LibQUAL+ is a suite of services that can be used to assess and improve library services. The largest component is a web-based survey.
The survey is based on SERVQUAL, a popular tool for assessing service quality in the private sector. The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) partnered with Texas A&M University Libraries in 2001 to adapt SERVQUAL to meet the particular requirements of libraries and they developed LibQUAL+. More than 500 colleges, universities, community colleges, health sciences libraries, law libraries, and public libraries have used LibQUAL+ services.
The LibQUAL+ survey has been given at UT Austin since 2001 and the results are available as .PDFs (in the left-hand column). The ways that people use libraries are changing; circulation and the number of reference transactions are decreasing while the use of online resources is increasing dramatically. The results of the survey help library administration spot trends in service quality and find out where scarce resources need to be focused.
The survey measures 3 aspects of library service:
More information about LibQUAL+ is available at http://www.libqual.org/.
