LibQUAL+® is a a survey that assists libraries in assessing and “improving library services, changing organizational culture, and marketing the library.” Administered by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the survey “measures library users’ the minimum, perceived, and desired levels of service quality across three dimensions: Affect of Service, Information Control, and Library as Place.”
Participating in LibQUAL+® has provided the Libraries with valuable user feedback about our collections (physical and online), our culture, and our spaces that we can use to improve. Additionally, we have information that can be compared to our peer institutions in the assessment process. According to ARL, “since 2000, more than 1,295 libraries have participated in LibQUAL+®, including college and university libraries, community college libraries, health sciences libraries, academic law libraries, and public libraries,” and LibQUAL+® is used internationally and has been translated into many different languages.
Every three years, since 2002, the UNM University Libraries (the Libraries) has participated in LibQUAL+® by administering a survey to all enrolled students and teaching faculty. Reports for previous years have been deposited in LoboVault, and are linked from the Libraries Statistics and Assessment LibGuide.
In the most recent LibQUAL+® Survey, 2014, responses were received from 1,018 undergraduates, 347 graduate students, and 202 faculty. An internal report to the Dean of the Libraries noted, “Most comments from undergraduates and faculty indicate that they are quite content with University Libraries.” Areas that we needed to work on included customer service training for student employees, increased workshop offerings, insuring books in our stacks are findable, and a lack of places to sit during peak times. In January of 2015, the Libraries held a grand opening of the Zimmerman Library Learning Commons. Specific comments and feedback on spaces in Zimmerman was critical to the renovation of this space which features increased power, wireless access points, and added LED lighting; mobile glass dry erase boards, mobile flat panels, booths and tables for group work as well as computer tables with privacy panels.
The 2017 LibQUAL+® Survey will be distributed in April 2017. Faculty and enrolled students will receive the questionnaire via their UNM email account. Questions about LibQUAL+® or assessment in the Libraries can be directed to Teresa Y. Neely, Assessment Librarian at neely@unm.edu.
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