LibQUAL in Ireland: Performance Assessment and Service Improvement in Irish University Libraries

Abstract

This article reviews the Irish university experience of LibQUAL, drawing from interviews with administrators and library directors in the seven Irish universities together with data from the Irish LibQUAL notebooks generated from 2009 to 2012. Of the seven Irish universities, three find it very useful, run it regularly and have integrated it into their planning activities. Two found LibQUAL to be very useful in an occasional sense and two found LibQUAL to be less useful for their needs. The results from all LibQUAL notebooks indicate common poor perceptions about library buildings amongst users. However Irish users' expectations of library buildings appear to be higher than elsewhere. The approaches to analysis, interpretation and response to the results varied from library to library. While most institutions reported implementing changes as part of their LibQUAL action plans, attitudes around whether LibQUAL was a catalyst for change in their libraries varied. The majority of those interviewed described themselves as somewhat satisfied, as opposed to very satisfied, with the tool. At a national level, LibQUAL has repositioned the importance of the physical library environment within strategic planning and has placed the customer firmly at the center of Irish university library development . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

Quiet in the Library: An Evidence-Based Approach to Improving the Student Experience

“…In Irish libraries, scores for the quiet space question are lower still. 18 Perceptions of quiet space in North American libraries that have run LibQUAL are not as low as in the United Kingdom; however, LP2 in the ARL consortium notebooks usually ranks in the five lowest-scoring questions. What is most notable in both the North American and U.K. LibQUAL data is that desired scores for quiet space have increased from 2007 to 2014, indicating that the demand for quiet space for individual study is intensifying (see Figure 2).…”

Understanding Library Users via Surveys and Other Methods—Best Practices for Evidence-Based Library Development

“…Many libraries report that user surveys have been useful in improving library services (Hitchingham & Kenney, 2002;McCaffrey, 2013;Miller & Hinnant, 2016). They have also been reported as useful in strategic planning (Brekke, 1994;King, 2005;Miller & Hinnant, 2016;Shorb & Driscoll, 2004), although they often first lead to further studies which in turn can be strategically important (Haricombe & Boettcher, 2004;Knapp, 2004;Lessin, 2004).…”

Actualidad en estudios LibQUAL+®: paradigmas de la biblioteca informativa y social-creadora y cuestión de género como reflejos de la realidad social

“…Los estudios basados en la metodología Li-bQUAL+® predominan sobre todo aplicados a bibliotecas universitarias y se encuentran casos de su aplicación en países como Irlanda (McCaffrey, 2013), Irán (Asemi y otros, 2010; Pourahmad y otros, 2016), Pakistán (Rehman, 2013), o Malasia (Dahan y otros, 2016). Para Europa, existen incluso trabajos que analizan el uso de LibQUAL+® por parte de bibliotecas en términos cuantitativos y en los que se deja constancia de su numerosa aplicación (Voorbij, 2012).…”