1. R LibQUAL+: A Measurement Tool for Special Libraries? Susan Scheiberg Assistant Director, Library RAND Corporation David Shumaker Manager, Information Services The MITRE Corporation June 13, 2006 MITRE content ©2006; Approved for Public Release; Distribution Unlimited.

2. R What is LibQual+ ? A suite of services offered to libraries to solicit, track, understand, and act upon users opinions of service quality Keystone is web-based user survey and analytical package

3. R What are the goals of LibQual+? To help libraries… Foster service excellence Better understand users perceptions of library service quality Systematically collect and interpret user feedback

4. R What are the goals of LibQual+? To help libraries… Receive comparable assessment information from peer institutions Identify best practices in library service Enhance analytical skills for interpreting and acting on data

5. R Why was LibQual+ developed? Inputs, outputs, huh? And I should give you money because…?

6. R How was LibQual+ developed? ServQual ARL Timeline

7. R LibQUAL+ 2005 by the Numbers InstitutionsSurveys Total American English285115,852 Colleges and Universities22198,206 Community Colleges307,354 Academic Health Sciences227,388 Military Institutions61,697 Public and State Institutions5741 Academic Law Institutions1466 British English2011,919 Canadian French2416 Dutch English1771 ARL6631,479

8. R What does LibQual+ measure? Affect of Service = quality of service Information Control = effectiveness of information resources and information delivery tools Library as place = quality of library space

9. R How does LibQual+ measure? 22 questions and a box Consortia can add up to 5 custom questions

10. R Whats the LibQual+ survey instrument? 3 scales: Minimum Desired Perceived

11. R Results and analysis The Notebook Online interactive data, charts, graphs Data sets Online discussion lists LibQual+ personnel support

12. R

13. R Key to Radar Charts

14. R

15. R Why Did a Group of Special Libraries Choose to Participate? Highly vetted, tested, and proven survey instrument that we didnt have to write! Customized demographics for our peer group Customized group of questions for our peer group Administered and analyzed by LibQual personnel, not our staff Individual and peer analyses Raw data sets for in-house analysis

16. R How did it go? We found the survey inflexible in some key ways –Use of academic position titles and other academic language –Use of library Response rates not as high as hoped (10- 15% range) – in line with academic faculty response rates Audience frustrated with survey complexity –Many negative comments –Apparently high proportion of abandoned surveys –47% completion rate in line with 50% norm

17. R Were there any usable results? Yes! The survey confirmed our strengths and our service gaps Mostly, the results independently highlighted, validated, and quantified things we already knew (or at least were vaguely aware of) The survey provided an opportunity for discussion with our senior management We are taking action on key needs and gaps!

18. R Would we do it again? Not right away Only if ARL modifies the survey to provide more flexibility for non- academic information services ARL has expressed willingness to work with special libraries / information services – if enough are interested

19. R LibQual+ resources LibQUAL+ Web Site http://www. libqual.org LibQUAL+ Bibliography http://www.libqual.org/documents/admin/LibQUALBibliography2.0.pdf Survey Participants Policies and Procedures Manual http://www.libqual.org/documents/admin/procedures4.6.pdf Note: LibQual+ logo and design used by permission.