LibQual 2008 Preliminary Results Summary
UAA/APU Consortium Library
Executive Summary
The results from the 2008 LibQUAL assessment survey were favorable. Based on the more than 2,300
surveys completed by the UAA and APU communities, overall the library is meeting at least the
minimum expectations and with some groups exceeding expectations in terms of the library facility and
services. Not surprisingly, one area of concern defined by both the UAA and APU faculty and by the
UAA and APU graduate students is the availability of adequate library resources to support their research
and studies.
The lowest scores received were in ranking the library in terms of having the “print and/or electronic
journal collections required for my work”. It appears that the library is meeting the needs for
undergraduate education, but its collections are seen as not adequate for graduate studies and faculty
research. More than 1,000 patrons added comments to their survey results which netted some very
specific suggestions. High on that list is extending weekend hours, providing more space for individual
and group study, and addressing APU parking issues. A more detailed analysis of the survey and a report
of actions taken to improve library services will be forthcoming.
Introduction
The UAA/APU Consortium Library took part in LibQUAL, an international survey administered by the
Association of Research Libraries (ARL) which allows libraries to “solicit, track, understand and act upon
users’ opinions of service quality”. Survey questions solicit feedback across three dimensions:
• Affect of Service
• Information Control
• Library as Place
The survey was administered electronically over a 19 day period, beginning November 3rd and ending on
November 21st. Two separate surveys were administered, one to the UAA community and one to the
APU community. The survey consisted of 22 core questions, 5 local questions (per institution), 3 general
satisfaction questions, 5 information literacy outcomes questions, 3 library use questions, 6 demographic
questions, and a text box for comments.
The Results
Within two weeks of the survey close date results notebooks (RN) were prepared by the ARL and sent to
each institution. Those findings are summarized here in the preliminary results summary. For full details,
please refer to the results notebooks which are available electronically and through the Consortium
Library at the reference desk and on reserve at the circulation desk. When referring to data from the
results notebook, you will find a notation – RN, which stands for results notebook and a page number.
Please refer to that institutions notebook for corresponding and/or additional data.
Survey Demographics
Demographic questions included: respondents by user group, population and respondents by user subgroup, population and respondents by standard discipline, population and respondents by customized
discipline, respondent profile by age, and population and respondent profile by sex.
LibQUAL Preliminary Results Summary –January 13, 2009
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APU
Respondents by user group (RN: p.21)
Undergraduate
100
Graduate
29
Faculty
27
Library Staff
1
Staff
14
Total
171
UAA
Respondents by user group (RN: p.21)
Undergraduate
1,388
Graduate
267
Faculty
233
Library Staff
33
Staff
157
Total
2,078
Library Use Summary
APU Library Use Summary (RN: p.36)
LibQUAL Preliminary Results Summary –January 13, 2009
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UAA Library Use Summary (RN: p.36)
LibQUAL Preliminary Results Summary –January 13, 2009
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Core Questions
The 22 core questions or statements covered three distinct dimensions: affect of service, information
control (access to materials), and library as place. Patrons were asked to rate the core statements by
indicating the minimum level of service they find acceptable, the desired level of service they would like
receive, and the perceived level of service they feel the library currently provides. The service expectation
ratings are based on a 9 point Likert scale with 1 being low and 9 being high.
The core questions are: (RN: p.30).
LibQUAL Preliminary Results Summary –January 13, 2009
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Understanding Results for Core Questions
From the ratings provided by the respondents, gaps are calculated to assess how well the institution meets
the expectations of its users. A service adequacy gap is found by subtracting the minimum from the
perceived level of service. An adequacy gap near zero or negative implies a need for improvement in that
service area. A service superiority gap is found by subtracting the desired from the perceived level of
service. A superiority gap near zero or positive implies that the library is exceeding expectations for that
service area.
Graphical Representation of Results for Core Questions
ARL provided the library with a variety of graphical representations depicting results. Radar charts
feature multiple "spokes" representing the questions asked in the survey.
The zone of tolerance is blue and yellow: blue showing the distance from minimum to perceived and
yellow showing the distance from perceived to desired. If the chart shows green on the outer edge of the
colored portion of the chart, that indicates that the perceived is greater than the desired, or in other words,
service superiority. If the chart shows red on the inner edge of the colored portion of the chart that
indicates that the perceived is less than the minimum, or in other words, service inadequacy.
LibQUAL Preliminary Results Summary –January 13, 2009
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APU Radar Charts for Undergraduate Students (RN: p.42)
APU Radar Charts for Graduate Students (RN: p.55)
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APU Radar Charts for Faculty (RN: p.68)
APU Radar Charts for Staff (RN: p.77)
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UAA Radar Charts for Undergraduate Students (RN: p.42)
UAA Radar Charts for Graduate Students (RN: p.55)
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UAA Radar Charts for Faculty (RN: p.68)
UAA Radar Charts for Staff (RN: p.86)
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UAA Radar Charts for Library Staff (RN: p.77)
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Areas of Superiority and Inadequacy for All User Groups
The arrows on the following radar chart indicate which core questions received scores that indicate which
library’s services are perceived as greater than desired (green arrows), and which library services are
perceived as less than the minimum desired (red arrows). The arrows indicate that undergraduates,
graduate students, faculty or staff at APU or at UAA gave the library a service rating or superior or
inadequate in one of the core areas. Library staff scores are represented by the radar chart.
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Core Question Areas of Superiority and Inadequacy by Institution and User Group
The following tables summarize the core question ratings for all user groups, at both institutions in
regards to ratings of superior and inadequate services.
Areas of Superiority
ID
Statement
User Group that Rated Service at
that Level
LP1
Library space that inspires study and learning
APU Faculty
LP2
Quiet space for individual activities
APU Faculty, APU Staff
LP3
A comfortable and inviting location
APU Graduate Students
LP5
Community space for group learning and group study
APU Staff, Library Staff
AS6
Employees who deal with users in a caring fashion
APU Faculty
Areas of Inadequacy
ID
Statement
User Group that Rated Service at
that Level
APU Graduate Students
IC2
A library website enabling me to locate information on my
own
IC3
Printed material I need for my work
APU Faculty
IC4
Electronic information resources I need
APU Graduate Students
IC7
Making information accessible for independent use
APU Faculty
IC8
Print and/or electronic journal collections I require for my
work
APU Graduate Students, APU
Faculty, UAA Graduate
Students*, UAA Faculty
AS3
Employees who are consistently courteous
LS
*UAA graduate students had an adequacy mean of 0.0. All other groups had an adequacy mean of less
than 0.0.
Overall the areas that patrons at both institutions indicated exceeded their expectations were in the area of
“library as place”. The area that patrons indicated fell below expectations was in the area of “information
control”. Graduate students and faculty at both UAA and APU indicated that the greatest inadequacy in
library services was in the “print and/or electronic journal collections I require for my work”.
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Local Questions
Each institution was given the opportunity to choose 5 additional local questions from a list of preestablished questions. The questions that were selected are listed below. Individual scores can be found in
the results notebook. These tables only indicate whether a user group rated the service as superior or
inadequate.
APU Local Question (RN: p. 47, 60, 73 & 82)
Question Text
Superior
Using the library for research
Librarians teaching me how to effectively use the
electronically available databases, journals, and books
Convenient service hours
Graduate Students
Faculty
Librarians providing help that both assists in finding
the information needed now, and improves skills useful
in future information searches
The library collection provides information resources
reflecting diverse points of view
UAA (RN: p. 47, 60, 73 & 91)
Question Text
Inadequate
Faculty
Superior
Ease of use of electronic resources
Inadequate
Library Staff
Teaching me how to locate, evaluate, and use
information
Convenient service hours
A secure and safe place
Timely delivery of the articles and documents that I
need
Library Staff
Library Staff
Comments
A text box was provided at the end of the survey to solicit comments from survey respondents. A total of
1206 comments were received (84 from APU and 1122 from UAA).
In order to provide a framework for using the comments, a coding system was devised that matched
comments to the three survey dimensions (affect of service, information control, library as place). Each
dimension was further subdivided in order to facilitate the analysis and use of survey comments. In
addition, each comment was rated as positive, negative or as a suggestion.
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Coding and Categories Used for LibQual Comment Analysis
Affect of Service Information Control
S1 Circulation
S2 ILL
C1 Book collections
C2 E-journals,
databases collections
Library as Place
Other
P1 Atmosphere
O1 General
P2
Building/Facilities O2 Other
Rating
N Negative
P Positive
C3 Access to physical
S3 Library hours collections
P3 Facilitates
quiet study
S Suggestion
S4 Staff
Behavior
P4 Safety
Q Quotable
S5 Reference
services
S6 Classroom
teaching
C4 Access to online
collections
P5 Security
P6 Study space
S7 Online
Catalog
S8 Computer
equipment
P7 Ease of Use –
layout and signage
S9 Non-computer
Equipment
S10 Policies
S11 Website
S12 Other service
P9 Other
Place/Env related
P8 Parking
Where comments were multi part and covered more than one dimension or category, those comments
were copied and pasted into the appropriate dimensions and/or categories. This was done in order to
retain the demographic data associated with the respondent and the context of the comment. When this
happened the individual comment was highlighted to indicate that it is the comment being analyzed in a
particular dimension/category.
The comments are available in spreadsheets for each institution. * Note: When individual names (or
descriptions of people) were used to express dissatisfaction, those names/descriptions were removed from
the spreadsheet.
Comments were sorted and the top 6 categories (5 specific categories and the category for general
comments) were identified for each institution. The General category was included because it was the
largest comment getting category for each institution. This category includes very general comments. For
example, “I love the library”, “You guys are great”, “The library is like a second home to me”. This group
will not be summarized but all other comment groups are summarized below.
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APU Top 6 Comment Categories
Comment Category
O1 General
P8 Parking
S4 Staff Behavior
P7 Ease of Use – layout and signage
P1 Atmosphere
S2 ILL
Number of Comments 24
21
13
8
8
7
Number Positive Comments 23 0 11 1 4 6 Number Negative Comments
1
21
2
7
4
1
Representative Comments for APU Top Categories:
Parking:
• “The biggest DETRACTOR is the fact that APU students cannot get a parking sticker FROM
APU. In attending a student forum, this was the BIGGEST issue that came up among APU
students. I personally attempted to contact someone at the top of UAA to see where to start the
conversation, but no one responded. PLEASE - THIS ISSUE NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED.”
• “Parking is a nightmare except for on Saturday mornings -early.”
• “Parking rules are vague and astounding for non UAA students. I was under the impression that
the intent for the consortium was to enable students from both campuses to access the library.
Requiring non-UAA students to pay a parking fee really makes the use of the library difficult.”
Staff Behavior:
• “So far nearly all library employees I've encountered have been kind, more helpful than required
and (perhaps most importantly) consistently available.”
• “The librarians are always so helpful in searching for relevant material and aiding me on how to
search most effectively.”
• “I really appreciate the patient help of the librarians. They go out of their way to make sure you
can access what you're looking for.”
• “I feel intimidated in asking for help at the desk. Never have I encountered an employee who was
nice enough to actually walk with me to show me where to find what I need.”
Ease of Use:
• “It would be preferable for the books to be in order and in the same area of the library instead of
being split into a minimum of three different areas of the library's first and second floors. That
was the most frustrating part of coming to the library for research. Trying to find the areas with
the books that I was seeking was a nightmare. I had to run all over the library.”
• “Maybe a big outside sign would help, and certainly the interior (colors, art work, signage,
posters) could and should more adequately reflect BOTH campuses.”
• “The way-finding signage in the Library needs improvement.”
Atmosphere:
• “I really enjoy going to the library to get my homework done because I know if I go there I’ll get
a lot done. It also helps that there is a Starbucks there!”
• “The Library should have more of an APU presence so that it is evident this is our Library too.”
• “Don't like how the library is UAA friendly and not APU friendly. There's no APU parking, no
APU colors, and most people consider it only UAA's library. This needs to change; I don't
usually feel welcome in the 'UAA only' atmosphere.”
ILL:
• “I've even tried the interlibrary loan service and its pretty slick.”
LibQUAL Preliminary Results Summary –January 13, 2009
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•
•
“ILL help desk is very good!”
“Most useful to me are access mechanisms for pdf-articles. ILL is working great!”
UAA Top 6 Comment Categories
Comment Category
O1 General
S4 Staff Behavior
P2 Building/Facilities
S3 Library Hours
C1 Book Collections
P6 Study Space
Number of Comments
205
141
89
68
65
60
Number Positive Comments 184 95 24 4 7 18 Number Negative Comments
10
46
65
64
58
42
Representative Comments for UAA Top Categories:
Staff Behavior:
• “Thank you for all you do. Staff is consistently helpful and support students as well as faculty
respectfully and cheerfully.”
• “I have always been treated promptly and respectfully. The staff has been trained well. It is
always a pleasant experience when I seek material related to my research work.”
• “I have been impressed by the services available and the staff. Staff has always been accessible,
knowledgeable and friendly.”
• “I wish those working at the Circulation Desk were more friendly. I would also like Reference
Desk employees to be less crabby when I ask for help in the Copy Room.”
• “Staff is very helpful when approached and some professors arrange for additional information to
be provided through special learning sessions. However, outside of this there is little to no
proactive attempts to provide information about resources available to students.”
• “Overall, the library staff seems helpful, but I have seen some rudeness or condescension on their
part to other users of the library (not me specifically).”
Buildings/Facilities:
• “I wish there was a door to the library that is closer to parking on the north or east side. Only the
entrance closest to the parking garage is easily accessible. When there is snow and ice, the south
entrance is too far from the east parking lot. The north door that exists should be open to the
public.”
• “Alaska is a cold dark place. The entrance to the library is in a horrible location. It should be next
to the large parking lot. I believe there should be a door closer to the parking lot that should be
used only to exit the building. The lighting on the outside of the building (walking to and from
the main entrance) is too dim. I suggest invest in the new lights bulbs that the city is putting in the
street lamps. And also put those bulbs into the parking lot lamps. The library hours are also to
short, only till 11pm on week days. UAA is a campus full of full-time working students.”
• “The library needs to be better heated. The only reason I do not study in the library is because I
would have to wear three extra layers and bring a blanket in order to stay warm.”
• “The library needs an entrance that is closer to the parking lot. The gallery next to the library is a
very nice place to view art.”
• “Love the huge windows and plants. Studying at one of the tables of chairs (great chairs) In that
big room is great!”
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Library Hours:
• “This is a great library. I would appreciate longer hours on the weekend, opening earlier on
Sunday and later on Saturday.”
• “Also- it would be really nice to have better hours for the library on weekends. I have homework
I need to get done on the weekends, too! It is a rare occasion when I can make it to the library any
time before 6pm on a Saturday. And then I have to wait until noon on Sunday to be able to use
the facilities again!”
• “As an graduate student that works full time, it would be nice if the library was open after 6 pm
on Saturdays. Often times, Saturday is the only day of the week that a non-traditional student can
find time to actually get to the library.”
• “Overall, I am very happy with the Library. However, I think that the University underestimates
how important the library is to students as a conducive study space - it is the best study space on
campus. Because of that, I feel that the only think the Library is lacking is appropriate weekend
hours. Saturday hours are ridiculous. Students need a good place to study before 10 am and well
past 6 pm. And for Sunday, opening just two hours earlier would be so helpful. Otherwise, the
hours are fantastic and greatly appreciated. And, the increased hours for finals week each
semester is a blessing - thank you for that.”
Book Collections:
• “Most importantly, the collection of books that the library possesses needs to be updated. It is
ridiculous to search for something that any academic library should own and find that of course,
the Consortium Library does not have a copy.”
• “The biggest disappointment is the inability to increase journal subscriptions. I know there are
real resources issues, but I inevitably use ILL more than I am able to find things in our
collection.”
• “It would be nice to have more documentary films on DVD in the collection and maybe more
current popular literature.”
• “I wish the library had publications that were current to our time. Most of the books found in my
area of study are 2 years old at best, and slim choosing. Others are 7 plus years old so the subject
matter is for historical reference only.”
• “It would be nice for the library to subscribe to journals that support our disciplines/specialties.
Being told year-after-year that there are no funds for new journal subscriptions (some of which
are as low as $65 per year for libraries) is pretty frustrating. Our discipline's journals are actually
pretty reasonable compared to many but this 10 year (or so it seems) freeze is actually quite
ludicrous, given that a university should be at the forefront of available literature. And, no, the
journals I am speaking of are not on-line with full-text articles. They long ago saw they were
losing revenues by being subscribers to those services. Thanks!”
Study Space:
• “Finding a good library study space is often very challenging for me. I prefer not to station myself
near a bathroom or major hallway due to the traffic. The study carrels on the second floor above
the copy room hallway are distracting due to the placement of the lights, they are blindingly
distracting that close up. The final problem is a lack of power outlets on the second floor in the
older part of the library that makes it challenging to work on papers for any length of time.”
• “I think that if there were individual study areas available, it would be more helpful for the
students who are easily distracted.”
• “I'd like it if there were more tables around the library for my group to study on. We always end
up looking for a free table for about 30 minutes before giving up, getting a temporary group room
or on the rare occasion, finding one.”
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Conclusion
The results from the 2008 LibQUAL assessment survey were favorable. Based on the more than 2,300
surveys completed by the UAA and APU communities, overall the library is meeting at least the
minimum expectations and with some groups exceeding expectations in terms of the library facility and
services. Not surprisingly, one area of concern defined by both the UAA and APU faculty and by the
UAA and APU graduate students is the availability of adequate library resources to support their research
and studies.
The lowest scores received were in ranking the library in terms of having the “print and/or electronic
journal collections required for my work”. It appears that the library is meeting the needs for
undergraduate education, but its collections are seen as not adequate for graduate studies and faculty
research. More than 1,000 patrons added comments to their survey results which netted some very
specific suggestions. High on that list is extending weekend hours, providing more space for individual
and group study, and addressing APU parking issues. A more detailed analysis of the survey and a report
of actions taken to improve library services will be forthcoming and presented at several meetings during
the spring semester.
Thank you all for participating in the survey. Your input will assist us in making improvements to the
facility, collections and services that will help us better meet the needs of our library patrons.
LibQUAL Preliminary Results Summary –January 13, 2009
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