Library Service Quality Survey — April 2008

A total of 312 Cal Poly students, faculty and staff participated in an April 2008 survey designed to measure their satisfaction with a broad range of Library services. Student responses were widely distributed across Colleges and years, with the greatest number of responses received from juniors and seniors.

Overall findings

Overall satisfaction with the Library and its services came in at 4.03 on a 5-point scale, with highest levels of satisfaction reported for online access to information resources outside the library (4.05), weekday hours (4.32), and cleanliness (4.06).

The highest levels of dissatisfaction were reserved for inadequate study space — nearly 20% were dissatisfied with the amount of comfortable seating, and nearly 14% with the amount of desk space. Several environmental factors were also singled out for dissatisfaction (noise level, climate control); similar dissatisfaction rates were reported for weekend library access, and for the quality of printers and copiers.

Need to know

The survey also pointed out areas where lack of awareness of Library services yielded high "don't know" responses. The majority of respondents were not aware of the Library's help in student support — locating and retrieving needed information efficiently, help formulating research questions for projects or papers, or help organizing and using information.

What's important to students?

Survey respondents were also asked to say what they valued most from the Library. In these "importance" rankings, the highest marks went to electronic resources, online access from home, adequate space to work in the Library, and an effective Library web site.

In addition to answering the survey questions, respondents were invited to provide free form comments about what they most and least appreciated about the Library.

Among the many positive comments about how the Library helps them study was this one: "I really like being able to go to the Library during my breaks between classes, even though I can normally go for only an hour or so, I feel I really get a lot done."

Comments about service problems centered on early closing on Fridays and Saturdays; the need for more study rooms; desire for more computers; a wish to see more textbooks available in the Library; and high noise levels.

Essential to academic success

In conclusion, the Cal Poly community continues to view the library as essential to academic success. Faculty and student satisfaction rates are high and the library is seen as providing critical support to effective teaching and research. More work is needed to increase awareness of library services and to collaborate with instructors on integrating library research skills into courses and programs.

Full survey results coming

A complete report of these survey results is in process and will be made available from this web page at the end of fall quarter. For more information, contact Navjit Brar, Librarian for Assessment and Lifelong Learning Programs, nbrar@calpoly.edu.