Questioning LibQUAL+: Critiquing its Assessment of Academic Library Effectiveness

Edgar, Bill (2006) Questioning LibQUAL+: Critiquing its Assessment of Academic Library Effectiveness. [Conference Paper]

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Abstract(s)

Advertised as a total market survey of an academic library’s users, LibQUAL+ has risen to prominence in recent years as a means of assessing academic library effectiveness. In light of this, this conceptual paper raises and addresses four questions arising from its survey instrument. Doing so reveals that LibQUAL+ only partially conceptualizes a library’s operations. Furthermore, it emphasizes users’ eventual outcomes, such as improved grades, but does not explicitly conceptualize users’ more immediate need for epistemological value in the form of information, education, or persuasion. Finally, LibQUAL+’s survey correctly emphasizes the role of user self-reliance and satisfaction, but it unduly deemphasizes users’ need for professional information assistance and their actual experience of quality library service.

Item Type:	Conference Paper
Keywords:	library surveys ; user surveys ; library effectiveness ; library assessment
Subjects:	A. Theoretical and general aspects of libraries and information. C. Users, literacy and reading. > CB. User studies.
Full Metadata:	Show all fields
ID Code:	8209
Deposited By:	Medeiros, Norm
Deposited On:	19 Dec 2006
Last Modified:	19 Nov 2008 12:53
Statistics:	View statistics for this eprint

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