LibQUAL+ 2006

Summary of Results

The University of Notre Dame Libraries recently participated in LibQUAL+, a survey administered by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to assess user satisfaction with library services. More than 200 institutions participated in this year's survey, including all types of libraries across the United States as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

Details about the Survey

The survey has been refined since it was first administered in 2000, and now contains 22 core questions. Respondents were asked to rate (on a scale of 1-9, with 9 being the highest) their minimum expectation level for a particular service, their desired level of service, and their perception of how well we are currently providing the service.

LibQUAL+ rated participants' responses to queries on three service dimensions:

Affect of Service (AS)	Information Control (IC)	Library as Place (LP)
Employees who instill confidence in users	Dependability in handling users' service problems	Library space that inspires study and learning
Giving users individual attention	Making electronic resources accessible from my home or office	Quiet space for individual activities
Employees who are consistently courteous	A library Web site enabling me to locate information on my own	A comfortable and inviting location
Readiness to respond to users' questions	Printed library materials I need for my work	A getaway for study, learning, or research
Employees who have the knowledge to answer user questions	The electronic information resources I need	Community space for group learning and group study
Employees who deal with users in a caring fashion	Modern equipment that lets me easily access needed information
Employees who understand the needs of their users	Easy-to-use access tools that allow me to find things on my own
Willingness to help users	Making information easily accessible for independent use
	Print and/or electronic journal collections I require for my work

In addition to the 22 core questions, the survey also asked 3 questions relating to general satisfaction and five optional local questions. Additionally, respondents were invited to add written comments at the end of the survey.

Summary of Survey Results

A total of 2737 people completed the survey, including 1850 undergraduates, 553 graduate students and 229 faculty. The College of Science had the most respondents, 519 or 19.7%, followed by Arts & Letters (Social Sciences) with 496 or 18.8% and Arts & Letters (Humanities) with 488 or 18.5%.

Highlights and Key Findings

The ND Libraries continue to meet patron expectations for library services.  However, there are still areas where improvements can be made, where perceived levels of service were below or close to the minimum expected level of service.   

• Most users are pleased with staff and think the library does a good job with limited resources.
  
• All users want more books, journals, and online (electronic) materials. Faculty members are particularly vocal in this area and are dissatisfied with the Libraries’ collection depth.
  
• With the exception of the Lower Level of Hesburgh Library, students agree that the library buildings, furnishings, etc. need to be refurbished.
  
• Making electronic resources accessible from home/office is the most important issue for undergraduates; graduate students and faculty were most concerned with having print and/or electronic journal collections.
  
• Students want longer opening hours generally and many want 24/7 access.
   
• The top three areas where the quality of service is perceived as best overall are:

1. Library orientation/instruction sessions (Local question)
2. Employees who are consistently courteous (AS)
3. Giving users individual attention (AS)

• The LibQUAL survey results show that the top three areas that need improvement are:

Undergraduates

1. Modern equipment that lets me easily access needed information (IC)
2. Print and/or electronic journal collections I require for my work (IC)
3. Easy to use access tools that allow me to find things on my own (IC)

Graduate students

1. Print and/or electronic journal collections I require for my work (IC)
2. The electronic information resources I need (IC)
3. A library web site enabling me to locate information on my own (IC)

Faculty

1. Print and/or electronic journal collections I require for my work (IC)
2. Printed library material I need for my work (IC)
3. A library web site enabling me to locate information on my own. (IC)

More Detailed Results

For additional analysis, see Libqual 2006 Results.

Also, all libraries that participated in the LibQUAL+ project were provided with a notebook containing detailed analysis and graphic representations of the survey results.

Full Report prepared by ARL (PDF)

 

Page Updated 28 August June 2006