According to an innovative survey conducted by the University library, most members of the CWRU community are pleased overall with the service the library provides and think it does a good job with limited resources.

In the Web-based survey, called LibQUAL+, students also said they love the library furniture-especially the chairs-but would like to see more leisure books and more space for individual study. Students also are interested in better library computer workstations, more office software on public computers and longer hours of operation, including KSLearn classes offered later in the day.

The evaluation, conducted at CWRU last spring in partnership with a national research effort to define and measure service quality across libraries, also shows that CWRU faculty would like library carrels for research and consultation. All patrons said they want more books and journals and greater access to online materials.

According to Karen Oye, head of customer services for the University Library, LibQUAL+ is adapted from the widely tested and accepted SERVQUAL survey used for many years in the retail and banking industries. The library version was developed by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and Texas A&M University.

LibQUAL+ assesses library service quality according to four key dimensions: access to information, effect of service, personal control and library as place, Oye said. Using 25 standardized questions, it gauges desired, minimum and perceived service quality, thus measuring the service "gap."

CWRU's University Library again will participate in the national LibQUAL+ survey this April, joining a number of new libraries and systems, including The Oberlin Group.

"This year, in addition to the April LibQUAL+ survey, the library will be seeking out a variety of ways to talk with the CWRU community," Oye said. "The importance of this effort reflects University Library's interest in measuring service quality so we can better meet the needs-and expectations-of our researchers."

Of the 834 people in the sample who responded to an invitation and viewed the first page of the survey, 537 completed the entire questionnaire-a nearly 65 percent response rate. Of those, more than 160 chose to make additional comments or suggestions at the completion of the survey.

More than 58 percent of respondents to the survey were undergraduates, about 21 percent were graduate students, nearly 19 percent were faculty, about 1 percent were staff and less than 1 percent were library employees.

The library already is transforming its services in response to the first survey. It is acquiring more popular and leisure materials, and patrons can suggest specific titles they would like to see added. Through the library's Web site, the CWRU community also can recommend new resources for the library to acquire.

As suggested, the library has added Saturday hours and now offers CWRU ID card swipe-in access. The KSLearn schedule features 10 new classes, several offered later in the day, and the library has partnered with the College of Arts and Sciences to provide eight graduate student study carrels to faculty members selected by the arts and sciences dean.

In addition, the University Library's iBooks now come equipped with Microsoft Office software and streamlined Virtual Private Networking, or VPN, logon screens. The library also has upgraded computers and significantly increased the number of active ports on study tables.

Along with 57 Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) institutions, including CWRU, 164 colleges and universities joined in this, the third, LibQUAL+ study. OhioLINK was one of the first two consortia to join the survey, according to Oye.

"OhioLINK's participation was an important one-its diverse community helped ARL learn how the survey works for many other types of libraries and their constituents," Oye said. "Each of the OhioLINK committees was asked to submit questions related to OhioLINK resources and services."

The LibQUAL+ survey also is designed to accommodate several individualized questions, and OhioLINKL included five questions exclusive to the OhioLINK community, allowing for the evaluation of statewide practices not addressed in the standard survey.

According to Oye, OhioLINK and CWRU chose to join the ARL survey because, among other reasons, assessment is a priority and the ARL LibQUAL+ survey is a standardized tool that provides comparison with libraries across the country. Also, the LibQUAL+ survey already has been tested in the library community and is a quality product that has national support, Oye said.

Those who participate in the upcoming LibQUAL+ survey are eligible to win prizes. Respondents to the first survey who won were George Vairaktarakis, operations research, who received a Palm Pilot, and Molly Berger, history, and Benjamin Huber, engineering, who both won gift certificates.

For more on the 2002 LibQUAL+ results, go to http://www.cwru.edu/UL/REF/libqual/highlights.html.