Survey says customers like library

The UW Libraries received the highest scores of 12 research libraries participating in a nationwide Web-based survey recently. Sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the survey polled students - both undergraduate and graduate - and faculty regarding the services offered by their libraries.

“Instead of measuring things like how large the collection is or how much is spent on books, the survey attempted to find out whether libraries met users’ expectations for service,” said Steve Hiller, head of science libraries and library assessment.

To get at this information, survey writers adapted a much-used instrument from business called Servqual. Created in 1985, the instrument measures such things as the reliability and responsiveness of staff and the appearance of physical facilities. The ARL added library-specific questions regarding access to collections and “libraries as place.” The latter concept asked such questions as whether the library was a place for quiet contemplation.

The 12 libraries participated in the survey as a pilot project for the ARL, which wanted to test the instrument’s applicability to libraries and implement a method for large-scale data collection through the Web. Other libraries included were the Universities of Arizona, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Kansas, Minnesota, Houston and Pennsylvania; the University of California at Santa Barbara, Michigan State University, Virginia Tech University, and York University (Canada).

The survey was administered by sending e-mails to a randomly selected list of 900 undergraduates, 600 grad students and 600 faculty at each institution, inviting them to take the survey on a Web site. The UW’s response rate was 20 to 22 percent among grad students and faculty and 17 percent among undergraduates.

The UW’s scores were impressive. Overall service levels, rated on a nine-point scale, averaged above seven for faculty and grad students and just below seven for undergraduates. When the service was broken down into 14 areas and expectations were compared with perceived reality, the UW’s library service exceeded the expectations of faculty in all areas except two - complete runs of journal titles and full-text delivered electronically to individual computers.

Both graduate and undergraduate students had the same concern about full-text delivered electronically to individual computers, and graduates were also concerned about complete runs of journal titles.

Hiller said the results of the survey were consistent with those the library has administered independently. The library plans to work on the areas of concern, which in some cases have more to do with a lack of information than with actual service. The library does provide the full text of articles to individual computers, for example, but many patrons are unaware of this service.