needs assessment at the south carolina supreme court library
TRANSCRIPT
Needs Assessment at the South Carolina Supreme Court Library
Identifying and Addressing Gaps in Services
to the Legal Community
Eve RossSLIS 797
South Carolina Supreme Court
South Carolina Supreme Court Library
www.judicial.state.sc.us/supreme/library.cfm
Needs Assessment MethodologyPrepare• Define question• Gather your team• Identify stakeholders and SWOT
Plan and Conduct• Define the questions• Determine resources available• Develop a timeline• Define your customers• Gather data from identified sources
Analyze and Report• Analyze the data.• Make a decision and plan of action.• Report to administration; evaluate needs assessment
process.• Repeat needs assessment in the future to see if gap is
smaller.
Needs Assessment
1.Define question– Interview with library director– Fewer visitors: why? – Lack of awareness of library’s strengths?– Generational differences?– How to prioritize possible projects?
2.Gather your team3.Identify stakeholders and SWOT
Prepare
Stakeholders
• Judges and judicial staff• General public (self-
represented)• Lawyers and law clerks
(student interns)
WEAKNESSESNo web-accessible collectionNo social media presenceNo public access computerNo OPAC Limited hoursNo parking Limited staff
STRENGTHSPrint collection:
Acts of legislatureJournals of legislatureRecords on appeal to Supreme Court
OPPORTUNITIES
Projects in progressCreate awareness
THREATSBudgetaryGenerational?
Needs Assessment
4.Define the questions5.Determine resources available6.Develop a timeline7.Define your customers8.Gather data from identified
sources– Primary sources– Secondary sources
Plan and Conduct
Survey
Questions – demographic
Closed-ended or open-endedReich et al. “is there any area in which you would like expansion?”
47 areas
Questions – prioritize projects
6 areas
Questions – awareness
Needs Assessment
9. Analyze the data.10.Make a decision and plan of
action.11.Report to administration
and evaluate needs assessment process.
12.Repeat needs assessment in the future to see if gap is smaller.
Analyze and Report
Results – demographic
3858%
2742%
lawyersstudents
Results – demographic
<35 35-55 >55 NA0
5
10
15
20
25
30
stu-dents
lawyers
Results – project priority
Social
Parking
Hours
Website
Catalog
Computer
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00
1.57
3.88
3.95
4.25
4.32
4.32
Results – project priority
Compu
ter
Catal
og
Web
site
Hou
rs
Parki
ng
Socia
l0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Under 3535 to 55Over 55
Results – awareness
SCSCL CKLL other0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Acts
Journal
Record
Results – awareness
NA
peer
Westlaw
internet
SCSCL
other
CKLL
librarian
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
students lawyers
Recommendations
Clarify mission to legal community.Add a computer with library catalog.Put acts, journals, records online.Market SCSCL to law librarians.
Lessons Learned
Research journal is useful.Pilot group from target population.
ReferencesDudden, R. F. (2007). Using
benchmarking, needs assessment, quality improvement, outcome measurement, and library standards: A how-to-do-it manual with CD-ROM. Neal-Schuman Publishers.
Reich, M. (2013). Assessing clinical researchers’ information needs to create responsive portals and tools: My Research Assistant (MyRA) at the University of Utah: A case study. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 101(1), 4-11.