Thank you all for participating in the Library Survey!

 

Last Fall, the Library conducted a Survey among students, faculty and staff as a joint effort of 6 UGC-funded libraries.  We used LibQUAL+^®, a survey tool offered by the Association of Research Libraries.

 

To include as many University members as possible, we offered incentive prizes and sent email notices inviting broad participation.  3,518 of you completed the Survey, a response rate of about 20%.  58 prize winners were drawn in the lucky draw, and received their prizes on 15 December.

 

 

LibQUAL+^® measures three dimensions of service quality.  Affect of Service (services provided by library staff), Information Control (library collections and access to resources) and Library as Place (spaces, facilities, and environment).  Respondents used three scales to indicate the Minimum service level they would find acceptable, their Desired service level, and the Perceived service level the Library provides.

 

Respondents could also add comments to elaborate their opinions.  Based on the scores from all the respondents, an "Adequacy Mean Score" and a "Superiority Mean Score" were computed to reflect users' level of satisfaction.

 

We are very pleased that the Survey results showed that we are meeting users' expectations; as reflected by our Minimum score of 5.92, Desired score of 7.49 and Perceived score of 7.01.  The Perceived score is very high, when compared with 6.88 in 2011 and 6.87 in 2007.

 

Details can be found at http://library.ust.hk/libqual/

 

Respondents' comments also provide useful feedback to us for making sustainable changes and developing services to meet users' needs.  Of the 1,483 comments received, over 25% were solely positive, and many more combined suggestions with appreciation:

 

While we are still reviewing the comments, here are some of our initial responses:

 

Affect of Service: There were demands for longer opening hours, larger loan quotas, more staff patrols, safer study environment, and more new services.  We are working on opening all of LG1 for 24 hours on public holidays during term time, increasing loan quotas of HKALL, introducing a new rover service and a new access services policy.  Actions will be taken to ensure you are provided with quality staff services.

 

Information Control: There is a consistent voice to ask for a bigger diversity of books, journals and media resources to support teaching, research and recreation.  We will prioritize all requests, review our patron driven ebook acquisition program, fine tune all subscriptions and review specific resources mentioned by users so as to fulfill the needs within our budget constraints.

 

Library as Place: There were many requests for more open space, more study rooms, more individual carrels, and even more floors and a bigger building.  We will be taking action as appropriate and feasible.  On a more micro level, we have already tested every power outlet in the building immediately after receiving your feedback.  About 3 dozen sockets with broken pieces inside from poor quality plugs were repaired or replaced.