LibQUAL+® Lite Survey FAQ

LibQUAL+ Survey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:

What is LibQUAL+ Survey?

LibQUAL+® is a suite of services that libraries use to solicit, track, understand, and act upon users’ opinions of service quality. These services are offered to the library community worldwide by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The LibQUAL+® Lite is the short form of the traditional LibQUAL+®. The goals of LibQUAL+® and LibQUAL+® Lite are to:

  • Foster a culture of excellence in providing library service
  • Help libraries better understand user perceptions of library service quality
  • Collect and interpret library user feedback systematically over time
  • Provide libraries with comparable assessment information from peer institutions
  • Identify best practices in library service
  • Enhance library staff members’ analytical skills for interpreting and acting on data

What can the University Library learn from the survey results?

LibQUAL+® measures library service quality. It’s a way to gauge customers’ current perception and expectations. Over 10 years LibQUAL+® has collected data on 22 core items which address three service dimensions: Affect of Service, Information Control and Library as Place. In 2013, LibQUAL+® initiated a pilot project that allows libraries to add institution-specific local questions. Therefore the University Library at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign developed the following questions:

  1. The University Library web site is BEST when used for: [(select one) Searching for books with UIUC Online Library Catalogs / Searching for journal articles with databases / Looking for full-text / Renewing or requesting materials / Accessing an electronic book / Consulting a librarian via phone, email, or chat (instant message) / Finding online tutorials or guides for library research help / Accessing online course support (reserved readings, research guides) / Don’t know]
  2. The University Library web site is WORST when used for: [same as above]
  3. What type of services or resources that do you expect the University Library to provide via mobile devices (such as smartphones, tablets and e-readers)? [short text question]
  4. I would find it useful to have a librarian work with my classes to help students develop their research skills. [Likert Scale options: Strongly Agree/Agree/Disagree/Strongly Disagree  &  No Opinion]
  5. Every student should be required to successfully complete a library skills training at the beginning of their academic program. [same as above]

Who can participate?

All full-time undergraduate students, graduate students, instructional faculty (Division of Management Information definition), academic professionals and civil service staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (over 18 years old) are welcome to participate. Participation is voluntary and anonymous.

Incentives

Upon completing the survey, participants will have a chance to win one of the ten $50 Illini Union Bookstore gift cards by entering their email addresses for incentive drawing. A participant can choose not to enter the email address if he/she does not wish to participant in the incentive drawing.

How long does it take to complete the survey?

10-15 minutes.

How is the privacy of participants protected?

First, the survey is anonymous. Second, the Division of Management Information is responsible of producing email addresses for potential participants and the Library has no way to link the participants’ email addresses or other personal information to individuals. Participants email addresses will only be used for incentive drawing. Last, only very little demographic information such as title and academic field is captured through the survey. It would be very difficult to identify an individual based on responses.

Survey Dates

Thursday, April 3rd, 2014 – Saturday, April 19th, 2014.

Dissemination of Results

LibQUAL+® will deliver raw data survey findings and a report of results from the survey within three weeks of the close of the survey. In addition to the raw data, the report will provide visual and tabular reports on each question on the survey in a standardized format. The LibQUAL+® Working Group (Harriett Green, MJ Han, Lisa Hinchliffe, Michael Fleming and Jen-chien Yu) will be charged with the tasks of reviewing and communicating the survey results to the library community.

Questions & Comments

If you have additional questions or comments, please contact us via assessment@library.illinois.edu.

Note: The IRB has granted the exemption status to this study (IRB Protocol Number: 14454)