Ciara McCaffrey
University of Limerick
Ciara McCaffrey is Deputy Librarian at the University of Limerick where she coordinates all cross-library management processes, namely HR, finance, quality, assessment, communications and library-wide projects. She is committed to performance assessment and evidence-based librarianship and is an advocate of librarians engaging in primary research, academic writing and publishing.
Purpose:
This study considers a continuous change programme that has spanned a decade at the University of Limerick in Ireland, the impact of which can be measured through LibQUAL data.
The LibQUAL survey is a cornerstone of the Library’s continuous improvement programme and is a key enabler of evidence-based decision making. The survey has been run five times from 2007 to 2017. Following each survey, a quality action plan is put in place, the impact of which is measured in the following survey.
The presentation will describe the experience of the University of Limerick in its regular approach to continuous, systematic assessment and will identify some trends and patterns that have emerged in the data over the decade. An overview of some of the trends in SCONUL data for the same period will be presented.
The purpose of the study is to explore how continuous, methodical assessment can lead to transformational change in academic libraries.
Design, methodology or approach:
The University of Limerick Library LibQUAL survey data forms the basis of this study, together with comparative SCONUL data for the period 2007-2016.
Findings:
In the five iterations of the survey, the UL LibQUAL scores have consistently risen, indicating that the improvement strategy has been successful and that readers’ perceptions of the quality of library services have greatly improved. Furthermore, the impact of targeted efforts or long-term investment of resources directed at a specific issue were visible in the data.
Research or practical limitations or implications:
The experience of the University of Limerick may be useful for other libraries who are using LibQUAL or considering using LibQUAL as part of their assessment activities. For those that have a number of years of LibQUAL data, this study may provide some ideas on how that data can tell a compelling story.
Conclusions:
Longitudinal analysis that tracks a library’s commitment to continuous improvement can be a powerful tool to demonstrate value to university management and library users.
Originality and value:
Elements of this study have been submitted as a case study in a Facet Publication on Library Assessment.
LibPMC17_proceedings_ciaramccaffrey.pdf 