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Andrew Harris, Germaine Hawkins, Rebecca Morris; LIS 650-01 2016 Needs Assessment

Executive Summary

Our team used three methods to gather information. Our first and primary method was

two electronic surveys, our second was independent research, and our third was direct questions

to the library branch manager. Both surveys were constructed using the services offered by

Typeform under their free trial version. The first survey was constructed to gather demographic

and satisfaction information from library patrons. This survey was distributed through flyers,

posters, employee notification to patrons, and direct interview process by our team. The second

survey was constructed to gather information related to Buckingham’s Twelve Questions. This

survey was distributed directly from the branch manager by email to all employees and regular

volunteers. The nature and structure of these surveys will be covered in the Methods section of

our paper. Independent research was conducted by members of the group into available library

resources and basic background information. A bibliography of all sources will be included in

the Appendices section of this report. Some direct questions were posed to the branch manager

of the library, those questions and answers will also be included in the Appendices section.

Both surveys specifically note and were designed to collect information in an anonymous

fashion to both protect privacy of respondents and to encourage them to share their genuine

opinions either positive or negative. It was specifically noted that all questions were optional if

participants did not feel comfortable sharing a piece of information with us. Additionally, it was

specifically noted that this project was being completed by students of the University of North

Carolina at Greensboro with the permission and approval of the library. Our sample was

somewhat random as patrons self selected to complete the survey online or were open enough to

engage with us in person. We were able to hold one day of in person data collection during

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which we spoke to many patrons. Our findings are not statistically significant, as expected, and

our opinions and recommendations reflect the limited nature of our data.

Based upon our gathered data the average patron of the library is 45 years of age, White,

and female. Patrons average about one visit to the library per week and spend about 10 minutes

looking for the desired materials. Patron satisfaction averaged a 9 on a scale of 10 across the

board. Additionally, patrons strongly indicated a “Yes” when asked if they felt the library served

the community satisfactorily. Patrons were able to identify their own needs and what services

they valued highly with clarity, expressing a clear understanding of what services the library is

able to offer. Patrons who self identified as either Black or African American expressed

markedly lower satisfaction in both customer service provided by library staff and in the

materials offered in the library’s collection. We do not have enough detailed data to give useful

insight to this correlation but felt it was still worth noting.

Based on our gathered data most employees seem to be happy with their work

environment as indicated by the Twelve Questions. We received strong response of “Yes” to all

but two of the Twelve Questions, which had mixed responses. We did not collect demographic

information from employees as the pool of possible persons was much smaller and therefore

much more identifiable.

In total we received 11 patron responses and 7 employee responses to the two surveys

respectively. In this report we will examine an idealized vision of the library and how close our

data resembles this vision. In addition, we will more closely analyze the results of the data and

propose some possible recommendations to improve the library.

Introduction

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Demographics

The Hemphill Branch is located in the heart of Greensboro, North Carolina which is

located in the Piedmont region of the state. The population of Greensboro in 2014 was almost

277,000 and the average household income in the city was $61,000. Racially, the city has almost

is composed of 48% of Caucasians and 40% of African-Americans. 8% of the residents are of

Hispanic origin. Of the population of residents over 25 years of age, which is roughly 181,000

residents, 70,000 have obtained a Bachelor’s degree or higher. Of the 39,000 residents who have

obtained high school diplomas, 22% of them live below the poverty level. Of the 17,000

residents who have less than a high school diploma, 37% live below the poverty level. 33% of

African-Americans in the city live below poverty level, and 10% of Caucasians live below the

poverty level. 4.2% of men are unemployed in Greensboro, and 3.1% of women are

unemployed. (City of Greensboro, 2014).

Regarding literacy, children in the city of Greensboro as well as in Guilford County as a

whole struggle with reading at or above grade level. According to a report prepared by the

United Way of Greater Greensboro, “more than one third of Guildford County Schools

elementary students (or approximately 24,000 children) read below their grade level”. (United

Way of Greensboro, 2015.) The report summarizes the poverty levels of Guilford County and

substantiates the need for literacy programs in multiple areas for children as well as adults.

Staffing

The Hemphill Branch is staffed by 11 full and part time employees. The Children’s

Librarian holds a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) Degree, and the Branch

Librarian and three Library Associates hold Bachelor’s Degrees along with a wealth of

experience in the Library field. The Hemphill Branch is also staffed by 2 Library Assistants who

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work 20 hours per week, and 4 other employees who work 19 hours per week. Volunteers also

help in the Hemphill branch, and they range from teens to adults. The library is open for 63

hours each week.

Mission and Strategic Goals

The Mission Statement of the Hemphill Branch Public Library states the following: “In

partnership with the community, the Greensboro Public Library strives to provide free and equal

access to information, foster lifelong learning, and inspire the joys of reading”.

The goals of the Hemphill Branch are designed to support the needs of the Greensboro

community. In order to reduce poverty rates and increase literacy rates in Guilford County, the

first goal of the Hemphill Branch is to create an environment to promote economic development

opportunities and job creation. The second goal is to maintain the infrastructure and provide

sustainable growth opportunities. In addition, the Hemphill Branch has established a goal to

promote public safety and reduce crime, and also focuses on creating a quality user experience

by achieving exceptional customer service and a diverse city government workforce.

Greensboro Public Libraries offer a multitude of programs and services to meet the needs

of the community and promote literacy. These programs are located at various locations

however but are available to all residents of Guilford County. Children’s programs include

Preschool and Toddler Storytimes for preschool children and Afternoon Adventures for school

aged children. Teenagers have a variety of opportunities for literacy development as well the

library system offers events such as The Poetry Project, Teen Spa Makerspace: Glitter and

Glamour, TAG (The Teen Advisory Group) and Teen Tech: 3D Modeling and Printing. Adult

literacy needs are addressed through classes such as Introduction to LinkedIn, Basic Computer

Skills, Care Giving 101, and SmartCents: Budget and Credit Basics for Home Ownership.

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The Hemphill Branch has enjoyed several successes in the past year. At the Hemphill

Branch alone, 749 readers registered for the Summer Reading Program. The library also logged

the number of hours that the 2016 high school graduates in Guilford County spent reading at the

branch. The students logged a total of 3000 hours.

Budget

The Hemphill Branch will operate during this fiscal year on a budget of $402,100.00.

$269,655.00 of that allotment goes to salaries and wages, and $106,362.00 is allotted for

employee benefits. $26, 062.00 is allotted for office supplies, periodicals, technology equipment

and services, building and maintenance services, insurance premiums, and other services.

Methods

We will now break down our participants into relevant demographic categories. Our 11

participants’ ages were reported as follows in ascending order coupled with the reported gender

and racial group; 20 Male Prefer Not to Answer, 32 Female Black or African American, 33

Female White, 34 Female White, 40 Male White, 45 Male White, 50 Female Black or African

American, 55 Female Black or African American, 55 Female White, 55 Female White, 70

Female White. The average age of participants is 45 with a 23% Male and 77% Female gender

ratio. 64% of participants reported as White and 23% as Black or African American with one

response accounting for 9% preferring not to provide this information.

Above is pictured a scatter graph of the participants ages entered in series of survey completion

rather than ascending order. Below is pictured a pie chart depicting the 23% Male and 77%

Female gender ratio of participants.

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Below is pictured another pie chart depicting the gender ratio reported by participants.

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0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Ages

Gender Ratio

MaleFemale


Our participants were semi-randomly selected. About half of the participants self selected

to complete the survey as advertised by our flyers and the employees of the library. The other

half was selected during our in person data collection day. We set up a table at the front of the

library and attempted to engage patrons and ask them if they would be interested in participating.

Several agreed to sit down with us and those who could not we offered slips of paper with the url

code to the survey printed on them. We found most patrons to be friendly and interested even if

they could not stop to speak with us at that time.

At the beginning of our survey we asked participants to report their ages in a numeric

field. We then asked participants to select the gender option most applicable to them. Despite

providing options beyond Male or Female we received no responses other than Male or Female.

Similarly, we received only responses of White or Black or African American when we inquired

about racial background despite providing a plurality of options. We felt that providing a wide

range of choices would be the most inclusive approach to collecting this information and made

sure to include the Prefer Not to Answer and Other choices for both questions.

We then inquired how often patrons visited the library and how long they spent looking

for materials. We provided multiple options covering multiple visits a day to a few times a year

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WhiteBlack or African AmericanPrefer Not to Answer


and 1 minute to more than an hour respectively. We felt that this range would help participants to

estimate the figures quickly and accurately.

In the next four questions we asked participants to rate on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the

least satisfied and 10 being the most, their satisfaction with the services, technological resources,

customer service, and materials in the collection offered by the library. We felt that this

methodology would be the most efficient way to gather the data and would meet the

recommendations of the assignment.

The final five questions were left more open ended and provided space for short written

answers. We asked the following five questions in this format; When you visit the library what is

your main reason for doing so? In the last 6 months can you identify a specific interaction with a

staff member that exceeded your expectations of customer service? Can you name a specific

service not currently offered by the library that you would like to see implemented in the next 6

months? Do you feel that the library adequately serves you community? What service does the

library offer that is most important to you? We felt that these questions would prompt

participants to provide us with insights that raw data might not. We received some good

responses and some shorter responses, giving us what we felt was a mixed success. All questions

were selected and constructed in order to best evaluate the most crucial aspects of the library and

to provide us with the greatest possible insight to how well the library lived up to our ideal

vision.

The employee survey was constructed directly from the Twelve Questions posed by

Marcus Buckingham in First, Break All the Rules and was credited as such. We provide each of

the Twelve Questions and then provided five answer choices as follows; Yes, Always, Yes, Most

of the Time, Sometimes, No, Most of the Time, No, Always. We felt that this was the most direct

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way to gather the information in the context of our readings. Due to time constraints it was not

possible to speak with employees directly on this topic but in completing this project we found

all employees to be friendly, helpful, and happy.

Results

1. What are your library’s primary goals and functions?

The manager of the Hemphill Branch shared with us the goals and strategies that have

been established for meeting the needs of the patrons. The goals, objectives, and strategies of the

Hemphill Branch were clearly defined, and this indicated to us that the strategic planning team

had already done an exceptional job of demonstrating that they could follow the first Raving Fan

rule which states “Decide what you want”. (Blanchard, p. 22). Our customer survey focused

primarily on finding out whether or not a satisfactory user experience was taking place in the

Hemphill Branch, and the goals which had already been established had already addressed ways

that the library would provide those services. Each goal incorporated specific objectives which

listed strategies for achieving those goals. Our employee survey focused on whether or not the

library staff’s needs were being met throughout the process of performing their daily functions

and meeting the needs of patrons. The Hemphill Branch had also established goals and strategies

for meeting those needs as well. We will list those goals that align with the satisfaction surveys

that we administered, and discuss the results of those surveys.

Organizational Goal #1: Create an environment to promote economic development

opportunities and job creation. This goal aligns with the community’s need to address the issue

of high unemployment in the Greensboro area. The result objective for this goal is to provide

high quality housing and recreational opportunities to make Greensboro an attractive place to

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live, work, and visit. The Hemphill Branch has established several strategies for achieving these

goals and objectives which are listed below:

1. Hemphill Branch staff will assist patrons and provide proactive customer service in

finding materials for patrons and utilizing online resources

2. Hemphill Branch manager will work with staff on continually weeding all sections of

the collection as well as completing the Hemphill Branch profile for collection

development.

3. Programs (adult, children’s, teen, etc.) will be continually evaluated utilizing

customer surveys.

The questions on our customer satisfaction survey which addressed whether or not the

two strategies were being performed are listed below:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the services offered by your library?

2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the electronic and technical

resources offered by the library?

3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the offerings of the library’s

collection?

4. How long does it generally take for you to locate the materials that you need?

Organizational Goal #2: Maintain infrastructure and provide sustainable growth

opportunities. Some of the strategies that were established to reach this goal are listed below:

1. Create neighborhood-based services tailored to the needs and interest of the

community

2. Ensure that City libraries are maintained at a level that is welcoming and safe to

participants

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The questions on our customer satisfaction survey that aligned with these strategies are

listed below:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the customer services provided by

the library staff?

2. Can you name a specific service not currently offered by your library that you would

like to see implemented in the next 6 months?

3. Do you feel that the library adequately serves your community?

Organizational Goal #3: Promote public safety and reduce crime. Several of the strategies

for this goal align with the result objective for achieving the goal which is to provide welcoming

and safe library spaces, resources and programs to engage teen audiences. The questions on our

survey which addressed whether or not the strategies for meeting this goal were being utilized

are listed below:

1. When you visit the library, what is your primary purpose for doing so?

2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the customer service provided by the

library staff?

3. Do you feel that the library adequately serves your community?

4. In the last 6 months can you identify a specific interaction with a staff member that

exceeded your expectations of service?

Organizational Goal #4: Achieve Exceptional Customer Service and a Diverse

City Government Workforce. This goal is addressed in both the customer surveys and the

employee survey. Some of the strategies that were established to achieve this goal are

listed below.

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1. Staff will work with Branch Manager in developing personal growth plans achieved

through quarterly staff and individual meetings.

2. Staff will work with Branch Manager in continuous training and use of

communication techniques and devices

3. Hemphill Branch will utilize proactive customer service when covering the desk,

shelving, providing readers advisory, etc.

4. Hemphill Branch will participate in lifelong learning through workshops, conferences

and classes offered by Greensboro Public Libraries, City of Greensboro, and

community institutions.

5. Hemphill Branch staff will take advantage of online resources and become

knowledgeable with these resources to share with patrons.

The questions from the employee survey, which are derived from the First Break All the

Rules’ 12 questions, are listed below.

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?

2. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?

3. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

4. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?

5. In the last six months, have I talked to someone about my progress?

6. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow? (Buckingham and

Coffman, p. 28)

2. What is your library’s “ideal state” or “should be’s” if everything was operating

perfectly?

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The Hemphill Branch provided insight into their ‘ideal state’ with a list of result

objectives. For Organization Goal #1, which indicated that the library should create an

environment to promote economic development opportunities and job creation, the result

objectives are listed below:

1. Community residents will receive quality library and museum programs based on

community needs and interest.

2. Support the community in an effort to grow jobs in the area

Organizational Goal #2, which states that the library will maintain infrastructure and

provide sustainable growth opportunities, was given a result objective which is listed below:

1. Provide well-maintained and developed city facilities and service outlets to provide

equitable service and attract participants and guests

2. Provide access to educational programs and information to support sustainable living

Organizational Goal #3, which states that the library will promote public safety and

reduce crime, has a result area objective which states the following:

1. Maintain and develop diverse programs that target juveniles which will provide

healthy and safe alternatives to negative influences.

2. Partner with public safety to provide programs and information to residents

Organizational Goal #4, which states that the library will achieve exceptional customer

service and a diverse city government workforce, the ideal state was indicted by this result

objective: Ensure the highest level of customer service and responsiveness related to

departmental programs and services.

3. Based on your team’s needs assessment, how close is your library to its ideal state?

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The results of the patron survey gave us insight into whether or not the result objectives

of the Hemphill Branch were being met. Beginning with Goal 1, which is creating an

environment to promote economic development opportunities and job creation, the result

objective is to be sure that community residents will receive quality library and museum

programs based on community needs and interest. The results of our patron satisfaction survey

revealed the following.

In response to the question “On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the services

offered by your library?”, 66 % of the patrons surveyed rated their satisfaction level with the

library at nine or above. 41 % of patrons rated their satisfaction level at 7 or above. In response

to the question “On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the electronic and technical

resources offered by the library?”, 81 % of the patrons surveyed rated the materials and

collections at Hemphill Branch at 7 or above, and 22 % rated the collections below 7. In

response to the question “How satisfied are you with the offerings of the library’s collection”,

81% were satisfied at a level of 7 or above, and 22 % were satisfied below level 7. Of the six

participants that responded to the question “How long does it usually take you to find material

that you are looking for in the library”, 83 % responded that it took between 5 and 10 minutes for

them to locate materials.

Goal #2 requires the library to maintain infrastructure and provide sustainable growth

opportunities. The patron survey question “Do you feel that the library adequately serves your

community?” revealed that 100 % of the respondents felt that the library met the needs of the

community. Respondents also gave free responses to the question “Can you name a specific

service not currently offered by your library that you would like to see implemented in the next 6

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months? Patrons gave free responses in this section and suggested programs such as tutoring

services and reading programs for small children.

Goal #3 requires the library to promote public safety and reduce crime. The data shows

that the majority of survey respondents believed that the library adequately served the needs of

the community and that the majority of respondents were satisfied with the services offered.

Goal #4 addresses the need to achieve exceptional customer service and a diverse city

government workforce. Based on the assessment of the staff responses, 100% if employees felt

that they knew what was expected of them at work, and 85% felt that they always had the

equipment to do their jobs. 87% felt that there was someone at work who encourages their

development, and 87% felt that they had the opportunity to do what they do best every day at

work.

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Goal 1: Create an environment to promote economic development opportunities and job

creation.

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Goal 2: Maintain infrastructure and provide sustainable growth opportunities.

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Goal #3: Promote public safety and reduce crime.

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Goal 4: Achieve exceptional customer service and a diverse government workforce.

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We feel that there is room for improvement even in the face of high rankings on patron

satisfaction and employee satisfaction. Specifically, as noted during in person surveys, patrons

hoped to see an expansion of the materials in the collection and an increase in teen and young

children oriented programs. In speaking with the branch manager it was noted that there are

budgetary restrictions in place that pose the largest obstacle to these improvements. Some

employees felt that there was a lack of appreciation and a lower rate of ‘best friends’ as indicated

by our survey. Management might take note that some employees are feeling underappreciated

and perhaps work to bolster the social atmosphere of the work environment.

Judging the entirety of our collected data, it is clear that the majority of patrons feel a

high level of satisfaction in all aspects that we enquired about. However, those participants that

expressed lower levels of satisfaction in one area tended to express lower satisfaction across the

board. This should be expected as a less than positive experience with one part of the library may

impact the overall perception of the library. Additionally, there are multiple comments of a

positive nature and no comments of a negative nature with regards to participants’ opinions. The

employee survey returned a strong positive result on the Twelve Questions as well. These

factors, combined with the high numerical rating of the library across the board, lead us to

conclude that the library on the whole is meeting and even exceeding expectations. This brings it

closely in line with our idealized vision of the library.

Our sample size is 11 patrons and 7 employees. Clearly, 11 responses cannot be

representative of the full population of the library’s patrons. However, the branch manager

indicated that we should expect about 10 responses on the employee survey so at a response rate

of 70% I would say our collected data is fairly representative of that population. Based on our

methodology I would argue in favor of the validity of our data for both surveys. Clearly, the data

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is limited both in sample size and in scope but for the information we were able to collect it is of

high quality. As for reliability, I do not feel that the scope of our data or our sample sizes would

allow for us to rate it reliability too highly. Given this, the power of our findings and

recommendations must be tempered by these factors. This report has been an exercise and

practice for students. We hope to have provided some useful insights but we cannot claim the

report possess the necessary attributes to be used in policy making or evaluative decisions.

Conclusions & Recommendations

The ultimate goal in conducting a needs assessment for Hemphill Library was to identify

where the strengths and weaknesses of this organization lie and to determine whether or not this

organization is aligned with the vision and goals they have for themselves and the patrons they

serve. In so doing, we were able to pinpoint a variety of areas of particular importance to both

patrons and staff and to assess whether or not those areas were effectively meeting the needs of

these groups. Ultimately, the data we collected points to overall satisfaction at Hemphill, both on

the part of the patrons and the staff, although, as in every organization, there is room for

improvement and growth.

Although we were able to collect only a small sampling of data from our library’s

patronage, it did give us considerable insight into the areas of strength within that library and

provided some context for the type of support/resources these patrons found most important.

Patron Feedback

When looking over the data (although limited), the largest population of participants in

our survey can be characterized as middle-aged Caucasian females. On average, many of these

patrons visit the library about once a week and spend about ten minutes there. On a scale of 1-10

(with ‘1’ being ‘least satisfied’ and ‘10’ being ‘most satisfied’), the patrons on average report a

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score of 8.3 or higher in all of the key areas outlined in the survey: overall services offered,

electronic resources offered, customer service provided by staff, and materials & collections

made available. As most of the patrons surveyed cited collection usage or the utilization of

electronic resources as being their primary purpose in seeking out the library in the first place,

these numbers should be an accurate reflection of Hemphill’s success in providing a place that is

useful and easily accessible to patrons.

When asked in what ways the library could be serving their needs better or which

services could be provided that are not currently in place, there were a variety of responses. Most

notably, patrons seemed to desire more programming for a variety of age groups (i.e. teen social

events, story time for small children). This information is encouraging, as it appears the users at

Hemphill not only feel comfortable and encouraged to be a part of the community at the library,

but desire to do so more frequently (and with their families!) We recommend that some simple

brainstorming and the piloting of a few new programs or events at a time would go a long way in

determining which of these ideas would best meet the needs of the community.

The only other request of note spoke to collection management, as one patron desired

game checkouts in addition to the media already available (movies, music, software, etc.). As

video and PC games are starting to become a more prominent part of collections in many

libraries, we recommend that Hemphill begin to slowly incorporate these resources into their

current collection. This would be a simple matter of surveying patrons and keeping abreast of

trends in gaming. Once a few of these resources make their way into the collection, it will

become apparent if this is an area the library needs to invest in more. However, if the current

satisfaction with the collection is indicative of anything, it is that there is a clear understanding of

the patrons served and the needs of those patrons are being met for the most part.

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Staff Feedback

It is encouraging to see that staff at Hemphill are nearly as satisfied as the patrons who

frequent this library. When asked First, Break All the Rule’s twelve questions, the employees

responded positively to almost all of them - some employees were even raving fans of their

workplace with very little they felt needed to be changed. The only two areas that seemed to

present some mixed responses - and that we would like to offer some recommendations for - are:

praise in the workplace and camaraderie in the workplace.

Firstly, while some staff members did say they had received praise, recognition, or

positive feedback in the workplace in the last seven days, this was not the case across the board.

While our data does not provide further detail as to what each of these staff members contribute

to the workplace or how long they have been at Hemphill, every employee deserves to feel

valued and needed as a member of the organization in order to remain happy and fulfilled. While

only a few staff members at the time of surveying felt this way, if this were to become habitual,

there could be some detrimental effect to not only these staff members, but to the overall culture

of the workplace (Buckingham & Coffman). While the changes made to correct this could

potentially be rather small, the effects would not be insignificant. We recommend that

management considers putting in place a system that is simple, but that effectively communicates

appreciation and recognition for staff members. This could take the form of a weekly note, email,

or a one-on-one conversation with each member of the team, noting something they did well that

week. Even if the recognition or praise is for something relatively small, it may be even more

meaningful to that staff member that someone noticed and appreciated that task/action at all.

Small changes like this have the potential to leave a big impact on the staff members and the

organization as a whole.

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Additionally, not every staff member felt that they had a ‘best friend’ at work - a

confidante with whom to share the experience of everyday tasks and activities. While some

would push this further down on the list of important aspects of a workplace environment,

ultimately retention and overall happiness of employees oftentimes hinges on a sense of

belonging to an organization. There is little replacement for the sense of security that comes from

knowing there is someone in your workplace that one can talk to and spend time with. Not only

is this critical in contributing to individual employee happiness, but in a successful, happy

workplace, this contributes to the overall culture (Buckingham & Coffman). Our team

recommends that in an effort to ensure everyone in the workplace feels there is a person (or

persons) they can relate to and spend time with, management makes an intentional effort to

create opportunities for employees to socialize and get to know each other. Group-oriented

activities at staff meetings or while working on projects, social events and get-togethers for

holidays or birthdays, or even monthly potlucks are all ways for staff members to get to know

each other as people and provide a safe, relaxed environment in which employees can open up

and spend time together. These simple changes could have a huge impact and bring together the

staff more cohesively in working towards the overall goals of the organization.

Assessment Experience

As our team members hail from three different regions of the state, distance proved to be

a bit challenging. However, as our team’s leader is in the most centralized location and had

already established a good relationship and familiarity with Hemphill, it was a great choice as an

organization to approach for the needs assessment. Having twenty-first century tools at our

disposal certainly assisted greatly in making the sharing of ideas and resources throughout the

process much smoother, and also provided a way for us to conference, ask questions, and

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communicate concerns. Overall, our team is varied in strengths and abilities, some of us

naturally falling into a leadership role, delegating tasks and keeping the other members on track.

Others found their stride in organization and pulling together information in a cohesive way. As

a team, there is a respect for individual independence in working on various aspects of the

project, but always an open line of communication between members should any member need

help or feedback on the portion they are working on.

Challenges, as mentioned before, mostly lay in the distance between members. At the

start of the project there was a bit of bumpiness in trying to establish specific dates and times to

meet for surveying patrons, and the delegation of duties and tasks needed to be clarified. Once

this was completed, the process was relatively smooth.

In reference to the assessment itself, undoubtedly we would all have wished for more

time and resources to complete a more far-reaching and detailed survey of the patrons at

Hemphill. But, with the time and resources we did have at our disposal, we received a good deal

of positive feedback from this library and hope that our observations and analysis of the data

collected would be helpful to them in making future decisions for their staff and patrons.

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Appendix

a. Bibliography

Blanchard, Kenneth H., and Sheldon M. Bowles. Raving Fans: A Revolutionary

Approach to Customer Service. NY, NY: William Morrow and, 1993. Print.

Buckingham, Marcus, and Curt Coffman. First, Break All the Rules: What the World's

Greatest Managers Do Differently. New York, NY.: Simon & Schuster, 1999. Print.

City of Greensboro, NC. (2014). Demographic and Income Comparison Profile.

Greensboro, NC. Retrieved from

http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=26515.

"Library." City of Greensboro, NC : Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2016.

http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/index.aspx?page=780

United Way of Greater Greensboro. (2014). One-In-Five: The Hard Facts About Poverty

And Greater Greensboro’s Poverty Crisis. Greensboro, N. C. Retrieved from

http://www.unitedwaygso.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Poverty_Facts-

March20151.pdf

U. S. Census Bureau. (2013). Poverty Statistics in the Past 12 Months. Greensboro, NC.

Retrieved February, 2015, from

http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=26511

b. Account Information: Typeform https://admin.typeform.com/login/ Username:

[email protected] Password: Hemphil2016, Gmail Account Username:

[email protected], Password: Hemphil2016

c. Branch Manager QuestionsWhat is the approximate number of patrons that use the Hemphill branch on a daily basis?

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

https://admin.typeform.com/login/


What are the annual goals for the Hemphill Branch? Create an environment to promote economic development opportunities and job

creation Maintain infrastructure and provide sustainable growth opportunities Promote safety and reduce crime Achieve exceptional customer service and a diverse city government workforce Ensure fiscal stewardship, transparency and accountability

What are some of the successes that you have experienced recently?

What are the meeting rooms typically used for?

What is the breakdown of the number of MLS librarians, paraprofessionals and assistants, and volunteers that you have on staff at the Hemphill branch?

What is your annual budget?

d. Employee Survey included as a pdf document.

e. Employee Survey Results included as a Excel document.

f. Patron Survey included as a pdf document.

g. Patron Survey Results included as an Excel document.

h. Promotional Flyer included as a Word document.

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gerrihawkinsuncg.weebly.com€¦ · web viewour team used three methods to gather information....

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