LibQUAL+ in the UK and beyond

Stephen TownUniversity of York, UK

QQML 2009, ChaniaFriday 29th May

1200-1340

Outline

• Introduction• LibQUAL+ outside North America• LibQUAL+ results in the UK & Ireland• LibQUAL+ in action

The premise for LibQUAL+ beyond North America

• Underlying need to demonstrate our worth• The reallocation of resources from traditional

services and functions• Rapid shifts in information-seeking behavior

– Need to keep abreast of customer demands

• Increasing user demands– 37% of UK 16 – 18 year olds in the UK expect better libraries

in return for their top-up fees

• Specific Quality Assurance regimes, and contextual drivers (Bologna)

Multiple Methodsof Listening to Customers

• Transactional surveys*• Mystery shopping• New, declining, and lost-customer surveys• Focus group interviews• Customer advisory panels• Service reviews• Customer complaint, comment, and inquiry capture• Total market surveys*• Employee field reporting• Employee surveys• Service operating data capture

• *A SERVQUAL-type instrument is most suitable for these methods

Note. A. Parasuraman. The SERVQUAL Model: Its Evolution And Current Status. (2000).

Paper presented at ARL Symposium on Measuring Service Quality, Washington, D.C.

UK Service Quality Context in 2003

• Academic library & institutional quality initiatives since at least early 90s

• Sophisticated survey market, with standard SCONUL satisfaction survey; designed surveys through Priority Research and others

• Specific audit and assessment regimes for which surveys could provide supporting evidence

LibQUAL+ outside North America

The SCONUL Consortium

• Coordinated on behalf of the Society of College, National & University Libraries (SCONUL) Working Group on Performance Improvement (WGPI)

• 2003 - 20 UK Higher Education (HE) institutions • 2004 -16 UK & Irish HE institutions • 2005 - 16 UK & Irish HE institutions • 2006 – 20 UK & Irish HE institutions• 2007 – 21 UK & Irish HE institutions• 2008 – 17 UK & Irish institutions• 2009 - 17 UK & Irish institutions• 66+ different institutions (including EBS UK members)

Overall Potential UK Sample to 2009

• Full variety of institutions• 50% of institutions* (53% of RAE top 50)• >53% of HE students potentially

sampled (>850,000)

*Based on a selection of Universities UK membership of 131

RLUK• University of Aberdeen • University of Birmingham • University of Bristol • British Library• Cambridge University • Cardiff University • Durham University• Edinburgh University • Glasgow University • Imperial College London• University of Manchester• King's College London • Leeds University • University of Liverpool• University of London

• The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

• National Library of Scotland

• National Library of Wales• Newcastle University• University of Nottingham • University of Oxford• School of Oriental and

African Studies (SOAS)• University of Sheffield• University of Southampton • Trinity College Dublin • UCL• V&A Museum• University of Warwick• Wellcome Library

Ireland

• University College Cork• University College Dublin• Dublin City University• NUI, Galway• University of Limerick• NUI, Maynooth• Trinity College Dublin

• Dublin Institute of Technology

• Institute of Technology Tallaght

• Irish Management Institute

• University of Ulster

SCONUL Consortium 2009

• Cranfield University• Institute of Technology

Tallaght• Royal College of Nursing• Royal Holloway University of

London• St George's, University of

London• Trinity College Library Dublin• University of Aberdeen• University of Bath

• University of Birmingham• University of Bradford• University of Glasgow Library• University of Leeds• University of Limerick• University of Manchester• University of St. Andrews• University of Ulster• University of York

LibQUAL+ France Consortium

• Sciences Po• Service Commun de Documentation - Université de Provence• Université de Bretagne Occidentale - Service Commun de

Documentation• Université de Bretagne-sud - Service commun de la Documentation• Université de Rennes 2 - Service commun de documentation• Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines• Université du Sud Toulon-Var• Université Paris 12 Val de Marne• Université Sorbonne nouvelle - Paris 3

LibQUAL+ Belge & Norway

• Université Catholique de Louvain

• Université de Liège• Université Libre de Bruxelles• Utrecht University Library

• Hedmark University College• The NTNU Library• University of Agder• University of Bergen Library• University of Oslo• University of Tromsø Library

World

• National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies

• National University of Singapore• Universidad de Guadalajara• Université de la Polynésie

française• University of Cape Town• University of Haifa• University of Pretoria,

Department of Library Services• 政策研究大学院大学－日本語

Consortia outside North America

• Belgium• Canada• European Business Schools (EBSLG)• France• Hong Kong (JULAC)• Japan• NHS England• Norway• UK & Ireland (SCONUL)

Rapid Growth in Other Areas

• Languages– American English– British English– Other English variations– Afrikaans– French (2 versions)– German– Dutch– Scandinavian languages– Chinese– Welsh

• Types of Institutions– Academic Health Sciences– Academic Law– Academic Military– College or University– Community College– European Business– Hospital– Public– State

• Countries– U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada,

the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, France, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia

World LibQUAL+ Survey 2005

Participating Libraries

LibQUAL+® Languages

American English

Dutch EnglishFrench Canadian DutchSwedish

Swedish(British English)

Afrikaans

DanishFinnishGerman Norwegian

British English

Continental French

Over 700 institutions1,000,000 respondents

LibQUAL+ and SCONUL

Results and consequences

Key to Bar Charts Key to Radar Charts

Respondents by Institution for SCONUL

Population and Respondent Profiles by User Sub-Group

Population and Respondent Profiles by Standard Discipline

Core questions summary

Core Questions Dimensions Summary

Local Questions Summary

Core Questions Summary for Undergraduates

Core Questions Summary for Postgraduates

Core Questions Summary for Academic Staff

Core Questions Summary for Library Staff

LibQUAL+ 2006 Summary Collegesor Universities (American English)

LibQUAL+ 2006 Summary SCONUL

Longitudinal Analysis for SCONULDimension Breakdown

Longitudinal Analysis for SCONULUser Group Breakdown

General findings

• Highly desired– Making electronic resources accessible from my

home or office– Print and/or electronic journals I require for my work– A haven for study, learning or research

• Lowest – Library staff who instil confidence in users– Giving users individual attention– Space for group learning and group study

LibQUAL+ in action

Use for national policy influence

• SCONUL LibQUAL+ results contributed to national enquiries on libraries and learning in higher education, with particular reference to learning spaces, and the competitiveness of UK University libraries in comparison to global peers

UK University Case Study: Using LibQUAL+® Results

• Strategic Service Developments– Data to support service development– Ability to identify where not meeting expectations– Measure if change has met need

• Budget Discussions– Data to support bid for increased funding– Data to support case for change in emphasis (towards e-

provision)

• Marketing Position– Status of the library within the University– Importance of national & international benchmarking

LibQUAL+ related outcomes

Funding received for:• New Web Services Administrator• Increased opening hours

– Now providing 222,578 seat hours per week

• Library refurbishment programme reinstated at costs in excess of £8 million

Library Refurbishment

From: To:

Finding Benchmarking Partners

External Benchmarking

Peer-to-Peer Benchmarking

Dimension Summary

4.00

4.50

5.00

5.50

6.00

6.50

7.00

7.50

8.00

8.50

Affect ofService

Affect ofService

InformationControl

InformationControl

Library asPlace

Library asPlace

Overall Overall

DCMT Library 2 DCMT Library 2 DCMT Library 2 DCMT Library 2

LibQUAL+ Analysis Service

• Possibilities for additional analysis are endless, your time may not be

• The UK LibQUAL+ analysis service provides customised reports produced to individual requirements

• Discounted pricing due to unique relationship with the ARL

Why use LibQUAL?

Why did you choose to use LibQUAL+?“LibQUAL+ was recommended to us as offering a

well designed, thoroughly Library-focused set of survey tools”

“Cost-effectiveness”“Automated processing & fast delivery of

results”“Opportunity to benchmark”“Respectability and comparability (with others

and historically)”

The benefits of LibQUAL+®

“LibQUAL+ has enabled us to find out what a broad range of our users thought of the services we offer; what level of service-delivery quality we had achieved in their eyes, and to get a clear picture of what they actually wanted the Library to deliver (as opposed to what we thought they wanted).”

UK HE Institution, 2006

J. Stephen Town

Director of Information & University LibrarianUniversity of York, UK

jst504@york.ac.uk