The Clemson University Libraries recently participated in LibQUAL+, a survey administered by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to assess user satisfaction with library services. More than 400 institutions participated in the survey, including all types of libraries across the United States as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe. 2700 Clemson users were randomly chosen and invited to participate, with 418 completing the survey. This is the third year that we have participated. For more information about the LibQUAL+ project, please visit ARL's web site at: http://www.arl.org/libqual or the FAQ page at: http://www.libqual.org/About/FAQ/index.cfm

This year, we offered an incentive to encourage people to complete the survey. Engineering Graduate Student Jason Keen was the lucky winner of a Palm Zire®, a handheld PDA with a built-in digital camera. He's shown here with Mr. Joseph Boykin, Dean of the Libraries.

Details about the Survey

The survey contained 25 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.

The questions are grouped into three categories, or dimensions:

• Information Control (collections, access to resources, and how well we enable users to find things themselves)
• Affect of Service (relating to library staff and services)
• Library as Place (issues relating to facilities)

The survey measured two "service quality gaps" -- the difference between a user's minimum acceptable level of service and the level of service they perceived (adequacy gap); and the difference between a user's highest desired level of service and the level of service they perceived (superiority gap).

As well as the core questions, the survey asked 8 questions relating to general satisfaction, and the Libraries' role in providing information. Respondents were also invited to add written comments relating to library services.

Summary of Survey Results

• Clemson scored higher than the Mean of all users on the General Satisfaction questions
• In general, users give us high marks on the quality of our staff, and their willingness to help users
• Our scores show improvement over last year in each of the 3 categories, particularly "Library as Place"
• You are telling us that we need to continue to purchase more e-journals and databases, and to make them available off campus
• Many respondent wrote comments thanking us for recent improvements to services and collections

THANKS!

Clemson University Libraries would like to thank everyone who responded to the LibQUAL+ ® survey. We hope that if you are invited to participate in the next survey (Spring 2004) that you will take the opportunity to respond. We assure you that we value your feedback. We will continue to analyze the results of the 2003 survey as part of ongoing assessment activities. If you are interested in other information regarding assessment at the Libraries, please visit the About the Libraries section of our homepage:http://www.lib.clemson.edu/aboutlib/overview/overview.htm .

Results of prior surveys have contributed to many improvements in library services, such as:

• 24 Hours a day, 5 days a week plus increased weekend service hours at the Gunin Architecture Library
• Increased hours at R.M. Cooper Library, including 24 Hours a day, 5 days a week plus increased weekend hours
• Improvements to the Libraries' Web Page
• Improvements in access to electronic resources for off-campus users
• Increase in number of laptop computers available for checkout
• More group study space in the Libraries
• Addition of many new databases and electronic journals