LibQUAL +: Library Assessment and ARL

Fred Heath Vice Provost, University of Texas Libraries Austin, Texas

[email protected]

Mission: Members: Ratios: Users: Expenditures:

The Association of Research Libraries

Shaping and influencing forces affecting the future of research libraries in the process of scholarly communication.

123 major research libraries in North America.

4% of the higher education institutions providing 40% of the information resources (USA + Canada) 3 million students and faculty served.

$4 billion annually Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2003). ARL Statistics 2002-03. Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.7.

Why Assess?

“ In an age of accountability, there is a pressing need for an effective…process to evaluate and compare research libraries.” 1000 LibQUAL+ institutions have participated in LibQUAL+ , over 1,000,000 partcipants Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2002).

ARL Statistics 2000-01. Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.5

Libraries Remain a Credible Resource in 21 st Century

98% agree with statement

, “My … library contains information from credible and known sources.” Note. Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and Information Resources. (2002). Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment.

Changing Behaviors

Recent Survey:

Only 15.7% agreed with the statement “The Internet has not changed the way I use the library.” Note. Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and Information Resources. (2002). Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment.

University of Texas Libraries Web Hits 1,000,000,000 900,000,000 800,000,000 700,000,000 600,000,000 500,000,000 400,000,000 300,000,000 200,000,000 100,000,000 0 2000 2001 2002 Year 2003 2004 2005

Library Use Summary LibQUAL+ Spring 2003 Survey – UT Austin Aggregate

“…everyone in class tried to get those articles on line and some people didn’t even bother to go to the stacks when they couldn’t Google them.” Graduate Student NYT Online 6/21/04 (Katie Hafner, “Old search engine in the

the library tries to fit into a Google world”)

Research Behavior: Personal Control

When searching for

print

journals for research: • • Only 13.9% ask a librarian for assistance

Only 3.2% consider consulting a librarian a preferred way of identifying information

Note. Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and Information Resources. (2002). Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment.

170,000 160,000 150,000 140,000 130,000 120,000 110,000 100,000 90,000 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2002).

ARL Statistics 2000-01. Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.7.

Enter

LibQUAL

+

 The necessity of assessment  Rapid shifts in information-seeking behavior  The reallocation of resources from traditional services and functions

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

Assessment

“The difficulty lies in trying to find a single model or set

of simple indicators

applicable—i.e.

of its institution

. that can be used by different institutions, and that will compare something across large groups that is by definition only locally

, how well a library meets the needs

Sarah Pritchard, Library Trends, 1996 old.libqual.org

Assessment

Librarians have either made do with

oversimplified national data

or have undertaken

customized local evaluations

an effective way to link the two.” of effectiveness, but there has not been devised Sarah Pritchard, Library Trends, 1996

SERVQUAL

PERCEPTIONS SERVICE

“….

only customers judge quality; all other judgments are essentially irrelevant”

Note. Zeithaml, Parasuraman, Berry. (1999). Delivering quality service. NY: The Free Press.

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Dimensions of Library Service Quality

Library Service Quality Affect of Service Empathy Responsiveness Assurance Reliability Library as Place Utilitarian space Symbol Refuge Model 3 Information Control Scope of Content Convenience Ease of Navigation Timeliness Equipment Self-Reliance

Dimensions

2000 41 items

Affect of Service

2001 56 items 2002 25 items

Affect of Service Affect of Service

2003-Present 22 items

Affect of Service Library as Place Library as Place Reliability Reliability Library as Place Personal Control Library as Place Information Control Provision of Physical Collections Access to Information old.libqual.org

Self-Reliance Access to Information Information Access

Survey Structure

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Understanding

LibQUAL

+ Results

• Measures the distance between minimally

acceptable

and

desired

service quality ratings • Perception ratings ideally fall within the

Zone of Tolerance

Key to Bar Charts

Core Questions Dimensions Summary

Desired service level Perceived score Minimum service level

Validity Correlations

Validity Correlations Serv_Aff Serv_Aff Info_Con 1.0000

.7113

LibPlace TOTALper ESAT_TOT EOUT_TOT .5913

.9061

.7286

.5315

Info_Con .7113

1.0000

.6495

.9029

.6761

.6155

LibPlace .5913

.6495

1.0000

.8053

.5521

.4917

TOTALper .9061

.9029

.8053

1.0000

.7587

.6250

The LibQual + instrument is statistically reliable

Institutional Norms for Perceived Means on 22 Core Questions

It is possible to compare a library’s results against a selected group of peers Note: Thompson, B. LibQUAL+  Spring 2002 Selected Norms, (2002).

1.40

1.20

1.00

0.80

0.60

0.40

0.20

0.00

-0.20

-0.40

Adequacy Gap

The dif f erence bet ween t he minimum and perceived score.

LibQUAL+™ UT Austin ARL Peers

World LibQUAL +

®

Survey

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Rapid Growth

• • •

Languages

– Afrikaans – – – – – – – – – – – – English (American, British) Chinese Danish Dutch Finnish French (Belge, Canada, Europe) German Japanese Norwegian Spanish Swedish Welsh

Consortia

* Each may create 5 local questions to add to their survey

Countries

– Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, U.K., U.S.

•

Types of Institutions

– Academic Health Sciences – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Academic Law Academic Military College or University Community College Electronic European Business European Parliament Family History Research Centers (FFRDC) Libraries High School Hospital National Health Service England Natural Resources New York Public Public Smithsonian State University/TAFE old.libqual.org

LibQUAL +

®

Languages

American English French (Canada) Swedish Japanese British English Spanish Afrikaans Dutch English Dutch French (Europe) French (Belge) Swedish (British English) German Welsh Norwegian English Chinese (Traditional) Finnish Danish Norwegian

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LibQUAL +

®

Participation

350 250,000 308 307 300 205,639 286 200,000 250 250 176,360 167,986 200

Number of Institutions

150 204 151,460 164 128,958 113,480 old.libqual.org

100 78,863 Number of Institutions 50 43 0 13 20,416 4,407

2000 2001 2002

Number of Responses

2003 2004

Survey Year

2005 2006 2007 2008

206 150,000

Number of Responses

100,000 50,000 0

In Closing

• • • • • LibQUAL+™ methodology focuses on success from the users point of view (outcomes) Demonstrates that a web-based survey can handle large numbers; users are willing to fill it out; and survey can be executed quickly with minimal expense LibQUAL+™ requires limited local survey expertise and resources Analysis available at local and inter-institutional levels Many opportunities for using demographics to discern user behaviors

LibQUAL 2009 Cohort Goal: 200+ participants Cost: 49,000 pesos 3,200 dollars

LibQUAL+

®

Resources

•

LibQUAL+ ® Web site:

http://old.libqual.org

•

Publications:

http://old.libqual.org/publications •

Events and Training:

http://old.libqual.org/events •

Gap Theory/Radar Graph Introduction:

http://old.libqual.org/Information/Tools/libqualpresentation.cfm

•

LibQUAL+ ® Procedures Manual:

http://old.libqual.org/Publications/index.cfm

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The LibQUAL+

®

Team

•

The best way to contact us: [email protected]

•

MaShana Davis

Technical Communications Liaison [email protected]

•

Yolanda Glass

Administrative Assistant [email protected]

•

Martha Kyrillidou

Director, Statistics and Service Quality Programs [email protected]

•

Gary Roebuck

Technical Operations Manager [email protected]

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