1. National Library for Health pilot Cath McCafferty Mersey Care NHS Trust

2. What is LibQUAL+ ?  Survey tool for assessing quality of library services  Developed by Association of Research Libraries in the United States  Used widely in UK Higher Education  $2250 per library – around £1500  First used in 2001 – to date over 500 libraries have taken part

3. A tool that enables the library to: 1)Solicit, understand, and act upon users’ opinions of service quality 2)Foster a culture of excellence in providing library service 3)Help libraries understand user perceptions of library service quality 4)Collect and interpret library user feedback systematically over time

4. Survey Data  Poses questions in three sections: effect of service, library as place and information control  Identifies best practices, analyses deficits, and effective allocation of resources  Enables the assessment of whether the library service is meeting user expectations  Aggregates data and allows comparison of library performance with peer institutions

5. NLH Pilot  The pilot is part of the work programme developing the National Service Framework (NSF)  The NSF will define what users should expect from library services.  So … can LibQUAL+ be used by NHS libraries as a tool for measuring user expectation?

6. NLH Pilot sites 1.Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust 2.Berkshire Shared Services 3.East Lancashire NHS Trust 4.Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust 5.Hull and East Riding Primary Care Trusts 6.Islington Primary Care Trust 7.John Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust 8.Leicestershire General Hospitals NHS Trust 9.Merseycare NHS Trust 10.Royal College of Nursing

7. Mersey Care NHS Trust Mental Health Trust with 32 service points 4, 500 staff 3 library service points for staff Approx 2,000 library members 132 completed surveys/792 attempts

8. The Pilot 1.Questionnaire live for 3-4 weeks during April / May and one final site in July (pilot not yet ended) 2.Promotional material raised awareness of the questionnaire

9. Post Pilot 1.Pilot sites receive a report from LibQUAL+ based on response data 2.An SPSS file containing local response data, plus any qualitative data.

10. The questionnaire Online or written (but if written library staff have to input the response online) Questions cover: -The library space -Library staff -Library resources The pilot questionnaire contained 35 questions divided into 3 sections

11. What does it look like?

12. Preliminary issues identified 1.Questionnaire Sampling 2.Demographic information 3.Some of the questions not appropriate to all users Library as space inappropriate for community based staff or those accessing services remotely 4.Usability of the online questionnaire Around 75% who looked at the questionnaire did not complete it Disappointingly small response rate

13. Feedback – the good Straightforward and easy to set up Having such rich data is amazing Comments made about library services very positive We have found out information that we might otherwise never have discovered. If the NHS could afford to get LibQUAL to tailor it more to our needs it would be brilliant

14. Feedback – the bad The concept of answering a question 3 times is hard to grasp Insufficient training from LibQUAL Not having an effective email base, we could not send out targeted email reminders Numerous telephone calls and emails asking for explanations and guidance on filling the form in Required quite a lot of staff time to set up, learn about, publicise etc

15. Feedback – the ugly I would be disappointed if LibQUAL became the survey tool for NHS libraries It is fine to pilot these tools, but I hope the NHS does not now feel duty bound to purchase the product It was “absolutely awful” and [doctor] couldn’t do it. Too gimmicky….purchasing LibQUAL would be a huge mistake

16. In a nutshell If the NHS could afford to get LibQUAL to tailor it more to our needs it would be brilliant

17. Project Report The project report will be available in October 2006 Colin Davies Service Development Programme Manager National Library for Health 07880 772495 Colin.Davies@cfh.nhs.uk