The Mount Aloysius College Library will be conducting a survey this spring in conjunction with many other libraries across the nation and beyond. This survey attempts to evaluate library user perceptions of library service quality. Our effort here at Mount Aloysius College to better understand user perceptions is a part of an overall study being conducted by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL).
This overall study is a part of the ARL New Measures Initiative projects, which seek to develop innovative ways for libraries to describe their contributions to their institutions. LibQUAL+ has as its particular goals:
- to establish a library service quality assessment program at ARL,
- to develop web-based tools for assessing library service quality,
- to develop mechanisms and protocols for evaluating libraries, and
- to identify best practices in providing library service.
The data we are able to gather from this study will benefit the College community as we explore ways of improving the services we offer and of ensuring that we are establishing appropriate priorities in our ongoing activities. Not only will we learn how well we measure-up to the expectations of our faculty and students, but we will also learn how we compare with other institutions in terms of user satisfaction; this information will be invaluable.
In mid-February, we'll be asking all students, faculty, and staff to complete the web-based questionnaire; completing the questionnaire should take no more than 10 minutes. As incentives to increase participation, those who complete the questionnaire and submit their e-mail address will be entered into a drawing for a prize (yet to be determined; survey responses are processed separately from the e-mail addresses, so there will be no way to tie a response to an individual. Likewise, the e-mail addresses will only be used for this incentive drawing and then the file will be deleted.)
We welcome questions and comments about the LibQual+ survey. Members of the library's committee coordinating the effort are Shamim Rajpar, Sara Loree, Sharon Markovich, and Joe Mocnik.
More information about LibQual+ study can be found at the following website:
