old.libqual.org

A A fairytalefairytale about about

““2222 items items andand a boxa box” ” presented by presented by

Martha KyrillidouMartha Kyrillidou

May 24, 2004Medical Library Association

Washington, DC

Relationships: perceptions, Relationships: perceptions, service quality and satisfactionservice quality and satisfaction

….only customers judge quality;all other judgments are essentiallyirrelevant”

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

The Association of Research Libraries

www.arl.org

ASSOCIATION OF RESEARCH LIBRARIES

Mission: Shaping and influencing forces affecting the

future of research libraries in the process of

scholarly communication.

Members: 123 major research libraries in North America.

Ratios: 4% of the higher education institutions

providing 40% of the information resources.

Users: 3 million students and faculty served.

Expenditures: $2.48 billion annually, $954 million for

acquisitions of which 20% is invested in access to electronic resources.

AssessmentAssessment

“The difficulty lies in trying to find a single model or set of simple indicators that can be used by different institutions, and that will compare something across large groups that is by definition only locally applicable—i.e., how well a library meets the needs of its institution. Librarians have either made do with oversimplified national data or have undertaken customized local evaluations of effectiveness, but there has not been devised an effective way to link the two.” Sarah Pritchard, Library Trends, 1996

ARL New Measures InitiativeARL New Measures Initiative

Collaboration among member leaders with strong interest in this area

Specific projects developed with different models for exploration

Intent to make resulting tools and methodologies available to full membership and wider community

What is LibQUAL+™What is LibQUAL+™

LibQUAL+™ is a suite of services that libraries use to solicit, track, understand, and act upon users’ opinions of service quality. The program’s centerpiece is a rigorously tested Web-based survey bundled with local training that helps libraries assess and improve library services.

LibQUAL+™ OutcomesLibQUAL+™ Outcomes

Securing information that contributes meaningfully to planning and improvement efforts at a local level

Providing analytical frameworks that institutional staff can apply without extensive training or assistance

Helping decision-makers understand success of investments

Finding useful inter-institutional comparisons

LibQUAL+™ ResourcesLibQUAL+™ Resources

• An ARL/Texas A&M University joint developmental effort based on SERVQUAL.

• LibQUAL+ ™ initially supported by a 3-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE)

• Initial project established an expert team, re-grounded SERVQUAL concepts, and designed survey methodology

• Survey conducted at over 400 libraries resulting in a data base of over half a million user responses

• NSF funded project to refocus LibQUAL+™ on the National Science Digital Library (NSDL)

DimensionsDimensions

2000 2001 2002 200341-items 56-items 25-items 22-items

Affect of Service Affect of Service Service Affect Service Affect

Reliability Library as Place Library as Place Library as Place

Library as Place Reliability Personal Control Information Control

Provision of Physical Collections

Self-Reliance Information Access

Access to Information

Access to Information

Library ValuesLibrary values are reflected in:

•physical environment (Library as Space)

•warmth, empathy, reliability and assurance of library staff (Affect of Service)

•ability to control the information universe in an efficient way (Information Control)

and are unifying and powerful forces for:

•Overcoming language and cultural barriers

•Bridging the worlds of our users

•Improving library services

•Advancing the betterment of individuals and societies

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+TM TM ParticipantsParticipants

Spring2000

Year 013

For More Information about Participants:Visit old.libqual.org

Year 142

Year 2164

308 Year 3

Spring2001

Spring2002

Spring2003

202 Year 4

Spring2004

Strategies - ActionsStrategies - Actions

Confirming

expectations

Disconfirming expectations

Confirming perceptions

Disconfirming perceptions

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+

1. About 40% of participants provide open-ended comments, and these are linked to demographics and quantitative data.

Focus Group Follow-upFocus Group Follow-up

Downward trend in scores on question, “Employees have knowledge to answer user question.”

What employees? “I asked for help in searching on the 1st floor of the annex. They said they aren’t trained in that….”

What knowledge? “Some just say, ‘I don’t know.’ Do you know who could tell me? I ask, and sometimes, they don’t know that either” (Crowley & Gilreath, pp. 82-83).

Transactional surveys* Mystery shopping New, declining, and lost-customer surveys Focus group interviews Customer advisory panels Service reviews Customer complaint, comment, and inquiry capture Total market surveys* Employee field reporting Employee surveys Service operating data capture*A SERVQUAL-type instrument is most suitable for these methods

Note. A. Parasuraman. The SERVQUAL Model: Its Evolution And Current Status. (2000). Paper presented at ARL Symposium on Measuring Service Quality, Washington, D.C.

Multiple MethodsMultiple Methodsof Listening to Customersof Listening to Customers

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+ Related Documents Related Documents

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+ Web Site http://www.libqual.org

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+ Bibliographyhttp://www.libqual.org/publications/index.cfm

Survey Participants Procedures Manual http://www.arl.org/libqual/procedure/lqmanual2.pdf