Here are a few ideas from my presentation at SLA 2006 on Writing Good Survey Questions, from the Consultants Section, Leadership and Management Division breakfast.
Judith Siess, Information Bridges International, Inc.
§ Describe some of the typical duties of your job.
§ In what subject area(s) are you most interested?
§ Which library services do you actually use—and how often? (You may want to list the areas about which you would like feedback and have them check them off or rank them.)
§ What kind of books do you read regularly? (science, technology, fiction, don’t read books) Which magazines or journals do you read regularly? Which do you read in the library and which do you subscribe to?
§ Tell me about the problem you are facing. How did the problem come to light? What are some of the critical issues within the problem? RRFCN*
§ What outcomes or changes are you hoping for? RRFCN
§ What will you do with the resources/information provided? RRFCN (How will the information be used?)
§ What information or resources do you already have? Whom have you contacted: are there any human experts, products, papers, reports, or documents relevant to this task of which I should be aware? RRFCN
§ When do you need the information/resources? When is “too late”? RRFCN
§ Who will be my point person in this task? Is there someone else I should copy on communications? RRFCN
§ Ask new hires about their expectations of the library. You can get ideas from their previous experiences at other organizations. You could also re-visit them in a year or so to see how you’re doing at meeting their needs.
§ What information sources do you regularly consult or have at your desk (or in your home)?
§ If you don’t use the library, where do you go? Why? For what kinds of information and for what purposes? Are these other sources satisfactory? Why or why not?
§ Think back to a recent time when you needed information. What information did you need? For what purpose? How did you find it? Was it enough?
§ How successful are you usually in finding information?
§ How often do you not even look for information—or go to the library—because you either thought you wouldn’t find it or it would be too much trouble or cost too much? (Thanks to consultant Alice Chamis for this question.)
§ What sort of frustrations and time delays are you encountering in finding information?
How Users Use the Library
§ Do you refer others to the library? Why or why not?
§ Do you request an analysis of the retrieved information by the librarian?
§ Does giving your research problems to the librarians save you time?
§ Have you had a staff member speak to your group/class/department? On what subject(s)? Was it useful? If not, would you like a staff member to contact you about a presentation? On what subject(s)? Possible subjects: databases available in the library, other resources in the library, how to find a book or journal, how to find an article, how to do research, how to use Google better, how to determine if what you find is good or bad (information literacy)
§ What is your preferred method of communication with the library? Telephone? Email? Memo? IM? In Person? Other? If offered, would you use IM to contact the librarian for help with a research problem?
§ Would you be interested in receiving a targeted list of new items in the library? How frequently? (daily, weekly, monthly) Via what medium? (email, IM, interoffice mail, other)
§ Have you used the library website? For what purpose? (curiosity, answer a specific problem, find a person, find a book or article in the library, access databases—from home, in office, elsewhere, find a policy, renew materials, other)
§ Did you find what you needed? If not, what did you do next? (ask someone else, call the library, forget it)
§ What additional feature(s) or information would you like to see on the website?
On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the highest, please rate the following:
The library itself: Attractiveness of the facilities, Convenience, Quiet places to work or study,
Computer facilities (enough, up-to-date), Signage (enough, clear, attractiveness), Location,
Lighting, Comfort
The staff: Friendliness, Willingness to help you, Knowledge, Number (are there enough of
them?)
The website Ease of use, Ability to find needed information (was what you wanted there?),
Attractiveness
What one thing could the library do—or improve—that would help you most?
How will we know we’re doing a good job, in your eyes?
Alice Chamis Information Management Consultants, Westlake, OH (440) 777-2198 chamis1@aol.com
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