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Results of Spring 2004 LibQUAL+ Survey

  

 

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 200 institutions participated in this year's survey, including all types of libraries ancrss the United States as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe. 2200 Clemson users were randomly chosen and invited to participate, with 595 completing the survey. This is the fourth year in a row that we have participated in LibQUAL+.

This year, we offered an incentive to encourage people to complete the survey. Stephen Sperry, Associate Professor in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture was the lucky winner. He received a Palm Zire®, a handheld PDA with a built-in digital camera. He's shown here with Mr. Joseph Boykin, Dean of the Libraries. (That's Professor Sperry on the left, and Dean Boykin on the right.) They are standing in the new convenience store, Snax and Stax, which is located right in Cooper Library!

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.

The questions are grouped into three categories, or dimension:

  • 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).

The survey also asked 8 questions relating to general satisfaction, and the Libraries' role in providing information. Plus, respondents were invited to add written comments relating to library services.

 

Summary of Survey Results

  • We seem to be meeting the needs of our undergraduates, as they gave us consistently high marks.
  • Courteous employees is the most important quality for undergraduates; grad students were most concerned with journals, and faculty cited having a good website as their top priority.
  • We are improving our electronic and print journals collections, but we need to continue to work on this, especially for faculty and graduate students.
  • Much of our analysis this year centered on frequent library users. Users who reported that they "Use Library Daily" were the most satisfied - whether undergraduate, graduate, or faculty.

More Complete Results

All libraries that participated in the LibQUAL+ project were provided with a notebook containing detailed analysis and graphic representations of the survey results. Because the survey is not designed for librareis to compare their level of quality against other libraries, only aggregate data is available for the entire survey population. Detailed results at the individual library level were only provided to that library. These results are available to any Clemson University student, faculty, or staff member. Please contact Jan Comfort for further information.

 

Clemson University Libraries would like to thank everyone who responded to the LibQUAL+ ® survey. We hope that if you are invited to participate in future surveys 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 2004 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 .

 

 

Clemson University Libraries
Campus Box 343001
Clemson, SC 29634-3001

Dean of Libraries Kay Wall | Web Manager Gordon Cochrane | Site Search/Site Index
(864) 656-3027 | 1-877-886-2389 (toll free)

Updated August 14, 2007 | Copyright © 2003-2006 Clemson University. All rights reserved.
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Photographs by Micki Reid and Jon Truesdale
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