W&L

University Library

Student Survey 2010

Student Satisfaction with the University Library: A Survey at Washington and Lee University

Method

Creating the Instrument

The committee began meeting in Fall 2009 to develop the  questions to be asked using the web-based survey tool Surveymonkey.com.  A sample of the final survey may be seen at http://tinyurl.com/y33hwov.  In an effort to create unbiased questions, great care was taken to not lead the subject to a certain answer or create apathy about question answers.  We also took great care to differentiate the various service points of the Information Desk, which had only been merged a year earlier.  When asking questions about reference services, a picture of all of the reference librarians posed at the reference desk was included so that subjects would not assume that work study desk attendants were reference librarians.  Since the survey was directed at users of both Leyburn and Telford Science libraries, respondents had the opportunity to indicate that they did not use one or the other library in certain questions; we did not want students who did not ever use Telford Science Library to rate their satisfaction with it, and vice versa. 

Finally, a print version of the survey was available in addition to the web-based version for those respondents who might not visit the library website or would otherwise miss the invitation to complete the survey.  We were unable to control the number of times a person answered the survey, feeling that putting ID requests in place would infringe upon the respondents’ privacy.  Instead we felt that respondents would use their best judgment to not take the survey more than once. 

Advertising and Distributing the Survey


The committee debated how to advertise the survey in order to get the highest rate of response possible.  While we focused on students, we welcomed respondents from the faculty, staff, law school, and other community members.  These other groups provided valuable feedback that will be analyzed at a future date.  In addition to signs posted in both libraries we used Campus Notices, Facebook, and Twitter to advertise the survey, as well as the drawing for a $25 Visa Gift Card.  The post in Campus Notices read:

Subject Line:  Quick Survey on Library Reference Services

Would you please fill out this 5-minute survey on Reference Services provided at the University Library? We need feedback on how we are doing. Your effort may be rewarded by winning one of four $25 Visa gift cards.  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W93XRQD


Thanks for your participation,

The Library Reference Team


This notice ran for the first five days of the survey, from Monday, January 25 until Friday, January 29, 2010.  The survey was open until Sunday, February 7, 2010.  During this entire time, we used Facebook and Twitter to encourage those connected to respond to the survey. 

The most successful way we advertised the survey was by sending a mass email to students who had items checked out of the library or who had carrels reserved in either of the libraries.  By using the library’s integrated library system, Millenium, we were able to target students who actually use the library.  Around 700 students received this email.  The text of the email follows:

Hello,
Please take 5 minutes to complete our survey. Your help will aid us in future improvements to the University Library’s services and facilities.  Here is the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W93XRQD

Once you have completed the survey, you may register to win one of several VISA gift cards.

Finally, the committee decided to “brand” the survey with a simple graphic, which was used on the signs thatwere posted in both libraries.  For consistency, we used thisgraphic on the library website as well, integrating it into the style sheet so that every page on the library website would display this graphic, which linked to the survey (Figure A). 

All of these methods of advertising and distribution proved to be successful, with 348 respondents starting the survey, and 318 completing it.  This is the highest response rate of any survey conducted by the University Library in the past 4 years, and we believe that the combination of successful marketing and a generous incentive played a big role.