Information Services Newsletter
Library User Survey

The LibQUAL 2005 survey has given us valuable information on library users’ perceptions and expectations of our service.  It is obvious from the data that satisfaction with staff and services is high, so it is more useful to concentrate on areas where users have suggested improvements or made negative comments. 

Least satisfaction is expressed in respect of support, not overall quality or treatment. Areas requiring attention include demands for more PCs, printers and photocopiers. More books and e-journals are also required. Noise is an issue and there are demands for quiet study/computing and group study areas.  We also need to market our library services proactively and tailor them to specific user needs. Reviewing our information skills programme and developing online provision will also remain a priority.

After benchmarking against 15 other institutions in the British Isles, it is clear that we follow general trends in satisfaction with library staff and services but less so with the library as a place.
We do perform better in general satisfaction and information literacy outcomes.

We are still carrying out analysis on the data, but our latest results and action plan will shortly be available at:

http://library.ulster.ac.uk/libqual

Colette McKenna