tm project web site: colleen cook bruce thompson martha kyrillidou glasgow january 19-20, 2004 “...

TM

Project web site: http://old.libqual.org

Colleen CookBruce Thompson

Martha Kyrillidou

GlasgowJanuary 19-20, 2004

““22 Items and22 Items and a Boxa Box””

Qualitative GroundingQualitative Grounding::

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+

Why the Box is so Damn Important

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+

1. About 40% of participants provide open-ended comments, and these are linked to demographics and quantitative data.

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+

2. Users elaborate the details of their concerns.

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+

3. Users feel the need to be constructive in their criticisms, and offer specific suggestions for action.

“In an age of accountability, there is a pressing need for an effective and practical process to evaluate and compare research libraries. In the aggregate, among the 124 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) alone, over $3.2 billion dollars were expended in 2000/2001 to satisfy the library and information needs of the research constituencies in North America.”

The Imperative for our ResearchThe Imperative for our Research

Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2002).ARL Statistics 2000-01. Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.5.


Total CirculationTotal Circulation


Reference TransactionsReference Transactions

Only 13.9% ask a librarian Only 3.2% consider consulting a

librarian a preferred way of identifying information

NoteNote. Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and Information. Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and InformationResources. (2002). Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment.Resources. (2002). Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment.

Finding Print JournalsFinding Print Journalsfor Researchfor Research


92.7% find out about e-journals on-line 21.7% report using print resources to find 16.5% would ask a person for assistance Only 2.5% would prefer to ask a

librarian

Finding Electronic JournalsFinding Electronic Journalsfor Researchfor Research

Only 15.7% agreed with the statement “The Internet has not changed the way I use the library”


Information Seeking BehaviorsInformation Seeking Behaviorsare Changingare Changing

Premise for Mixed-MethodsPremise for Mixed-Methods

“The underlying premise of mixed-method inquiry is that each paradigm offers a meaningful and legitimate way of knowing and understanding” (p. 7).

Note. Greene, J.C. and Caracelli, V. J. (Eds.). (1997). Advances in mixed-method valuation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Data were gathered for building a theory of service quality through unstructured interviews of users of research libraries in north America.

The theory was analyzed, tested, and refined from a grounded theory perspective through an iterative and emergent process that employed both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Interview data were derived and subjected to traditional quantitative analysis for reliability and validity to ascertain whether it both accurately assessed user sentiment of service quality, and whether it succeeded in evaluating what it purportedly was designed to do.

Initial interviews served to inform subsequent interviews, which in turn determined the texture of survey questions.

Mixed Method DesignMixed Method Design

13 LibrariesEnglish LibQUAL+™ Version

4000 Respondents

QUAL

QUAN

QUAL

QUAL

QUAN

QUAL

PURPOSE DATA ANALYSIS PRODUCT/RESULTDescribe library environment;build theory of library service quality from user perspective

Test LibQUAL+™ instrument

Refine theoryof service quality

Refine LibQUAL+™ instrument

Test LibQUAL+™ instrument

Refine theory

Unstructured interviewsat 8 ARL institutions

Web-delivered survey

Unstructured interviews at Health Sciences and the Smithsonian libraries

E-mail to surveyadministrators

Web-delivered survey

Focus groups

Content analysis:(cards & Atlas TI)

Reliability/validityanalyses: CronbachsAlpha, factor analysis,SEM, descriptive statistics

Content analysis

Content analysis

Reliability/validity analyses including Cronbachs Alpha,factor analysis, SEM, descriptive statistics

Content analysis

VignetteRe-tooling

Iterative

Emergent2000

2004315 Libraries English, Dutch, Swedish,

German LibQUAL+™ Versions160,000 anticipated respondents

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+™ Project™ Project

Case studies1

Valid LibQUAL+™ protocol

Scalable process

Enhanced understanding of user-centered views of service quality in the library environment2

Cultural perspective3

Refined survey delivery process and theory of service quality4

Refined LibQUAL+™ instrument5

Local contextual understanding of LibQUAL+™ survey responses6

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+ Process Process

SERVQUAL dimensions served as a priori theoretical starting point

Gap Theory of Assessment: Perceptions, Gap Theory of Assessment: Perceptions, Service Quality and SatisfactionService Quality and Satisfaction

PERCEPTIONS SERVICE

“….only customers judge quality;all other judgments are essentiallyirrelevant”

Note. Zeithaml, Parasuraman, Berry. (1999). Delivering quality service. NY: The Free Press.

York University University of Arizona Arizona State University of Connecticut University of Houston University of Kansas

University of Minnesota University of Pennsylvania University of Washington Smithsonian Northwestern Medical

76 Interviews Conducted76 Interviews Conducted

LoadedPT:P1:01xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.txt,S:\Admin\Colleen\ServQual Interviews\TEXT Only\01xxxxxxxxx.txt (redirected: c:\zz\atlasti\fred

Dimensions ofDimensions ofLibrary Service QualityLibrary Service Quality

Empathy

Ubiquity and Ease of Access

Comprehensive Collections

Reliability

Responsiveness

Symbol

Utilitarian space

Assurance

Formats

Timely access to resources

Physical location

Self-reliance Library as Place

LibraryServiceQuality

Model 1

?

Refuge

Affect of Service

“You put a search on a book and it’s just gone; it’s not reacquired. … There’s more of a problem of lost books, of books that are gone and nobody knows why and nobody’s doing anything about it.”

Faculty member

ReliabilityReliability

“I want to be treated with respect. I want you to be courteous, to look like you know what you are doing and enjoy what you are doing. … Don’t get into personal conversations when I am at the desk.”

Faculty member

Affect of ServiceAffect of Service

“Over time my own library use has become increasingly electronic. So that the amount of time I actually spend in the library is getting smaller and the amount of time I spend at my desk on the web … is increasing.”

Faculty member

Ubiquity of AccessUbiquity of Access

“I think one of the things I love about academic life in the United States is that as a culture…, we tend to appreciate the extraordinary importance of libraries in the life of the mind.”

Faculty member

Comprehensive CollectionsComprehensive Collections

“One of the cherished rituals is going up the steps and through the gorgeous doors of the library and heading up to the fifth floor to my study. … I have my books and I have six million volumes downstairs that are readily available to me in an open stack library.”

Faculty member

Library as PlaceLibrary as Place

“I guess you’d call them satisfiers. As long as they are not negatives, they won’t be much of a factor. If they are negatives, they are a big factor.”

Faculty member


“The poorer your situation, the more you need the public spaces to work in. When I was an undergraduate, I spent most of my time in the library, just using it as a study space.”

Faculty member


“…first of all, I would turn to the best search engines that are out there. That’s not a person so much as an entity. In this sense, librarians are search engines [ just ] with a different interface.”

Faculty member

Self-relianceSelf-reliance

“By habit, I usually try to be self-sufficient. And I’ve found that I am actually fairly proficient. I usually find what I’m looking for eventually. So I personally tend to ask a librarian only as a last resort.”

Graduate student

Self-relianceSelf-reliance

_____________________________________________________________________________ Factor_ ______ _ No. I II III IV Item Core _____________________________________________________________________________ 32 .84947 .12848 .24465 .13335 1 Willingness to help users33 .80847 .13662 .25348 .14147 1 Giving users individual attention 7 .80757 .17881 .12781 .21125 1 Employees deal with users caring fashion50 .79273 .19288 .18847 .12497 1 Employees who are consistently courteous31 .77262 .16358 .26461 .20061 1 Employees have knowledge answer questions 5 .74072 .14754 .18453 .29624 1 Employees understand needs of users 3 .74052 .15102 .17296 .20793 1 Readiness to respond to users' questions18 .71718 .19757 .18289 .26766 1 Employees who instill confidence in users43 .62487 .22402 .29970 .28256 0 Dependability handling service problems 20 .16556 .87679 .11430 .16236 2 A haven for quiet and solitude 2 .17739 .83172 .08498 .13901 2 A meditative place19 .22362 .83147 .14705 .22566 2 A contemplative environment25 .16013 .80492 .18894 .16628 2 Space that facilitates quiet study41 .20398 .80204 .17599 .20255 2 A place for reflection and creativity 37 .22528 .12353 .78405 .15466 * website enabling me locate info on my own28 .19602 .09611 .75780 .13173 * elec resources accessible home or office14 .33339 .16156 .60389 .31109 * access tools allow me find on my own45 .30467 .23784 .59090 .28919 3 Modern equip me easily access info I need17 .35390 .18467 .55690 .41864 * info easily accessible for independent use29 .30136 .21018 .55341 .38474 4 Convenient access to library collections 11 .13494 .23183 .18868 .73636 3 Comprehensive print collections39 .14894 .23743 .29367 .60350 3 Complete runs of journal titles16 .29445 .19831 .22384 .60107 3 Interdisciplinary library needs addressed 9 .27782 .05333 .16331 .57866 4 Timely document delivery/interlibrary loan 8 .22850 .18484 .13137 .56343 0 Convenient business hours

________________________________________________________________

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+ Core Questions Y1Core Questions Y1

Dimensions ofDimensions ofLibrary Service QualityLibrary Service Quality

Affect of Service

Empathy

Access to Information

Personal Control

Responsiveness

Symbol

Utilitarian space

Assurance

Scope

Timeliness

Convenience

Library as Place

Refuge

Modern Equipment

Convenience

Ease of Navigation

Reliability

LibraryServiceQuality

Model 2

Survey InstrumentSurvey Instrument

York University University of Arizona Arizona State University of Connecticut University of Houston University of Kansas

University of Minnesota University of Pennsylvania University of Washington Smithsonian Northwestern Medical

76 Interviews Conducted 76 Interviews Conducted

The Value of the Qualitative The Value of the Qualitative PerspectivesPerspectives

“Only with in-depth, local, qualitative, ‘culture’ studies can libraries know and understand what compels some to remain as far away from the library as possible, while others refrain from engaging library staff in their own search for proficiency and self-reliance” (Lincoln, p. 15).

“If Foucault is correct that we in the West live in surveilled societies, then what function does self-reliance serve? …the library user who wishes to navigate resources with as little help as possible – seeks a kind of privacy from the surveillance of librarian help …Having found the relative anonymity of cyberspace and a virtual world, this self-reliant user now seeks the same independence and lack of surveillance in the text-based and digitized universe of information resources known as the library” (Lincoln, p. 12).

Cultural Perspective – Cultural Perspective – Self-relianceSelf-reliance

“…It’s beyond the ease [with] which you can find information, just because the library experience is something like Greece or Athens…” (Undergraduate)

“…the library needs to welcome them in. It needs to make them feel like this is a place where they can be in almost a haven, a refuge” (Business professor)

“writing an undergraduate thesis with this big dome over his head…he felt really like a scholar” (Linguistics professor)

Writing a dissertation in a particular library for another scholar “was an emotional experience”

Cultural Perspective – Cultural Perspective – Library as Place Library as Place

“In the physical [vs. virtual] reality, ‘texture’ has become important. Density of collections becomes important, and, if collections are not complete, users want to know where they can find missing volumes, journal articles, and/or how swiftly interlibrary loan will work for them” (Lincoln, p. 11).

Cultural Perspective - Cultural Perspective - CollectionsCollections

E-mail to Survey AdministratorsE-mail to Survey Administrators

“A number of the questions asked to rate the library from low to high, with n/a if it doesn’t apply to me. The latter wasn’t clear, but there were a number of questions which implied what a library should be that I don’t agree with. For example, a number of questions asked whether the library was a ‘contemplative place’ or a ‘center for intellectual stimulation.’ I don’t think our library is, but I don’t want it to be, and I certainly wouldn’t want any scarce resources to be devoted to this.”

Communication to web-master

“…as users have metamorphosed from penitents to self-reliant information surfers, the rules of engagement have changed. Service is not something dispensed; rather, it is enacted as an elaborate cultural ritual, the texture and fabric of which is changing in front of us. Service may now embody multiple overlays of meaning, many too dense for anything but an anthropological fieldwork study to uncover” (Lincoln, p. 15).

Service as PerformanceService as Performance

E-mail to Survey AdministratorsE-mail to Survey Administrators

“Other questions implied that any good library staff would ‘empower’ me to find my own research. I don’t mean to sound snippish, but if I wanted to be ‘empowered’ to be able to find all my own research, I’d enroll in the outstanding school of library science here on campus. I thought the reason we bring in talented and trained librarians is so that we can efficiently divide labor, and I can remain dependent on them – unempowered, if you will, to assist me when need it. (And let me assure you I AM dependent, and they ARE excellent in assisting me.)”

Communication to web-master

Dimensions of LibraryDimensions of LibraryService QualityService Quality

Focus Group Follow-upFocus Group Follow-up

Downward trend in scores on question, “Employees have knowledge to answer user question.”

What employees? “I asked for help in searching on the 1st floor of the annex. They said they aren’t trained in that….”

What knowledge? “Some just say, ‘I don’t know.’ Do you know who could tell me? I ask, and sometimes, they don’t know that either” (Crowley & Gilreath, pp. 82-83).

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.

Multiple MethodsMultiple Methodsof Listening to Customersof Listening to Customers

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LibQUAL+LibQUAL+ Related RelatedDocumentsDocuments

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+ Web Site http://www.libqual.org

LibQUAL+LibQUAL+ Bibliography http://www.libqual.org/publications/index.cfm

Survey Participants Procedures Manual http://www.arl.org/libqual/procedure/lqmanual2.pdf

tm project web site: colleen cook bruce thompson martha kyrillidou glasgow january 19-20, 2004 “...

Documents

house use of materialsonly

house use of materialsnote

digital library federation

information needs

research constituencies

pressing need

print resources

print journalsfor research92