online northwest twentieth annual conference corvallis, oregon february 28, 2003 julia blixrud, arl...
TRANSCRIPT
Online Northwest Twentieth Annual ConferenceCorvallis, Oregon • February 28, 2003Julia Blixrud, ARL Director of Information Services
LibQUAL+TM: An Innovative, Technology- Based Assessment Tool for Libraries
Why New Measures Increased customer and stakeholder
expectations Greater demands for accountability Exploding growth in use and applications
of technology Increasing competition for resources Need for reliable and valid data
– Benchmarking and best practice
– Trends over time
ARL New Measures Initiative
Collaboration among member leaders with strong interest in this area
Specific projects developed with different models for exploration
Projects self-funded by interested members Intent to make resulting tools and
methodologies available to full membership and wider community
Freeze modifications to existing descriptive measures
Antecedents
Effective service delivery
– “every unit … is valued in proportion to its contribution to the quality success of the campus” Danuta Nitecki
LibQUAL+™ Description
LibQUAL+TM is a research and development project undertaken to define and measure library service quality across institutions and to create useful quality-assessment tools for local planning.
Project Resources
LibQUAL+TM is an ARL/Texas A&M University joint effort. The project is supported in part by a 3-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE).
To fill a knowledge void in modeling the dimensions of library service quality from a user perspective
Based upon the model, to develop a web-delivered, effective total market survey instrument equivalent for service quality assessment in academic libraries
Using the derived instrument to recommend a process for an ongoing program of comparative outcome measurement for academic libraries
The Purpose of the Research
LibQUAL+™ Project Goals
Establishment of a library service quality assessment program at ARL
Development of web-based tools for assessing library service quality
Development of mechanisms and protocols for evaluating libraries
Identification of best practices in providing library service
Relationships: Perceptions, Service Quality and Satisfaction
….only customers judge quality;all other judgments are essentiallyirrelevant”
Zeithaml, Parasuraman, Berry. (1999). Delivering quality service. NY: The Free Press.
70+ Interviews Conducted
York University University of
Arizona University of
Connecticut University of
Houston University of Kansas
University of Minnesota
University of Pennsylvania
University of Washington
Smithsonian Northwestern
Medical
Dimensions of LibraryService Quality
Affect of Service
Empathy
Information Access
Personal Control
Responsiveness
Symbol
Utilitarian space
Assurance
Scope
Timeliness
Convenience
Library as Place
LibraryServiceQuality
Refuge
Reliability
Ease of Navigation
Convenience
Modern Equipment
Survey Dimensions
Access to InformationAccess to Information
Information AccessSelf RelianceProvision of Physical Collections
Personal ControlReliabilityLibrary as Place
Library as PlaceLibrary as PlaceReliability
Service AffectAffect of ServiceAffect of Service
Spring 2002
(25-Item Survey)
Spring 2001
(56-Item Survey)
Spring 2000
(41-Item Survey)
Affect of Service
Emerged as the dominant factor early in our work
Absorbed several of the original SERVQUAL questions measuring Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy
In the current analysis also includes Reliability
All in all: the Human Dimension of Service Quality
Library as Place
Transcends the SERVQUAL dimension of Tangibles to include the idea of the library as the campus center of intellectual activity
As long as physical facilities are adequate, library as place may not be an issue
Personal Control
How users want to interact with the modern library
Personal control of the information universe in general and web navigation in particular
Access to Information
Ubiquity of access: information delivered in the format, location and time of choice
Comprehensive collections—either print or electronic
The Challenge of Analysis
There are few useful conclusions to be drawn from aggregate data of all institutions, because their missions and subsequent user expectations for service are too diverse
There are commonalities in service delivery profiles that merit further investigation
In the long run, information that may be derived from demographic responses of individuals may yield the richest data
LibQUAL+TM Participants
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Spring 2001Spring 2000 Spring 2002
12 Participants
43 Participants
164 Participants
For More Information about Participants:
Visit the LibQUAL+ web site.
Process Timeline
August 2002
•Gather information about LibQUAL+TM survey
•Determine if have appropriate resources
•Identify budgetary requirements if any
September 2002
•Register for LibQUAL+TM related workshops
•Identify and initiate steps to obtain human subjects research approval from IRB
October – December 2002June/July 2002
•Register for Spring 2003 survey
•Subscribe to ARL-QUALITY listserv
•Designate survey liaison/committee/project team
•Identify sample groups
•Identify best data source to obtain valid e-mail addresses for sample groups
•Meet with person(s) who will be drawing e-mail addresses to determine process feasibility
•Register for LibQUAL+TM
related workshops
Process Timeline
January 2003
•Need to have IRB approval by mid-January
•January 27-28, orientation session for participating libraries held during ALA Midwinter, Phildelphia, PA Attendance is required!
•Complete online demographics questionnaire
•Preview survey turned on
•Draw final e-mail address samples
•Spring 2003 survey open to public.
•Send out survey announcements
•Spring 2003 survey closed to public
•Participants complete online post hoc survey
February 2003 March-April 2003 May 2003 June 2003
•Survey results distributed
July 2003
•LibQUAL+TM evaluation questionnaire sent to participants
Technology Approach Software
• Reduced HTML requirements
• No client-side actions (no javascript, Java, Active-X, cookies)
• ColdFusion (for website and load-balanced servers)
• SQL Server 2000 (for database server)
Technology Approach Hardware
• 4 servers at TAMU– 1 reserved for old.libqual.org site
– 2 load-balanced web/application ColdFusion-only servers that serve up the web pages of the survey
– Database server that collects all data
• 1 development server at ARL
Project Deliverables
Print and web-based results include:– Aggregate Summaries – Demographics by Library– Item Summaries– Dimension Summaries– A copy of the survey instrument– Dimensions measured for survey
implementation
Aggregate DimensionSummary (n=70,445)
Note: LibQUAL+ Spring 2002 Aggregate Survey Results. (2002). vol. 1, p. 24
Interpretation FrameworkZone of Tolerance
The area between minimally acceptable and desired service quality ratings
Perception ratings ideally fall within the Zone of Tolerance
Interpretation FrameworkScore Norms
Norm Conversion Tables facilitate the interpretation of observed scores using norms created for a large and representative sample
LibQUAL+TM norms have been created at both the individual and institutional level
LibQUAL+™ Fundamental Contributions to the Measurement of Effective Delivery
of Library Services
Shift the focus of assessment from mechanical expenditure-driven metrics to user-centered measures of quality
Re-ground gap theory for the library sector, especially academic libraries
Grounded questions yield data of sufficient granularity to be of value at the local level
Determine the degree to which information derived from local data can be generalized, providing much needed “best practices” information
Demonstrate the efficacy of large-scale administration of user-centered assessment transparently across the web
Makes little demand of local resources and expertise
LibQUAL+™ Resources
LibQUAL+LibQUAL+ Web Site http://www. libqual.org
LibQUAL+LibQUAL+ Bibliographyhttp://www.coe.tamu.edu/~bthompson/servqbib
Survey Participants Policies and Procedures Manualhttp://www.libqual.org/documents/admin/procedures3.8.pdf
Julia C. BlixrudDirector of Information Services
Association of Research Libraries
21 Dupont Circle, Ste 800
Washington, DC 20036
202-296-2296 ext. 133
202-872-0884 (fax)
202-251-4678 (mobile)