customer-informed decisions.
- Increased staff understanding and application of CX principles and practices.
- Integrated CX into planning, service reviews, projects, and operations.
- Strengthened alignment between strategic priorities and service delivery.
- Expanded cross-divisional collaboration and shared problem-solving.
- Reinforced commitments to inclusion, accessibility, empathy, and continuous improvement.
- Created a foundation for future innovation and organizational transformation.
Indicators of Success:
- Adoption of the CX Framework, Principles, and Toolkit across divisions.
- Integration of CX into planning and operations.
- Increased use of customer-informed design and decision-making.
- Greater cross-divisional collaboration.
- Consideration of customer and colleague impacts.
