For immediate release:
February 8, 2010
For more information, contact:
David Green
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
david@arl.org
Washington DC—LibQUAL+® now operates on a new and improved platform with major enhancements to the protocol, including a customization feature called “LibQUAL+® Lite,” a shorter version of the survey that takes less time to fill in.
In January, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) launched the second generation of the LibQUAL+® interface. The new interface features usability enhancements that provide a more linear and simplified online survey management process. Some of the highlights include:
• Assign your organization to multiple ARL assessment tools
• Customize, preview, and launch multiple language surveys using one interface
• View and download a comprehensive set of user comments
• Complete and/or modify the Representativeness Questionnaire post-survey
• Upon subscription (coming in 2011), access institutional reports for all survey years
The Lite protocol uses item sampling methods to gather data on all 22 LibQUAL+® core items, while only requiring the user to respond to a subset of the 22 core questions. Every Lite user responds to one “linking” item from each of the subscales (Affect of Service, Information Control, and Library as Place), and to a randomly-selected subset of five items from the remaining 19 core LibQUAL+® items. As a consequence, survey response times are roughly cut in half, while the library still receives data on every survey question. Each participating library sets a “Lite-view Percentage” to determine what percentage of individuals will randomly receive the Lite versus the long version of the survey.
The mechanics of item sampling strategy and results from pilot testing are described in Martha Kyrillidou’s dissertation. Findings indicate that LibQUAL+® Lite is the preferred and improved alternative to the long form of 22 core items that has been established since 2003. The difference between the long and the Lite version of the survey is enough to result in higher participation rates ranging from 3.1 to 10.6 percent more for surveys that reduce average response times from 10 to 6 minutes.
For more information see: Martha Kyrillidou, “Item Sampling in Service Quality Assessment Surveys to Improve Response Rates and Reduce Respondent Burden: The “LibQUAL+® Lite” Randomized Control Trial (RCT)” (PhD diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009). https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/14570/Kyrillidou_Martha.pdf?sequence=3
Registration for LibQUAL+® 2010 is now open. To register, visit http://www.libqual.org. For a modest participation fee of $3,200 you will receive access to a rich array of assessment resources, free training, timely delivery of your survey results, and a diverse community.
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 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. LibQUAL+® is located on the Web at http://www.libqual.org/.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 124 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.