Project URL – TM ® LibQUAL+ ® : An Overview The Third Lodz [Poland] Library Conference Technical University of Lodz June, 2008 Presented by: Bruce Thompson and Colleen Cook Texas A&M University

Total Circulation Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2008). ARL Statistics Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.10.

Reference Transactions

Multiple Methods of Listening to Customers Transactional surveys* Mystery shopping New, declining, and lost-customer surveys Focus group interviews Customer advisory panels Service reviews Customer complaint, comment, and inquiry capture Total market surveys* Employee field reporting Employee surveys Service operating data capture *A SERVQUAL-type instrument is most suitable for these methods Note. A. Parasuraman. The SERVQUAL Model: Its Evolution And Current Status. (2000). Paper presented at ARL Symposium on Measuring Service Quality, Washington, D.C.

PERCEPTIONS SERVICE “….only customers judge quality; all other judgments are essentially irrelevant” Note. Zeithaml, Parasuraman, Berry. (1999). Delivering quality service. NY: The Free Press. Seminal Quotation #1

Seminal Quotation #2 “Il est plus nécessaire d'étudier les hommes que les livres” —FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

“We only care about the things we measure.” --Bruce Thompson, CASLIN, Czech Republic, 2006 Seminal Quotation #3

13 Libraries English LibQUAL+™ Version 4000 Respondents QUAL QUAN QUAL QUAN QUAL PURPOSE DATA ANALYSIS PRODUCT/RESULT Describe library environment; build theory of library service quality from user perspective Test LibQUAL+™ instrument Refine theory of service quality Refine LibQUAL+™ instrument Test LibQUAL+™ instrument Refine theory Unstructured interviews at 8 ARL institutions Web-delivered survey Unstructured interviews at Health Sciences and the Smithsonian libraries to survey administrators Web-delivered survey Focus groups Content analysis: (cards & Atlas TI) Reliability/validity analyses: Cronbachs Alpha, factor analysis, SEM, descriptive statistics Content analysis Reliability/validity analyses including Cronbachs Alpha, factor analysis, SEM, descriptive statistics Content analysis Vignette Re-tooling Iterative Emergent Libraries English, Dutch, Swedish, German LibQUAL+™ Versions 160,000 anticipated respondents LibQUAL+™ Project Case studies 1 Valid LibQUAL+™ protocol Scalable process Enhanced understanding of user-centered views of service quality in the library environment 2 Cultural perspective 3 Refined survey delivery process and theory of service quality 4 Refined LibQUAL+™ instrument 5 Local contextual understanding of LibQUAL+™ survey responses 6

Dimensions items56 items25 items22 items Affect of Service Library as Place Reliability Personal ControlInformation Control Provision of Physical Collections Self-RelianceInformation Access Access to Information

Survey Instrument

“22 Items and The Box….” Why the Box is so Important  About 40% of participants provide open-ended comments, and these are linked to demographics and quantitative data.  Users elaborate the details of their concerns.  Users feel the need to be constructive in their criticisms, and offer specific suggestions for action.

“…and Five Ancillary Items” Either Zero or Five Ancillary items are selected to address local or consortial concerns  Items from the initial LibQUAL+ TM item pool.  Items written by previous consortial groups.

Participating Libraries World LibQUAL+™ Survey

LibQUAL + ® Participants * 2007 data reflects Session I data only

Rapid Growth in Other Areas Languages  Afrikaans  American English  British English  Danish  Dutch  Finnish  French  German  Norwegian  Swedish Consortia *Each may create 5 local questions to add to their survey Countries  Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, U.K., U.S. Types of Institutions  Academic Health Sciences  Academic Law  Academic Military  College or University  Community College  Electronic  European Business  European Parliament  Family History  Research Centers (FFRDC) Libraries  High School (2007)  Hospital  National Health Service England  Natural Resources  New York Public  Public  Smithsonian  State  University/TAFE

Interpreting Service Quality Data Three Interpretation Frameworks

Benchmarking Against Peer Institutions --1,000,000 Users; 1,000 Institutions! NORMS! NORMS! NORMS! Interpretation Framework #1

Score Norms Norm Conversion Tables facilitate the interpretation of observed scores using norms created for a large and representative sample. LibQUAL+™ norms have been created at both the individual and institutional level

Institutional Norms for Perceived Means on 25 Core Questions Note: Thompson, B. LibQUAL+  Spring 2002 Selected Norms, (2002).

Benchmarking Against Self, Longitudinally “Nobody is more like me than me!” --Anonymous Interpretation Framework #2

Information Control – Faculty (Compare 2003 to 2007) Longitudinal Graphs

Interpreting Perceived Scores Against Minimally-Acceptable and Desired Service Levels (i.e., “Zones of Tolerance”) Interpretation Framework #3

LibQUAL+ ™ 2004 Summary Colleges or Universities Undergraduates – American English (n = 37,661)

LibQUAL+ ™ 2004 Summary Colleges or Universities Graduates – American English (n = 16,750)

LibQUAL+ ™ 2004 Summary Colleges or Universities Faculty – American English (n = 11,755)

The Underused “Analytics Tool”

® A. LibQUAL+ ® Lite Q. What is NEW for 2008 and beyond?

® LibQUAL+ ® Lite is a survey methodology in which (a) ALL users answer a few, selected survey questions, but (b) the remaining survey questions are answered ONLY by a randomly- selected subsample of the users. Thus, (a) data are collected on ALL QUESTIONS, but (b) each user answers FEWER QUESTIONS, thus shortening the required response time!!! ® LibQUAL+ ® Lite

Person Item Bob Mary Bill Sue Ted Service Affect #1 X X X X X Info Control #1 X X X X X Service Affect #2 X X Library as Place #1 X X X X X Service Affect #3 X X Info Control #2 X X Library as Place #2 X X ® LibQUAL+ ® Lite

LibQUAL+ ™ Resources LibQUAL+™ Website: Publications: Events and Training: Gap Theory/Radargraph Introduction: LibQUAL+™ Procedures Manual: