Update from LibQual

In the Spring of 2019, UTA Libraries conducted a LibQual survey as we do every few years.  Overall, we received higher perceived ratings than past surveys. This blog post is not an overview of the survey, but how UTA Libraries responded to survey data to make decisions. 

Based on the survey scores and written comments, a few issues came to the forefront.  

In the standard LibQual questions, the largest gap between perceived and desired service was related to space.  One gap was connected to inspiring study and learning (LP-1 in LibQual), and the second gap was around quiet space for individual activities (LP-2 in LibQual). Of the 1538 valid surveys, a little under half left comments, though they tended to be brief comments most of the time.  After coding the responses, the largest coded category was study spaces.  There were 122 instances in the written comments asking for improvements to UTA Libraries’ study spaces including more space, more quiet space, better furniture, and more power in our study spaces.

What we decided to do: 

• We plan on adding to the number and quality of seats over the next two years.
• For anyone working in a building built in the 70s, the desire for more electrical outlets should come as no surprise.  Because increasing the electrical capacity is very expensive, we have not done so in the past even though previous assessments also indicated this need. As a more cost effective solution, we purchased 4 Omnicharge power stations, which are essentially battery packs.  We also upgraded the outlets at one of our branches with USB plugs and added 6 roboreels.  
• We are exploring a smart reservation system for our very popular study rooms.  
• We created a map of available and busy computers for the library.
•  A committee was formed around the quiet space comments, which is looking at sound baffling, wayfinding, noise machines, and ear plugs.

The third and fourth highest gaps between desired and perceived service were related to accessing electronic resources (IC-1 and IC-2 in LibQual).  We also had roughly 30-40 comments speaking to issues of online access.  In many cases, the comments did not give us enough information to fully understand the issue.  One potential issue we hypothesized might have caused this response was the Summon-over-Alma interface which was launched in the 2018-2019 academic year.  Another potential issue was the increasing need for distance users to install the university’s VPN.

What we decided to do: 

• We subscribed to LibKey by Third Iron to get our users to the content quick and easy.  It reduces the number of clicks users must make to access full-text and skips the Summon-over-Alma interface.
• We launched an auto-update tool for some of our journals to keep their access more easily up-to-date.
• We subscribed to Syndetic Unbound to enrich our content in Summon. 
• We updated our off-campus connection issues LibGuide to help navigate VPN installation.

While not a large as an issue as online access and study spaces, both the survey and comments touched upon a desire for improved technology. 

What we decided to do: 

• Some comments discussed the slow load time of our desktop computers. We added solid state drives to roughly 200 PCs to increase load times and performance.
• We added 25 Windows laptops and 10 MacBooks to our tech lending program. 

These are not all the changes we implemented in response to the LibQual data, but rather ones that touch upon the largest perceived and desired service gaps and the areas with the most written comments.  The ideas on how to respond to the LibQual data were brainstormed in departments and in open brainstorming sessions.