Every business knows that one of the most critical factors for success
is creating and maintaining the highest level of customer satisfaction.
It goes without saying that satisfied customers are more likely to come
back. Moreover, when their expectations are exceeded, they often are
transformed into advocates. The caveat "Ignore customer satisfaction
at your own peril" applies not only to Nordstrom's and Barnes & Noble,
but also to library services. In today's internet-based environment,
the competition for supplying people with information is intense. Libraries
need to know what users want in order to remain relevant and meet their
clientele's information needs.
At Brown, the Library takes user satisfaction very seriously. Over the
past several years, we have conducted numerous surveys and focus groups
to gather feedback directly from members of the Brown community. We
recognize that we must continuously stay in touch to find out how faculty
and students view the Library, to learn what's impor-tant to them, and
to hear their suggestions for improving Library services. We also realize
that we're not the only game in town anymore some students have the
impression that a Google search will get them all they need for a research
paper! Part of the Library's challenge is to design and deliver services
that are meaningful to today's researchers in ways that allow them to
fully exploit all the rich resources the Library has to offer.
This issue of BiblioFile is devoted to reporting the findings of the
Library's Spring 2002 LibQUAL+™ survey of Brown faculty and students.
LibQUAL+™ is a survey instrument that measures users' perceptions
of the quality of our services. The results will assist the Library
in assessing our strengths and weaknesses. At the same time we can benchmark
our performance against that of our peer institutions and identify best
practices that we can adapt to Brown's environment as appropriate. This
input has given us new insights into how students' and faculty members'
use of the Library has changed in recent years, and how we might take
steps to improve their Library experiences.
For example, approximately ninety percent of Brown faculty indicated
that they used the Library's electronic re-sources on a daily or weekly
basis. This is up from just three years ago, when sixty-four percent
of faculty said they only used electronic resources at least once per
semester or more. Faculty clearly place more emphasis today on learning
about the electronic resources available in their field and on their
de-sire that these tools be as easy to use as possible. As one faculty
respondent wrote, "There is a general need to increase education of
faculty in the use of digital resources. So much has changed and is
changing. Š Be more proactive in promoting the new services." One of
the steps the Library will take to address this will be to devote more
of the librarians' time to outreach, connecting with faculty and graduate
students on an individual basis. In addition, the Library expects to
deploy more staff in the development and support of electronic tools,
finding ways to make e-resources more accessible and easier to use.
Responding to the needs of our users and looking for ways to improve
services have always been integral parts of the Library's mission. As
stated in the Library's recent Strategic Plan, "The Library focuses
on our community of students, faculty, and scholars, seeking out and
listening to their needs and continuously transforming the Library to
exceed their expectations." Faced with the dynamic nature of research
in today's multimedia environment, the Library is in the process of
transforming the ways it develops and delivers collections and services.
Our vision embraces a view of the future that exploits the latest technologies
to provide users with physical and virtual spaces to do their work efficiently
and effectively, where and when they need or desire to do so. At the
heart of this transformation is reorienting the Library's work to focus
on people how they look for, use, and create information and knowledge
rather than on books and the other physical containers of the content
of that knowledge. The new roles and emphases envisioned for the Library
are based on input received directly from members of the Brown community,
through LibQUAL+™ as well as other surveys and feedback.
To the 1,102 students and faculty members who took the time to respond
to the LibQUAL+™ survey this past spring: THANK YOU! Your feedback
is appreciated, and your comments and support give all of us in the
Library renewed energy to satisfy the research and information needs
of the Brown community. See the LibQual+™ 
survey
winners!
--Merrily E. Taylor Joukowsky Family University Librarian
