The goal of the UCSD Libraries, as stated in our mission statement, is to have 90% of our primary users (faculty, students, and staff) rate the libraries collections, services, programs, staff, and facilities as either "outstanding" or "excellent" by 1998.
The purpose of the UCSD Libraries User Survey was to learn what our users thought about the UCSD Libraries. What did our users value? What did they feel needed improving? What did our users want from us in the future? All of these answers are critical in an era of increasing user expectations and declining monetary resources. The results from the User Survey will help the Libraries allocate resources and plan future actions.
In late July 1995, UCSD University Librarian, Gerald Lowell announced the formation of the first UCSD Libraries User Survey Team. The Team was originally composed of nine members, both librarians and support staff, and represented a cross section of the UCSD Libraries. The Team was fully empowered to launch the survey process.
The Team's preliminary research indicated that few libraries systematically surveyed their users and of the few that did, little use was made of the data collected. Many surveys questioned faculty but did not include graduate or undergraduate students. Most surveys asked "general satisfaction" type questions and the results from surveys of libraries of all types and sizes often indicated that users were "satisfied," (even when they left the library without what they came there for!). These general questions and answers do not provide sufficiently detailed information to lead to actionable items.
The UCSD Libraries User Survey Team wanted to approach the survey from the users' point of view--users perceptions about the UCSD Libraries and what they expected from the UCSD Libraries to meet their needs. We did not want to develop a survey limited to issues that library staff thought were important. We did not want to limit the questions to issues we could control. We wanted a survey that was scientifically rigorous. We wanted a survey that would also reach members of the UCSD community who did not use the library, since we were interested in their reasons for not using our facilities and services. To further these goals, the Team decided to use proven market research methodology and to seek a consultant skilled in this field who was outside the library profession.
The Team selected a consultant, Kerry Martin, after an exacting and competitive process. The survey was not "turned over" to the consultant. Rather, the Team worked closely with Ms. Martin during each step of the process as the focus groups were conducted, the survey instruments were developed, pretesting was done, survey instruments were refined and the survey was released into the field.
The Team took responsibility for both the printing and the mailing of the surveys to faculty and graduate students. The Team also spent considerable time on three rounds of follow-up efforts with non-respondents. This time was well spent as the final response rate was over 70% for eligible faculty and graduate students.
For the undergraduate population, the Team sought permission from faculty members to survey undergraduates during class time. Once permission was granted Team members went into classes and administered a written survey to undergraduates during the first ten minutes of class time. Over 2,800 responses were collected during this process.