[Libs-Or] How do you survey patrons/users and evaluate services?

Fri Jul 29 11:46:42 PDT 2022

Hello Emily,

Over here in Sherwood, we have been putting out a user survey using SurveyMonkey approximately every other year (with a hiccup due to the pandemic). That survey is pretty broad and some questions are specific to help with facility master planning and Edge Assessment. I fold it into National Library Week in April and offer prize drawings to participants. We also have a hardcopy version in the library.

We use PLA's Project Outcome to spot check regular programs such as book groups, storytimes, computer classes, etc., generally once or twice per year at the end of a season. We don't use that for one-offs and big events and instead rely on stats, observations, and anecdotal / qualitative assessment.

We did just start something I'm calling Micro-Surveys with only two questions. We just wrapped up a Bilingual Storytime in the Park series that is in Spanish & English and asked two questions related to Spanish-language activities and opportunities. We're going to be rolling out more micro-surveys with different questions in the next several months as part of our strategic planning and community engagement.

We have been collecting service stories from all staff and patrons for about 8 years now. That's always a great treasure trove of qualitative assessment. And then we just started keeping a formal "NO" list of all the things we have to tell patrons we don't have or refer them elsewhere for. It's been illuminating.

What we're missing is a robust non-user survey. That's definitely a bigger lift and something I'm planning to fit in during our strategic planning, too, with a more robust "boots on the ground" approach, along with direct mailers, etc.

In my experience, it's worth the effort to be able to say to your funders and stakeholders that yes, your patrons are asking for certain things again and again, and that yes, you are doing well with priorities that you've laid out.

Best of luck and I'm happy to chat about details,

Adrienne Doman Calkins (she/her/hers)
Library Manager, Sherwood Public Library
22560 SW Pine Street, Sherwood, OR 97140
503-625-4272  |  domancalkinsa at sherwoodoregon.gov<mailto:domancalkinsa at sherwoodoregon.gov>
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From: Libs-Or <libs-or-bounces at omls.oregon.gov> On Behalf Of DAVID Emily via Libs-Or
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Subject: [Libs-Or] How do you survey patrons/users and evaluate services?

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Hello,
I am in the process of reviewing the public library standards where we do not meet the essential or enhanced indicators with our Library Advisory Board. Several of these have to do with surveying (e.g. surveying community diversity) or evaluating (e.g. evaluate patron satisfaction with services on a regular basis). My question to the group is how often are you surveying your patrons/users? What method do you use? Do you have one survey that covers everything or different surveys for different subjects?  Can it be anecdotal - what we observe and hear?

I'd appreciate any information people are willing to share on how they are meeting these types of standards. It feels like we'll do a survey and then all of a sudden it has been 5 years since it happened. Staff capacity is definitely an issue for us, so I'd love to develop a formula that gets us the information we need and is not too time-consuming.

Thank you in advance for any ideas shared.

Emily David  (she/her)
Library and Museum Director
Springfield Public Library
225 5th Street
Springfield, OR 97477
541-726-2235
wheremindsgrow.org<http://wheremindsgrow.org/>
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