SURVEY OVERVIEW
1.
What is the LibQUAL+® survey?
2.
What does the survey measure?
3. How will this survey benefit the University
of British Columbia community?
4. How and when is the survey being conducted?
5. Are responses confidential?
6. What survey instrument is being used?
7. Do all libraries use the same questions?
8. What other libraries are participating in LibQUAL+®?
9. How can I get more information about LibQUAL+®?
COMPLETING THE SURVEY
1.
How long will the survey take?
2.
Will there be any incentives for participating?
3. Can I skip questions that don’t apply to me?
4. What Internet browsers are supported for the
survey?
5. Is the survey available with text-to-speech
web browsers?
6. Why isn’t the survey at a UBC web address?
7. What if I cannot open the link (URL) from
my email?
8. Why does the survey seem to repeat the same
question(s)?
9. Why are reminders sent to those who have already
completed the survey?
SURVEY RESULTS
1. What
will be done with the survey results?
2. What information is shared with other institutions?
3. What do the survey results look like?
4. Where and when will results be posted?
SURVEY OVERVIEW
1.
What is the LibQUAL+® survey?
Service quality has always been the focus of libraries; LibQUAL+® is intended
to provide a measure of the value of library service quality across multiple
academic and research libraries. The current LibQUAL+® instrument measures
library users’ perceptions of their libraries’ service quality and identifies
gaps between minimal, desired and perceived levels of service.
UBC
Library will use LibQUAL+® to solicit, track, understand, and act upon
users’ opinions of service quality. LibQUAL+® is offered to the library
community by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The growing
community of participants, and its extensive data set, are rich resources
for improving library services.
2.
What does the survey measure?
The instrument addresses three service quality dimensions that have
been found to be valid in previous assessments of library services:
Affect of Service, Library as Place, Information Control. Each question
has three parts that ask respondents to indicate (1) the minimum service
level they will accept, (2) the desired service level they expect, and
(3) the perceived level of service currently provided.
3.
How will this survey benefit the University of British Columbia community?
As UBC Library receives information about areas needing improvement,
this project will allow it to be more responsive to users’ needs and provide services
that are better aligned to their expectations.
4.
How and when is the survey being conducted?
The survey will be conducted in January and February, 2009. Participants
will receive an email asking them to participate and providing a link to the online survey.
The
data for all participating institutions will be collected on secure
servers located in the Texas A&M University Library. Each response
will be stored separately as it reaches the server, and survey results
will ultimately be reported back to UBC Library as aggregate mean score
data.
5.
Are responses confidential?
Yes. The LibQUAL+® approach to confidentiality is guided by the ethical
standards of the American
Psychological Association. Although some information is captured
from respondents, such as network and email addresses, privacy is protected
in two ways. First, only very indirect information is captured which
would be difficult to trace back to an individual. Second, everything
possible is done to separate personal information from survey responses.
Email addresses are not saved with the responses.
6.
What survey instrument is being used?
The LibQUAL+® survey evolved from a conceptual model based on the SERVQUAL
instrument, a popular tool for assessing service quality in the private
sector grounded in the “Gap Theory of Service Quality.”
From 1999, ARL, representing the largest research libraries in North
America, partnered with Texas A&M University Libraries to develop,
test, and refine LibQUAL+®.
The
questionnaire is straightforward and involves no deception or coercion.
Potential respondents may elect not to proceed with the survey after
reading the guarantees of confidentiality and privacy.
7.
Do all libraries use the same questions?
All libraries participating in the 2009 LibQUAL+® survey will use the
same 22 core questions, general and demographic questions.
8.
What other libraries are participating in LibQUAL?
For a complete list of libraries participating in 2009, see http://www.LibQUAL.org/Information/Participants/index.cfm.
9.
How can I get more information about LibQUAL+?
Please contact the survey project manager at lib.survey9@ubc.ca.
For more information regarding the survey, see ARL’s LibQUAL+® website.
COMPLETING
THE SURVEY
1. How long will the survey
take?
2.
Will there be any incentives for participating?
Incentive prizes will be offered as thanks to participants. At the end
of the web-based survey, respondents may elect to include an email address,
which will enter them in a drawing.
3.
Can I skip questions that don’t apply to me?
Do not skip any questions in the LibQUAL+® survey! If you do not wish
to answer a question or feel a question does not apply to you, select
NA (not applicable). Surveys whose core questions are not completely
filled out are not counted in the aggregate scores.
4.
What Internet browsers are supported for the survey?
Any browser should work so long as it is not too old. The survey does
not rely on browser features such as Java or cookies.
5.
Is the survey available with text-to-speech web browsers?
Yes, the survey is compatible with the JAWS screen reader software.
6.
Why isn’t the survey at a UBC web address?
The survey is administered through the Association of Research Libraries
and Texas A&M University, and the survey and data are housed on
secure Texas A&M servers.
7.
What if I cannot open the link (URL) from my email?
If you have trouble opening the URL from within your email message,
you can copy the URL and paste it into your Web browser. If you still
cannot access the survey, you can contact the UBC LibQUAL+® Project Manager.
8.
Why does the survey seem to repeat the same question(s)?
Repetition or redundancy in questions allows the survey designers to
analyze the validity of each service quality dimension through statistical
methods.
9.
Why are reminders sent to those who have already completed the survey?
We have no way of knowing who has already completed the survey. Reminders,
therefore, are distributed to everyone in the survey group.
SURVEY RESULTS
1.
What will be done with the survey results?
Survey data are transmitted directly from the LibQUAL+® server
to a database. The data are then analyzed and reports are generated
for individual libraries that provide information on how users perceive
the quality of their service. Participating institutions will have access
to summary results for each institution, allowing for comparisons among
peer institutions and all participating academic institutions. This
will aid in developing benchmarks and understanding best practices across
institutions, and will help UBC Library to align services with user
expectations.
2.
What information is shared with other institutions?
Summary
statistics only are shared with other institutions. The survey summary
results will be made available to participants via the World Wide Web
on a password-protected website. Users’ comments (from the comments
section) will be made available to the users’ institution.
3.
What do the survey results look like?
Survey
results will include aggregate summaries demographics by library, item
summaries, dimension summaries, and dimensions measured for survey implementation.
4.
Where and when will results be posted?
Results will be compiled in a report that will be posted on this website.
