Dana Research Centre and Library — Attraction in London

As a client: Avoid as place to hold lectures! As a guest: Expect to be patronized, dismissed, ignored!

This venue is not customer oriented and if you are a client interested in booking the hall - you will miss out on potential attendees because of staff keeping people away, being downright rude, and trapped in needlessly rigid protocols.

To wit: The museum organizes a lecture with the most well-known mathematician in the world, Terence Tao - and then closes it's doors 15 minutes after the start of the lecture but does not mention this fact in their email! So groups of people form outside that want to get it - to no avail.

Further: Super unfriendly staff. A young receptionist that could have let us in, but decided she couldn't spare the 1 minute from her ending shift to point us to the lecture hall and rather went home. This was 20 minutes after the lecture started.

Lastly: A white-haired, elderly employee with glasses in the booth near the entry gate, at the corner of the building, who refused, after the lecture was over and people streamed out, to let us at least to the reception afterwards to mix and mingle - and this was even though I was affiliated to one of the organizers. He pretends to not understand, asks in an annoyed tone "Are you working at the museum?". What a -sorry for being so explicit- stupid question. After we insist, phone calls are being made, a young lady is being summoned, who is being much nicer, but ultimately also achieves nothing other than for several minutes to ask apparently other employees what the "status" is. Meanwhile time passes, more people stream out, and we essentially came for nothing.

I could not recommend anyone using this venue for lectures. Highly unprofessional treatment of guests. Will not return and avoid in the future (except if I can snap a picture of the receptionist and portar to make it known who has clearly failed at their job of engaging with...

The library is nice, clean, comfortable and quiet place to study. There are mixed reviews because people are confused about when it is open and who it is available to, and the initial receptionist when I went was not particularly proactive (sounds like the same person that others met). There is an initial receptionist when you first enter the building (not sure what else is in the building), and then another receptionist for the library after you get down the stairs and turn right. The library is only open to the public on Thursdays and Fridays between 11am and 5pm (check the website as this might change). You need to register on the science museum page (the website is fully automated, you can register in one minute), then book a desk at the library by sending them an email - the autoreply says that they aim to respond in 24 hours, but I received a confirmation within 30 minutes.

If you turn up without a booking, then I'd suggest quickly registering on the science museum website and then telling the initial reception that you would like to speak to the library reception to make a booking. The library reception might give you a booking immediately - they are very helpful.

It seems as though the system might be temporarily inconvenient for to COVID, but I'm not sure - hopefully it eases up in future and becomes easier for...

I visited the Dana Research Centre and Library yesterday in desperate need of a printer to prepare a document for the embassy. Although I knew the place had a different purpose, I was welcomed with the warmest smile and a genuine willingness to help by the lovely young lady at the library reception.

She kindly directed me to a computer I could use and assured me I’d be able to print my document there. Unfortunately, the gov.uk website kept returning an error, so I couldn’t complete the task. Disappointed, I said I’d return later to try again. Despite it not being her fault in the slightest, she apologised and reassured me that I could come back at any time, letting me know she’d be there until 4pm to assist me with anything I needed.

It might sound simple, but that short interaction truly made my day. Outstanding customer service like this is rare, and it deserves to be recognised. If you are reading this, please know that you and people like you make the world a better...