Alice’s Adventures in LibQual-Land

Kitty TynanAssistant Director for Public Services

CUA Libraries

All illustrations from The Victorian Web: A Tenniel Galleryhttp://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/tenniel/alice/gallery1.html

What is LibQual?• Developed & administered by ARL• Web-based survey• Measures service

quality• Demographic data• 22 “core” questions• 5 “local” questions• Comments

Why LibQual?• No formal assessment of services to date• Strategic planning• Space planning• Accreditation• Fairly easy to do

– Lots of support from ARL– Results include data

in a presentation notebook– Can use Excel for analysis

How to LibQual

Identify the Local QuestionsChoose 5 from over 100

Ease of use of electronic resources

Providing help when and where I need it

Providing information that answers my questions

Teaching me how to access, evaluate, and use information

Making me aware of library services

Subject bibliographies

The right mix of electronic content

The right mix of easy-to-use tools to access military and other scholarly content

Examples:

2008 Local Questions

Comprehensive collections of fulltext articles online

Convenience of borrowing books from other colleges

Ease of using library's online article indexes

Availability of online help when using my library's electronic resources

Informing me of useful library services

Providing health information when and where I need it

Employees teaching me how to access or manage information

Demographics Define your Population

• By status (faculty by rank, staff, graduate, undergraduate)

• By department

• By gender• By age• Office of Institutional

Research is your friend

Getting the Word Out• Emails• Announcements

– Libraries web page

– University news• Posters• Table tents• Bookmarks

Prizes!• A big prize (iPod

Touch) is a big draw• Ask for (and get)

donations– Bookstore– Starbucks

Follow up• Web reminders• More emails• Remind them of the deadline – and the

prizes!• Thank them at the end

Now What?• Review results notebook• Identify priorities• Prepare summary

report• Analyze comments• Apply• Repeat