ACRL WNYO Chapter

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Survey says ? Deb Kalvee James A. Gibson
Library, Brock University dkalvee_at_brocku.ca
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Context

• Brock University was established in 1964.
• 17,000 students - a 50 increase in 5 years.
• The main library is on 7½ floors of a 13-story
  tower.
• Size of collections 1.5 million items.
• Roughly a 2 million collections budget.
• The Library has a staff of 70.
• 1 part-time and 18 full-time librarians.

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Self administered surveying
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Sample comment and response

• December 7, 2005
• COMMENT
• Please clean up after yourself when youre in
  the Library! Just because the Library has a new
  food policy doesnt mean you can leave a mess!
  The 10th floor had Mr. Sub wrappers all on the
  floor, and so many coffee cups were on the desks!
  We all study here, so respect that and clean up
  after yourself!!
• REPLY
• Thank you very much for your comment. To provide
  a more comfortable and positive learning
  atmosphere for our users, we eased up on our food
  and drink policy. Our policy is quite liberal
  when compared against other Canadian university
  libraries. We added more refuse and recycling
  receptacles with the expectation that they would
  be used, and Custodial Services staff do extra
  pick ups during weekday afternoons and on the
  weekend. We appreciate your cooperation in order
  to maintain the Library, and reduce litter.

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• Administered surveys
• Are a more reliable way to gather users
  perceptions.
• They help us
• identify our strengths and weaknesses,
• guide our service improvements,
• and identify gaps in our offerings.

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• March 2002 Undergraduate student research
• skills survey (987 responses)
• 57 DIDNT feel discomfort or anxiety about using
  the Library.
• 43 DID feel discomfort or anxiety about using
  the Library.
• 4 ranked their library skills as excellent 27
  very good
• 41 good 24 adequate 4 as poor.
• 54 attended a library seminar arranged by their
  professor.
• 83 never voluntarily attended a library seminar.
  
• 60 believed the seminar helped 27 felt it
  didnt help 13
• indicated it helped somewhat.

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• March 2002 Undergraduate student research
• skills survey continued
• 65 never view their library record online.
• 77 never use interlibrary loan.
• When conducting research for a class assignment
• 5 go the Library and ask for help
• 54 go to the Librarys website
• 17 go to the Library and go through resources by
  hand, picking the best
• 2 go to other libraries, use textbooks from
  previous years,
• ask a TA, classmate, or friend, or visit
  professional services.

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• April 2003 Undergraduate and graduate students
  survey (552 responses)
• Most ask for help in-person 60 go to the
  reference desk 13
• go to Circulation 12.5 go to the website 2
  email
• 48 reported that course assignments could be
  completed using only the textbook and lecture
  notes.
• 47 satisfied with the availability of group
  study 38 not.
• 75 very or somewhat satisfied with the
  availability of books 22 were not.

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• April 2003 Undergraduate and graduate students
  survey continued
• Experience using the Library
• 16 When I use the Library, I find what I
  want
• 61 I can usually find what I want, but there
  are frustrations
• 13 The Library is a frustrating place, but I
  find it
• difficult to find the information I need
• 7 I generally avoid libraries, preferring to
  use other methods to get the information I need.
  

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• April 2003 Undergraduate and graduate students
• survey continued
• Sources of frustration
• there werent enough books or journals, they were
  too old, not on
• the shelf, or hard to find
• there werent enough copiers, they were too
  expensive, and the
• lines were too long
• didnt like our circulation policies regarding
  renewals, fines and
• borrowing limits and,
• general lack of knowledge about where things are
  and how
• to use the Library.

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April 2003 Undergraduate and graduate students
survey continued

• The Library website was the best communication
  method by 39, followed by posters (19), an
  email newsletter (13), and the student newspaper
  (14).

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• March 2004 Tell us how we are doing survey
• (29 responses)
• Enjoy the comfy leather chair areas and more
  would be better!
• You seriously need more group study area. Maybe
  you could convert the 5th and 7th floors into
  group study.
• I must say that I have found improvement of the
  library.
• It is nice to see that our university library
  has attempted to look
• at quality and improve its services.
• The library service has done nothing but improve
  since I arrived in September 2002. Keep up the
  good work.

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Spring 2005 Faculty survey (111 responses)

• Faculty members continue to come in-person into
  the Library. The web site draws more frequent
  visits.
• They primarily use the Librarys book and journal
  collections, followed by putting items on
  reserve, picking up ILLs, and consulting with
  library staff.
• Level of satisfaction with library resources and
  services.
• 89 were very satisfied or satisfied with staff
  assistance
• 69 were very satisfied or satisfied with
  interlibrary loan
• 79 were very satisfied or satisfied with the
  hours of operation
• 78 were very satisfied or satisfied with our
  electronic resources
• and, only half were very satisfied or satisfied
  with our print materials.

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Spring 2005 Faculty survey continued

• The Librarys staff assistance and personal
  service was rated highly.
• They hear about Library news through e-mail
  notices from their departments library liaison
  librarian. When asked for their preferences, the
  clear favourite was short announcements via email
  and our website.
• Some respondents didnt know that we offer
  instruction sessions, while a couple of others
  felt the quality of sessions could be better
  less is more.

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September 2005 Laptop loan survey (73 responses)

• 100 of the respondents felt that the laptop
  satisfied their requirements.
• I love this service. Thank you!
• This is really a helpful way to help students
  who really enjoy being at school. I should thank
  Brock for such great work.
• It is an extremely useful service and is much
  appreciated.
• I love this idea! A few more laptops would be a
  great addition. Please buy more.
• There is room for improvement. For example, the
  sound on start up should be muted automatically.
• We dont have enough electrical outlets.

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March 2006 User (undergraduate) survey (157
responses)

• Students still come to the Library to study
  individually and in groups, conduct research,
  retrieve reserve readings and photocopy. In fact,
  our gate counts have increased by over 75 in the
  last 5 years.
• They value the individual and group study space,
  and the silent, quiet and common zoning of said
  space, the soft seating the Library has, our
  computers, particularly the popular, laptop loan
  service, and the helpful staff.
• Group study space is very popular, and users want
  more of it, although not at the expense of silent
  or quiet space.

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March 2006 User (undergraduate) survey continued

• After improving study space, acquire more books,
  and journals, databases and laptops for loan.
  Other concerns
• more quiet study areas with increased
  enforcement,
• longer library hours,
• And, more and less expensive photocopiers.
• Users would like workshops in the first week or
  two of a term on how to do research citing
  references and, general information on the
  Library.

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March 2006 User (undergraduate) survey continued

• One-half of the students are in favour of an
  instant messaging service to help them.
• Noticed that the Library has been expanding and
  improving in leaps and bounds.
• We need to do much more promotion of recently
  acquired collections.

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March 2006 User (undergraduate) survey continued

• Students want more materials in virtually all
  subject areas.
• Request for a one-page handout detailing services
  for 1st year students.
• Thanks for always trying to improve.

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Users really appreciate

• Nice, clean facilities
• the appearance of our collections, equipment
• friendly and high quality customer service
• ease of use
• organizational schemes that allow them to find
  things
• and, that we care.

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• The quality of user touch points like operating
  hours, how
• long it took to check out a book, etc. are
  important.
• When you survey, you set expectations for action.
• Paper remains a viable medium.
• For more information about the survey process and
  
• questionnaire design, see the attached
  bibliography.

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Conclusion

• Its the users of the library, rather than the
  collections that have taken on a defining role.
• Creating and measuring satisfaction is an ongoing
  process.
• Surveys are symbols that promote us as being user
  friendly and responsive.
• Communication with our users can prevent
  marginalization, and using surveys in this way is
  a method of communication that all libraries can
  effectively engage in.

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Bibliography

• Bradburn, Norman M. Asking questions the
  definitive guide to questionnaire design for
  market research, political polls, and social and
  health questionnaires. Rev. ed. San Francisco
  John Wiley and Sons, 2004.
• Dolenko, Michael. (Phase 5 Consulting) Measuring
  service quality a customer value approach.
  Course taken through the University of Torontos
  Faculty of Information Studies, Continuing
  Education, January 25, February 8, 2002.
• Given, Lisa M. Designing effective
  questionnaires what every librarian needs to
  know. Audio conference. Education Institute,
  April 7, 2005.
• Hernon, Peter, John R. Whitman. Delivering
  satisfaction and service quality a
  customer-based approach for libraries. Chicago
  American Library Association, 2001.
• Library surveys and questionnaires, compiled by
  Joe Ryan, University of Syracuse.
  http//web.syr.edu/jryan/infopro/survey.html
• Murphy, Kurt R. Marketing and library management.
  Library Administration and Management. Summer
  1991 p. 155-158.
• Thomas, Susan J. Using web and paper
  questionnaires for data-based decision making.
  Thousand Oaks, CA Corwin Press, 2004.
• Woodward, Jeannette. Creating the customer-driven
  library building on the bookstore model.
  Chicago American Library Association, 2005.

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Thank you.