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The University of Connecticut's five regional campus libraries conducted experimental Virtual Focus Groups. Discover how they were set up and the results.
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VIRTUAL FOCUS GROUPS
1=Storrs 2=Avery Point
3=Greater Hartford4=Torrington5= Waterbury6=Stamford
UCONN – A SIX CAMPUS SYSTEM
There Are Five Regional Campuses
WestHartford
Waterbury
Torrington
AveryPoint
Stamford
We…Have about 20% of the
UConn student populationAre commuter campusesOffer 4-year Undergraduate
Degrees including
We…Are the headquarters or primary sites for some
important University programs:Bachelor of General Studies Marine Science: Bachelor, Master & PhD NEAG School Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates: MasterPublic Policy, Department of: MasterSocial Work, School of: Master & PhD
• Our staff ranges from 5.5 FTE at the largest library to 1.5 FTE at the smallest.
• Our student to staff ratios at the biggest two libraries are over 400/1.
• We must regularly “read” the wishes of our clientele to assure that our human resources are used effectively on priority needs.
Big Programs/Limited Staff
How We Read The Tea Leaves
• University Libraries have been conducting formal service satisfaction assessments for over 15 years.
• Main two instruments have been ARL’s LibQual and a home grown User Survey. Both are “strategic” in nature.
• Growing interest in “tactical” surveys with more focused questions and results.
Strategic v. TacticalStrategic Surveys:*Allow senior managers to review performance and direction of the organization*Are sometimes referred to as “baseline surveys”*Are used to redefine issues that front line managers must focus on and which can then be measured with tactical surveys
Tactical Surveys:*Allow service management on an ongoing basis*Are conducted by front line managers*Use simple continuous tracking measures*Are based on factors which can be controlled by front line managers
-- Handbook of Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Management. Hill & Alexander, 2006.
Why Focus Groups?
A Well established and credible assessment tool“designed to obtain perceptions on a defined area of interest.”“…are often used in the study to define the concept of satisfaction and discover the conditions or circumstances that influence satisfaction.”
(Kreuger, Richard A. & Casey, Mary Anne. “Focus groups: a practical guide for applied research”, 2009)
Why Focus Groups?
Susan Herbst, “Ears to the Ground”, Inside Higher Ed (http://www.insidehighered.com/), June 7, 2011
Why Focus GroupsStrategic vs. Tactical Survey Comments
LibQual+ (Fall, 2010) for Greater Hartford Campus180 Survey Responses80 comments, 60% of which were “I like the library” or “I like the staff”
Trecker Library Virtual Focus Group, Spring, 20116 Virtual Focus Group Members100 comments specific to library use and needs.
Our goals: to gain relevance to responses and to garner more responses
When they work well• A well designed focus group is an exciting environment
where good ideas readily win support and bad ideas are quickly discarded.
• Ideally, commentary mostly remains focused on the topic and hand and never reaches a “personal” or personally intimidating level.
• The information which comes out of such a session will ideally hit at both the strategic and tactical levels of planning and, if tangential comments are not forbidden, can easily lead down some new, unexpected and valuable paths.
When They Don’t Work Well Respondents may tailor responses to earn the
approval of the moderator or other participants in the room.
Focus groups are affected by the dynamic of the group setting which can bring interpersonal interactions, including conflict, with a result of skewed results.
(Morgan, David L. “Focus Groups as Qualitative Research”, 1997).
When They Don’t Work Well• Sessions are often dominated by a few
participants • Concepts being discussed are often complex with
many voices chiming in and are frequently done a disservice by the person taking notes who is attempting to summarize what is being said in a few words.
• Focus groups can be difficult to schedule and, if a time constraint has been set, they frequently conclude with a number ideas never coming to the fore.
Why a Virtual Focus Group?
• To address past difficulties gathering staff and students in one place at one time
• Lower usage of an important asset: Time• Reduce pitfalls such as negative group
dynamics• Lessen the influence of the moderator• To gain a full, written record of all comments• To gain comments specific to our needs
Our Experiment
• All five regional libraries using a common set of questions
• Very focused questions• Using Wordpress software because of blog
experience• Relatively limited role for moderator• No substantial incentive to participate• Online survey of participants at end
2012 Focus Group Purpose Clarification of LibQual+ 2010 Terminology for RCL “Low Scoring”
Service Questions
Goal: Determine how LibQual 2010 respondents defined the five service questions receiving the lowest adjusted “satisfaction” (i.e., “Perceived”) scores:
• The library helps me stay abreast of developments in my field(s) of interest. 6.44
• Library space that inspires study and learning 7.15• An online catalog that is user-friendly for finding materials 7.39• The printed library materials I need for my work 7.23• Employees who instill confidence in users 7.18
Developing a Virtual Focus Group
• Our initial step was to create common text for our blog instruments.
• Next each library, using Wordpress, created a blog unique to its setting. As part of set up, we each took steps to assure that our blogs would not be indexed on the internet as a way to avoid unauthorized users.
• Invitations went out and we each secured a number of undergraduate and, as appropriate, graduate students.
Wordpress v. Google Blogger
Blogger:Proved to be less flexible with graphicsHad an “Anonymous” reply option we couldn’t removeWe already had experience with Wordpress
Blogger: Wordpress:
Wordpress & Privacy
Waterbury’sDesign
Torrington’s Design
Torrington
Virtual Blogs In Action• Students were asked to visit the blog to answer
each of the five questions and then to revisit later as often as possible to respond to the comments of others.
• Campus processes occurred at slightly different times due to weather problems and other issues but were active in late October and during November.
• We took a very relaxed approach to moderation, attempting to avoid active involvement which might derail or divert discussions.
COMMENTSANDRESPONSES
Responsesto
Comments
LIBRARY BY LIBRARY
“THEMES”
EXPLORATION OF COMMON“THEMES”
Themes. Because responses were narrative in nature, each library examined its full set of comments to discover “themes” in the statements. Theme information for each library was presented together in a report appendix for comparative purposes. An examination of all five sets yielded the following frequently mentioned items common to most libraries:
THEMES, QUESTION BY QUESTION, WITH RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION
COMMON THEMES BY QUESTION
1. Staying abreast of developments in field(s) of interest:
a. Document Delivery/Inter-library loan are necessary to find newest materials.
b. New paper books/journals are important as way to keep up with new research.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION
The library helps me stay abreast of developments in my field(s) of interest. We (the Libraries) need to make sure DD/ILL service remains adequately staffed, supported and sustainable as usage grows and/or as new needs surface. We (the RCLs) need to consider ways in which to continue to acquire, and to better advertise the existence of, paper resources as an effective means of letting our clients know what is happening in their fields of interest.
COMMON THEMES BY QUESTION
2. Library space that inspires study and learning:
a. Quiet space is very important.b. A variety of types of spaces including
quiet and group study should be available.c. Libraries need to be attractive with
good furniture and décor.
• Library space that inspires study and learning. We (the RCLs) have been moving in the right direction with regard to the physical upgrading of our library spaces. More needs to be done to improve the comfort and ambience of our libraries. Also, we know that our re-emphasis on quiet, instead of group study spaces, was well-timed but that we need to continue to assure a variety of spaces at our locations. And “QUIET” is a frequently used word for what is expected of our environments.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION
COMMON THEMES BY QUESTION
3. User-friendly online catalog (note WorldCat Local was in use at the time of the responses).
a. The catalog must be intuitive and very easy to use.
b. Searches should quickly lead to needed results.
• An online catalog that is user-friendly for finding materials. This concern has become somewhat moot because LibQual 2010 was taken when Worldcat Local was in place and now we have Summon. It is likely, though, that suggestions that our catalog be intuitive, easy to use, and have it lead directly to usable results, are universal without regard to platform. While the RCLS have no direct way to change the catalog to meet user needs we can certainly remain vigilant for and report any issues that need addressing by others.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION
COMMON THEMES BY QUESTION
4. Provision of paper resources:
Paper resources (books and journals) remain important for helping library users stay abreast of advances in their fields and also to serve as examples of good researching, writing and citing.
• The printed library materials I need for my work. The ongoing mention of a need for more (or at least no lessening of) new book acquisitions at the RCLs probably speaks to the fact that the majority of our clients are undergraduates who are often looking for recent, authoritative overviews of topics instead of research level databases and e-journals. The RCLs may want to discuss how we can better meet this need which seems to never go away.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION
COMMON THEMES BY QUESTION
5. Employees who instill confidence in users:
Well trained and confident library staff members who are able to provide assistance as needed are the most important aspects.
Employees who instill confidence in users. •A puzzling result -- When asked, our clients generally give loud kudos to our staff members. •One thing we do know from the comments, is that user confidence is bolstered when the staff members they encounter can confidently meet their needs.
•With the arrival of more self-service tools like online-tutorials, our users will be gaining more confidence in their abilities to meet their own needs.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION
Incentive or No Incentive?
Little interest in certificates or other “rewards”. One student remarked, “We just want to help the library.”
2012 POST VFG SURVEY
2012 POST VFG SURVEY
2012 POST VFG SURVEY
VIRTUAL FOCUS GROUPS
The 2011 Virtual Focus Group Team
• Avery Point. Jan Heckman [email protected]
• Greater Hartford. Bill [email protected]
• Stamford. Phara [email protected]
• Torrington. Sheila [email protected]
• Waterbury. Shelley [email protected]