ARL is sponsoring a Service Quality Evaluation Academy, an intensive five-day workshop emphasizing basic concepts and skills in measurement and data analysis that are applicable to service quality evaluations. The Academy curriculum focuses on qualitative and quantitative methods for collecting and analyzing library service quality data. Some time will be spent on relevant software skills, including the use of ATLAS.ti to analyze the content of interviews or responses to open-ended survey questions and the use of SPSS for quantitative data analysis. The workshop content is directed towards conducting service quality evaluations in general, with the expectation that participants will be able to experiment with methods and create tools to add to the cadre of new measurement tools being developed by libraries. The training will be conducted by Colleen Cook, Executive Associate Dean, Texas A&M University Libraries, and Bruce Thompson, Professor and Distinguished Research Scholar, Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University.

Nineteen participants representing ARL and other academic libraries have been selected to participate in the first class of the Academy in San Antonio, Texas, 27-31 May 2002. The participants are as follows:

Bonnie Allen, Oregon State University
Susan Anthes, University of Colorado at Boulder
Susan Beck, Rutgers University
Robert Bellanti, University of California, Los Angeles
Francine DeFranco, University of Connecticut
Irma Dillon, University of Maryland
Frank Elliott, University of Minnesota
Sue Gervais, Brown University
Doris Hendrickson, Radford University
Steve Hiller, University of Washington
Sarah McCord, Washington State University
Kurt Murphy, Arizona State University
Laurie Probst, Pennsylvania State University
Brian Roberts, Brigham Young University
Steve Shorb, University of Florida
Judy Siebert Maseles, University of Missouri-Columbia
Janice Simpson, University of Alabama
Joan Stein, Carnegie Mellon University
Linda White, University of Virginia

Carla Stoffle, ARL Statistics and Measurement Committee Chair and Dean of Libraries at the University of Arizona, Eileen Hitchingham, Dean of University Libraries at Virginia Tech, and Sherrie Schmidt, Dean of University Libraries at Arizona State University, served as the Academy Selection Committee. The committee used the following criteria to choose the members of the first class:

• assessment experience as illustrated by the applicant's statement of interest;
• demonstrated commitment to service quality assessment efforts; and
• support of the participant's institution as demonstrated by a nomination from the library director.

For more information, see http://www.libqual.org/events/.

To cite this article

"Service Quality Evaluation Academy." ARL, no. 221 (April 2002): 13. http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/br/br221/br221academy.shtml.