fairytale A fairytale about “ 22 items and a box ” LibQUAL+™ Meeting San Antonio, TX and London, UK Jan 23 and Feb Martha Kyrillidou Director, ARL Statistics and Measurement Program Association of Research Libraries old.libqual.org

Library Assessment “The difficulty lies in trying to find a single model or set of simple indicators that can be used by different institutions, and that will compare something across large groups that is by definition only locally applicable—i.e., how well a library meets the needs of its institution. Librarians have either made do with oversimplified national data or have undertaken customized local evaluations of effectiveness, but there has not been devised an effective way to link the two.” Sarah Pritchard, Library Trends, 1996

old.libqual.org Total Circulation Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2003). ARL Statistics Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.8.

old.libqual.org Reference Transactions Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2003). ARL Statistics Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.8.

old.libqual.org In an Ocean of Information How do you Define and Measure Library Service Quality?

old.libqual.org LibQUAL+™ Goals Improve mechanisms and protocols for evaluating libraries Develop web-based tools for assessing library service quality Identify best practices in providing library service Support libraries seeking to understand changes in user behavior Assist libraries seeking to re-position library services in the new environment

old.libqual.org Partnership among ARL Texas A&M hundreds of libraries thousands of users old.libqual.org

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

old.libqual.org

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 A. Parasuraman. The SERVQUAL Model: Its Evolution And Current Status. (2000). Paper presented at ARL Symposium on Measuring Service Quality, Washington, D.C.

old.libqual.org Dimensions items56 items25 items22 items Affect of Service Service Affect Library as Place Reliability Personal Control Information Control Provision of Physical Collections Self-Reliance Information Access Access to Information

old.libqual.org

Survey Structure – Page 2 (Detail View)

old.libqual.org Colleges and Universities

old.libqual.org

2005 Highlights

old.libqual.org

LibQUAL+ surveys by type Years Academic law Academic military 6 1 College or university Community college European business 5 Family history library 1 Health sciences library Hospital 101 New York Public library 1 Public 411 Smithsonian 1 1 State 1 1 University/TAFE 2 Electronic 1 Natural Resources 2 FFRDC 5

old.libqual.org LibQUAL+™ Languages

old.libqual.org surveys by language Years American English British English Continental French 1 Dutch 1 Dutch English 11 French Canadian 214 Swedish 52 Swedish English (A.E.) 21 Afrikaans 4

old.libqual.org LibQUAL+™ Surveys by Consortium AAHSL AJCU 20 Alabama Academic (NAAL) 1018 CES 6 City University of New York 19 CUC 8 EBSLG 6 FFRDC 5 Hospital/MLA 7 MERLN 6 NELLCO 8 NY3Rs 76 2 Oberlin OhioLINK SCONUL State Universities of Florida 62 University of Wisconsin System 14 VALE 12

old.libqual.org Participating libraries by country Country Australia 16 Canada Denmark 1 Egypt 1 France 1 Ireland 11 Netherlands 11 Sweden 34 Switzerland 2 U.A.E. 1 UK South Africa 12

old.libqual.org

Surveys by Session YearSession 1Session

old.libqual.org 2006 registrations as of 1/ Registrations (as of 1/13) 100 participating with a consortium 61 international surveys 36 ARL libraries (main, medical, & law counted separately) 107 first-time participants 4 seventh year participants (Arizona, Houston, TAMU, and Pittsburgh) Four new languages: -German -Finnish -Danish -Norwegian Five new consortium: -AJCU Academic Libraries -Georgia Consortium -North Carolina Community Colleges -Massachusetts LSTA grant group -National Health Service England

old.libqual.org

Think outside of the box

old.libqual.org … a revolution in making Il est plus nécessaire d'étudier les hommes que les livres —FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD (1613–1680)

old.libqual.org Confirming expectations Disconfirming expectations Confirming perceptions Disconfirming perceptions

old.libqual.org Library Values are reflected in: –physical environment (Library as Space) –warmth, empathy, reliability and assurance of library staff (Affect of Service) –ability to control the information universe in an efficient way (Information Control) are unifying and powerful forces for: –Overcoming language and cultural barriers –Bridging the worlds of our users –Improving library services –Advancing the betterment of individuals and societies

old.libqual.org Sensitivity to context “If sensitivity to context is important in benchmarking, these new … studies will hopefully confirm this … both empirical and ethnographic methods are necessary to disentangle potentially erroneous assumptions and illuminate contextual and cultural differences that affect both expectations of library customers, and library performance” Rowena Cullen (IFLA, August 2003)

old.libqual.org

Online Resources StatsQUAL™ Website: LibQUAL+™ Website: Publications: Events and Training: LibQUAL+™ Bibliography: LibQUAL+™ Procedures Manual:

old.libqual.org LibQUAL+™ Contacts Martha Kyrillidou –Director, Statistics & Measurement Program Richard Groves –Research Assistant - Statistics & Measurement Jonathan D. Sousa –Technical Applications Development Manager MaShana Davis –Junior Technical Applications Developer