AUSTIN, Texas (July 12, 2004) - Jay Crossley, a student in the LBJ School of Public Affairs, won a 20 GB iPod in a random drawing of students and faculty who completed the LibQUAL+™ survey of library service quality administered by the University of Texas at Austin Libraries this spring.

Crossley is from Houston and graduated from the university in 1999 with a Plan II degree. After working for non-profit firms in Austin for several years, Crossley said, "I decided to attend the LBJ School of Public Affairs to get my master's degree. I'm interning in Congress for Representative Chris Bell (Houston) for the summer and will return to UT this fall for completion of my master's degree." After graduation, Crossley plans to work in policy analysis. Crossley also plays in a local band, Woozyhelmet.

Crossley believes that the Libraries' goal of improving service quality is an essential one. "In both my undergraduate and graduate education, ready access to random information when I see fit has made an important difference in my education at UT between just getting an assignment done and actually producing something meaningful. Whatever the UT libraries can do to improve every UT student's ability to search for what they need should prove immeasurably valuable to our education and our ability to actually impact our world."

LibQUAL+™, a program of the Association of Research Libraries, is an assessment tool designed to solicit, track, understand and act upon users' perceptions of library service quality. It has been conducted at UT Austin annually since 2001. Fred Heath, Vice Provost, remarked, "We want to build a climate of continuous improvement in all areas of library service."

The library provides a web site, http://www.lib.utexas.edu/vprovost/assessment/projects/index.html, updating the status of improvement projects suggested during the Library Summit held March 26, 2004 and through the comments received during the LibQUAL+™ survey of students, faculty and library staff. Improvement projects underway include a coffee shop in the Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL); reducing the number of service points in PCL; extending the hours of online chat reference to 10 p.m.; and more actively enforcing the cell phone policy. The "return library materials anywhere" policy has already been implemented.

The site also gives information on the Library Summit and on the LibQUAL+ survey and comparative data.

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For more information contact:
Peggy Mueller, Communications Officer
pmueller@mail.utexas.edu
512-495-4373