LibQUAL+ TM Library Survey 2006
LIBQUAL+ “ Only customers judge quality – all other measures are irrelevant”
What is LibQUAL+ TM ? Background Based on SERVQUAL - commercial tool for measuring service quality Produced by the Association of Research Libraries in the US Used mainly by academic libraries Very American in terminology Very Expensive for NHS libraries to use
Composition A survey instrument for libraries designed to solicit, track, understand and act upon users’ opinions of service quality 22 items and a box (+ 5 extra ?’s) 3 Dimensions: Affect of Service Information Control Library as a Place
Questions are intermixed Information Control -8 questions related to whether users are able to find information in the library of their choosing in an independent and autonomous way Affect of Service 9 questions on human dimension of service quality. These relate to the user’s interaction with, and the general helpfulness and competency of library staff
Questions cont. Library as a Place – 5 questions deal with the physical environment of the library as a place for individual study, group work or inspiration.
Why are we taking part? NHS pilot – Sponsored by NLH Being piloted in 9 different types of NHS Trusts + RCN Links into Helicon accreditation Benchmarking against other health libraries Pilot likely to last 2-3 years with opportunity to repeat the survey and compare the results
Goals Foster a culture of excellence in providing library services Help libraries better understand user perceptions of library service quality Collect and interpret library user feedback systematically over time
Goals cont. Provide libraries with comparable assessment information from peer institutions Identify best practices in library services Enhance library staff members’ analytical skills for interpreting and acting on data
Benefits Gives library users a chance to tell you where your services need improvement so you can respond to and better manage their expectations Develop services that better meet your users’ expectations by peer institution comparisons Examine practices of those libraries that are highly regarded by users.
How will the survey work? s sent to all Trust staff inviting them to complete the survey s and Intranet site will have links to actual survey Users complete survey online (10 mins) Open for 4 weeks, so reminder s sent Results sent to LibQUAL electronically
What kind of results will we get? The results of the survey should be available around June There will be results for our libraries and those of other NHS libraries in the pilot The results will be in report book containing bar charts and radiographs indicating the areas where we are meeting expectations and those where we are not
What happens then? The results we receive will be crude data and will need some interpretation (Cranfield) Once we have identified areas for improvement we can think about drawing up an action plan for developing our library service to better meet our users needs If the pilot is successful, LibQUAL+ may be used routinely to measure service quality in NHS
Project Timeline February - March Staff Training March - April Preparing survey and publicity April 24th Survey open May 19 th Survey Closed June- Results from LibQUAL
What did we need to do? Preparations for survey taking place centrally and electronically Liaised with IT and other relevant departments All library staff can be involved in promotion of the survey Need to assist users if they have questions All library staff can complete a survey
Any Questions?