For immediate release:
September 16, 2008

For more information, contact:
Kristina Justh
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296 ext. 136
kristina@arl.org

LibQUAL+® Celebrates 10th Anniversary, 2009 Registration Now Open

Free Training January 26, 2009, Denver, Colorado

Washington DC—2009 marks 10 years of LibQUAL+®. In 1999, ARL introduced the New Measures Initiatives, a collection of projects designed to address issues of service quality, electronic usage and value, and outcomes assessment. One of the five projects, largely supported by Texas A&M University and foundation funds, was a study of the utility of service effectiveness measures based on the SERVQUAL instrument. This project ultimately became LibQUAL+®, which started with 10 institutions in 2000 and has grown to more than 1,000 participating institutions worldwide. LibQUAL+® is now offered in 17 languages and accommodates 20 different institution types.

Through multiple applications of the survey, the LibQUAL+® team sees the need for libraries to increase both their communication with users and their institutional ability to act on user feedback. The LibQUAL+® team encourages the libraries that have administered the survey only once to run it again in 2009. Every academic library in the US is encouraged to jump on the LibQUAL+® ship for smoother sailing with their library users. In a sea of information, it helps to have a chart!

Register to Participate in 2009

Registration for LibQUAL+® 2009 is now open. For a modest participation fee of $3,200 you will receive access to a rich array of assessment resources, free training, and timely delivery of your survey results. To register, visit http://www.libqual.org/.

Free Training

Free training activities will be offered on Monday, January 26, 2009, in Denver, Colorado, in conjunction with the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting:

1. Survey Introduction, 8:30-10:00 a.m.
2. Survey Administration, 10:30am-1:30 p.m.
3. Survey Results, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

For more information on these events or to register, visit http://www.libqual.org/Events/lqtraining.cfm.

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. LibQUAL+® is on the Web at http://www.libqual.org/.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 123 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, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.