Ladd Library Survey Results Your opinion counts!   Bates College Library participated in a national survey of library service quality, LibQual+, during March, 2003. We hoped to measure library users’ perceptions of the quality of service and to identify the most important areas of improvement for them. The responses also provide us with ways to compare our efforts with those of other participating college and university libraries. What is LibQual+? The survey questions List of participating libraries 21% of all students and 22% of all faculty at Bates responded 442 total responses with 149 comments Results Half or more Bates students and faculty use the Library every day, but faculty members are more likely to use the Web than the building. Read more... Students and faculty members have very different priorities when it comes to Library service. Students prize self-sufficiency and access to resources; faculty members place a higher value on service. The Library strives to meet both needs. Read more... Liberal arts college libraries are excellent service providers, and provide many services that more closely meet user expectations than larger libraries. Among the liberal arts college libraries participating in the 2003 survey, Bates rates very high in most service categores. Read more... We heard a lot of comments about the quality of the furniture (our plans to replace chairs and tables are timely), the need for quiet study (we have formally designated the two upper floors for this), and the importance of a comfortable location. Read what users said and what we are doing about it... We want more, you say! Long hours, many electronic and print resources, and fast interlibrary loan services. Read more... We have a great library staff that is helpful and friendly. Also some room for improvement. Read more... What about all that technology in the Library? Students like what we have, want more of it, and want it to work all the time. Read about our plans... The audio/video collections are great, but what about those fines??? Read more... Your Ideas Count Changes we've made due to your survey comments: · designated the 2nd and 3rd floors as quiet study spaces · accelerated our plan to replace lounge chairs · reduced video fines · improved student assistant training · experimented with late-night hours during finals Changes already in the works that relate to your survey comments: · replacing and adding more individual study lamps · activating more than 125 additional computer connections for laptops · making a tracking service for interlibrary loan requests available to users · adding our electronic journal holdings into our catalog and providing links to these holdings from various databases Thanks to everyone who took the time to complete the survey and add their voice to this effort!

	Page author: Laura Juraska Date: 1/25/04		Feedback and Suggestions © Bates College. All rights reserved.
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