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Service Enhancements

New Web Site

The beginning of 2010 marked the grand opening of our new Web site. We think it’s pretty, of course, but we are most proud of the usability enhancements. The new interface provides a more linear and simplified online survey management process. Some of the highlights include the ability to:

Assign your organization to multiple ARL assessment tools
Customize, preview, and launch multiple language surveys using one interface
View and download a comprehensive set of user comments
Complete and/or modify the Representativeness Questionnaire post-survey, and
Upon subscription, access institutional reports for all survey years

LibQUAL+® Lite

This exciting customizing feature is a shorter version of the survey that takes less time to fill in. The Lite protocol uses item sampling methods to (a) gather data on all 22 LibQUAL+® core items, while (b) only requiring the user to respond to a subset of the 22 core questions. Other sections of questions in the survey use the same sampling method to further reduce the length of the survey. As a consequence, survey response times are roughly cut in half while the library still receives data on every survey question. The Lite form yields higher response rates, as well.

The mechanics of item sampling strategy and results from pilot testing are described in a refereed journal article: http://www.libqual.org/documents/admin/pmm10-1_LQlite.pdf.

For more information on LibQUAL+® Lite see http://www.libqual.org/about/about_lq/LQ_lite.

New Fee Structure

We also have a new fee structure that will offer the LibQUAL+® survey for less on an annual and biennial basis. The pricing rewards periodic, structured participation, and encourages libraries to make participation decisions strategically, rather than on an ad hoc, one-time basis.

Over the years, we increasingly have come to realize the benefits to libraries from participating in LibQUAL+® on a regularly-scheduled basis. Some libraries have even found it beneficial to participate every year because they have then been able to detect small changes in ratings that are meaningful .

The standard base fee for the LibQUAL+® survey implementation is frozen for 2011 and 2012 at $3,200. If you implemented LibQUAL+® in 2010 and decide to implement an annual survey cycle, your fee will be $2,200 in 2011! If you skip 2011, your 2012 fee will be $2,700!

Please see our Services and Fees page for more details on this structure and other services.

Membership Subscription

We are now offering a Membership Subscription, which provides access to the full Data Repository and Analytics tools. Responding to the demand for access to the results for all the years even if a library does not implement the LibQUAL+® survey in a specific year, we now offer to you full access to the Data Repository based on an annual membership subscription.

The Data Repository is an archive of all past participating institutions’ Results Notebooks (LibQUAL+®’s own analysis of results) and Data Summaries, as well as all consortium Results Notebooks. This invaluable benchmarking information is categorized by year, and offers well over 2,000 reports since 2000. The $1,000 Membership Subscription fee gives you access to all the years of analysis and will support the development of future Analytics modules to facilitate interactive analysis of the rich LibQUAL+® dataset.

LibQUAL+® Analytics is an interactive tool that allows dynamic creation of institution-specific charts and tables for different subgroups and across different survey years. There are currently two modules of analysis available – Institution Explorer and Longitudinal Analysis – with more in production. The first two modules will continue to be available to all participants, but the Membership Subscription will provide access to additional modules including ability to benchmark at the question level and across peer groups. Most important, subscribers provide LibQUAL+® with the vital support that ensures the sustainability of a robust tool that libraries use to articulate their value proposition and demonstrate the library impact on the life of their users during transformative times.

Local Survey Implementation

ARL Custom Survey Solutions is a service that puts ARL's expertise in developing groundbreaking assessment tools to work for your library. Libraries can mount their surveys on our secure gateway, and we will collect the data and create reports for you that details the results. This service provides:

Guidance to effectively sustain practical assessment
Resources that help you identify the needs of your users
Customization of survey questions

Over 1,400 libraries use our assessment tools worldwide. Email stats@arl.org today to discuss how we can help your library.

We believe these enhancements will improve your experience conducting service quality assessment and, most importantly, improve the usefulness of your data. If you would like to discuss the LibQUAL+® service and the potential to run a survey at your institution, please contact us at libqual@arl.org.

We look forward to working with you in the near future,
The LibQUAL+® Team