On Monday, October 27, students, faculty and staff will receive a link to a library satisfaction survey (known as LibQUAL)  via UST email.  Please help us out by taking a few minutes to complete the survey.  Those who respond will be eligible for a drawing for several Amazon gift certificates.

In 2008, the UST Libraries conducted the LibQUAL survey for the first time.  LibQUAL has been conducted by over 1,200 libraries at institutions all over the world and helps libraries understand user perceptions of collections and services.  The feedback from LibQUAL helps us develop a culture of excellent service and collections, improve programs and innovate, compare our library to peer institutions and, generally, to better communicate with our users.  We are conducting the survey again this fall and the data we obtain will be compared against the 2008 benchmark so that we’ll be able to see the areas of the library enterprise that have changed.  (More on what we learned in 2008.)

There are three major areas of the library enterprise that will be covered by the survey: “information control” which measures the extent to which users can find the information they need; “affect of service” which measures the quality of service and interactions with library staff; and “library as place” which concerns the physical library environment.  The survey also gives users a chance to comment in their own language on the library.

This year, as the university and the Libraries engage in strategic planning, we again want to learn more about our users’ expectations and experience with the libraries at St. Thomas. Conducting this highly regarded survey again will allow us to benchmark ourselves against the 2008 findings as well as UST’s comparable institutions.

When you receive the email link to the survey, we ask that you please take the time (10 – 15 minutes) to let us know about your experiences with the UST Libraries. Your responses will influence the direction of the libraries in the near future. Visit the LibQUAL web site if you would like more information about the survey.