LibQUAL+ in the UK and beyond Stephen Town University of York, UK QQML 2009, Chania Friday 29 th May

Outline Introduction LibQUAL+ outside North America LibQUAL+ results in the UK & Ireland LibQUAL+ in action

The premise for LibQUAL+ beyond North America Underlying need to demonstrate our worth The reallocation of resources from traditional services and functions Rapid shifts in information-seeking behavior –Need to keep abreast of customer demands Increasing user demands –37% of UK 16 – 18 year olds in the UK expect better libraries in return for their top-up fees Specific Quality Assurance regimes, and contextual drivers (Bologna)

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.

UK Service Quality Context in 2003 Academic library & institutional quality initiatives since at least early 90s Sophisticated survey market, with standard SCONUL satisfaction survey; designed surveys through Priority Research and others Specific audit and assessment regimes for which surveys could provide supporting evidence

LibQUAL+ outside North America

The SCONUL Consortium Coordinated on behalf of the Society of College, National & University Libraries (SCONUL) Working Group on Performance Improvement (WGPI) UK Higher Education (HE) institutions UK & Irish HE institutions UK & Irish HE institutions 2006 – 20 UK & Irish HE institutions 2007 – 21 UK & Irish HE institutions 2008 – 17 UK & Irish institutions UK & Irish institutions 66+ different institutions (including EBS UK members)

Overall Potential UK Sample to 2009 Full variety of institutions 50% of institutions* (53% of RAE top 50) >53% of HE students potentially sampled (>850,000) *Based on a selection of Universities UK membership of 131

RLUK University of Aberdeen University of Birmingham University of Bristol British Library Cambridge University Cardiff University Durham University Edinburgh University Glasgow University Imperial College London University of Manchester King's College London Leeds University University of Liverpool University of London The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) National Library of Scotland National Library of Wales Newcastle University University of Nottingham University of Oxford School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of Sheffield University of Southampton Trinity College Dublin UCL V&A Museum University of Warwick Wellcome Library

Ireland University College Cork University College Dublin Dublin City University NUI, Galway University of Limerick NUI, Maynooth Trinity College Dublin Dublin Institute of Technology Institute of Technology Tallaght Irish Management Institute University of Ulster

SCONUL Consortium 2009 Cranfield University Institute of Technology Tallaght Royal College of Nursing Royal Holloway University of London St George's, University of London Trinity College Library Dublin University of Aberdeen University of Bath University of Birmingham University of Bradford University of Glasgow Library University of Leeds University of Limerick University of Manchester University of St. Andrews University of Ulster University of York

LibQUAL+ France Consortium Sciences Po Service Commun de Documentation - Université de Provence Université de Bretagne Occidentale - Service Commun de Documentation Université de Bretagne-sud - Service commun de la Documentation Université de Rennes 2 - Service commun de documentation Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Université du Sud Toulon-Var Université Paris 12 Val de Marne Université Sorbonne nouvelle - Paris 3

LibQUAL+ Belge & Norway Université Catholique de Louvain Université de Liège Université Libre de Bruxelles Utrecht University Library Hedmark University College The NTNU Library University of Agder University of Bergen Library University of Oslo University of Tromsø Library

World National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies National University of Singapore Universidad de Guadalajara Université de la Polynésie française University of Cape Town University of Haifa University of Pretoria, Department of Library Services 政策研究大学院大学－日本語

Consortia outside North America Belgium Canada European Business Schools (EBSLG) France Hong Kong (JULAC) Japan NHS England Norway UK & Ireland (SCONUL)

Rapid Growth in Other Areas Languages –American English –British English –Other English variations –Afrikaans –French (2 versions) –German –Dutch –Scandinavian languages –Chinese –Welsh Types of Institutions –Academic Health Sciences –Academic Law –Academic Military –College or University –Community College –European Business –Hospital –Public –State Countries –U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, France, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia

World LibQUAL+ Survey 2005 Participating Libraries

LibQUAL+ ® Languages Over 700 institutions 1,000,000 respondents

LibQUAL+ and SCONUL Results and consequences

Key to Bar Charts Key to Radar Charts

Respondents by Institution for SCONUL

Population and Respondent Profiles by User Sub-Group

Population and Respondent Profiles by Standard Discipline

Core questions summary

Core Questions Dimensions Summary

Local Questions Summary

Core Questions Summary for Undergraduates

Core Questions Summary for Postgraduates

Core Questions Summary for Academic Staff

Core Questions Summary for Library Staff

LibQUAL Summary Colleges or Universities (American English)

LibQUAL Summary SCONUL

Longitudinal Analysis for SCONUL Dimension Breakdown

Longitudinal Analysis for SCONUL User Group Breakdown

General findings Highly desired –Making electronic resources accessible from my home or office –Print and/or electronic journals I require for my work –A haven for study, learning or research Lowest –Library staff who instil confidence in users –Giving users individual attention –Space for group learning and group study

LibQUAL+ in action

Use for national policy influence SCONUL LibQUAL+ results contributed to national enquiries on libraries and learning in higher education, with particular reference to learning spaces, and the competitiveness of UK University libraries in comparison to global peers

UK University Case Study: Using LibQUAL+ ® Results Strategic Service Developments –Data to support service development –Ability to identify where not meeting expectations –Measure if change has met need Budget Discussions –Data to support bid for increased funding –Data to support case for change in emphasis (towards e-provision) Marketing Position –Status of the library within the University –Importance of national & international benchmarking

LibQUAL+ related outcomes Funding received for: New Web Services Administrator Increased opening hours –Now providing 222,578 seat hours per week Library refurbishment programme reinstated at costs in excess of £8 million

Library Refurbishment From:To:

Finding Benchmarking Partners

External Benchmarking

Peer-to-Peer Benchmarking

LibQUAL+ Analysis Service Possibilities for additional analysis are endless, your time may not be The UK LibQUAL+ analysis service provides customised reports produced to individual requirements Discounted pricing due to unique relationship with the ARL

Why use LibQUAL? Why did you choose to use LibQUAL+? “LibQUAL+ was recommended to us as offering a well designed, thoroughly Library-focused set of survey tools” “Cost-effectiveness” “Automated processing & fast delivery of results” “Opportunity to benchmark” “Respectability and comparability (with others and historically)”

The benefits of LibQUAL+ ® “LibQUAL+ has enabled us to find out what a broad range of our users thought of the services we offer; what level of service- delivery quality we had achieved in their eyes, and to get a clear picture of what they actually wanted the Library to deliver (as opposed to what we thought they wanted).” UK HE Institution, 2006

J. Stephen Town Director of Information & University Librarian University of York, UK