The study looks at the overall use of surveying and benchmarking to achieve library management goals, as well as the use of many particular surveying and benchmarking instruments including but not limited to Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, LIbWIzard, Ithaka, the NMC Library Report, LibInsight, LibQual+,and OCLC, ALA, consortia and other library benchmarking data. The report also explores the type and range of surveys library employ, as well as the audiences surveyed – students, faculty and administration. The study helps its readers to answer questions such as: how many libraries are using focus groups? How often are students surveyed? Which benchmarking tools are the most frequently consulted? How much staff time is being spent on surveying? How much is being spent? How well do librarians understand how much satisfaction levels with the library may vary by demographic category defined by academic genre, gender, age, work title and other variables?
The study is based on data from 51 academic library directors and other high level management officials, predominantly from the USA. Data is broken out by size and type of institution, by tuition level, for public and private institutions and by other variables.
Just a few of this 104-page report’s many findings are that:
· A third of librarians sampled say that they have no idea how satisfaction with library services may vary by demographic variable.
· Public colleges were much more likely than private ones to use LibInsight data extensively.
· More than 33% of libraries had one or more employees largely dedicated to surveying library patrons and processing results.
· Only 3.9% of respondents were highly satisfied with their library’s capabilities in using feedback from library websites and discovery tool.