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LibQUAL FAQ

LibQUAL+™ Survey Overview

• What is the LibQUAL+™ survey?
• What does the survey measure?
• How will this survey benefit the UTSA community?
• How and when is the survey being conducted?
• Are responses confidential?
• What survey instrument is being used?
• Do all libraries use the same questions?
• What other libraries are participating in LibQUAL+™?
• How can I get more information about LibQUAL+™?

Results

• What was done with the survey results?
• What information is shared with other institutions?
• What do the survey results look like?

LibQUAL+™ Survey Overview

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.

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 by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The program's centerpiece is a rigorously tested Web-based survey bundled with training that helps libraries assess and improve library services, change organizational culture, and market the library. As of spring 2003, more than 400 institutions have participated in LibQUAL+™, including colleges and universities, community colleges, health sciences libraries, law libraries, and public libraries—some through various consortia, others as independent participants. LibQUAL+™ has also expanded internationally, with participating institutions in Canada, the UK, and Europe. The growing community of participants and its extensive dataset are rich resources for improving library services.

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. This design will permit analysis of gaps between expectations, perception, and minimum acceptance level of service.

How will this survey benefit the UTSA community?

As individual libraries receive information about areas needing improvement, this project will allow libraries to compare their service quality with other peer institutions, to develop benchmarks, and to surface best practices across institutions. By using the LibQUAL+™ instrument and initiating action based on the results of this survey, the UTSA Library can be more responsive to users' needs and provide services that are better aligned to users' expectations.

How and when is the UTSA Library survey being conducted?

On Monday, October 23, 2006, the "Library Service Quality Survey" (web-based and paper form) will be available, and everyone is encouranged to complete it.

The data for all 307 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 the participating institutions as aggregate mean score data.

UTSA Library will receive initial results by the end of Fall 2006 semester, and will share final results with the campus community by Spring 2007.

Are responses confidential?

Yes. The LibQUAL+™ approach to confidentiality is guided by the ethical standards of the American Psychological Association, section 5. Although some information is captured from respondents, such as network and email address, 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, and once they are saved there is no way to link an individual's responses to their email address -- assuring confidentiality when entering the incentive drawings. After the draw, the email addresses are discarded.

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". It was developed by Leonard L. Berry (Distinguished Professor, Texas A&M University), A. Parasuraman, and Valarie A. Zeithaml. The Texas A&M University Libraries and other libraries used modified SERVQUAL instruments for several years; those applications revealed the need for a newly adapted tool that would serve the particular requirements of libraries. From 1999, ARL, representing the largest research libraries in North America, partnered with Texas A&M University Libraries to develop, test, and refine LibQUAL+™. This effort was supported in part by a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE).

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.

Do all libraries use the same questions?

All 307 libraries participating in the 2004 LibQUAL+™ survey will use the same 22 core questions and demographic questions. In addition, each Library may select 5 questions from a list of 122 optional questions. UTSA Library has selected optional questions covering (1) document delivery/ILL, (2) multimedia collections, (3) electronic resources - web access (4) electronic resources - full-text collections, (5) teaching/instructional services.

What other libraries are participating in LibQUAL?

A complete list of participants.

How can I get more information about LibQUAL+™?

For more information, see the LibQUAL+™ homepage at http://www.libqual.org. To email the national headquarters for LibQUAL+™, contact the Association for Research Libraries at LibQUAL@arl.org.

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Results

What was done with the survey results?

LibQUAL+™ Results

Survey data was transmitted directly from the LibQUAL+™ server to a database. The data was then analyzed and reports were generated for individual libraries that provide information on how users perceive the quality of their service. Participating institutions have access to summary results for each institution, allowing for comparisons among peer institutions and all participating academic institutions. This aids in developing benchmarks and understanding best practices across institutions, and helps UTSA Library to align services with user expectations.

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 Web site. Users' comments (from the comments section) will be made available to the users' institution.

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.

The Official LibQUAL+™ Results Notebook

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Last updated: 11/2/07 15:20