FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE     DATE: 3/24/04

CONTACT: EMILY SILVERMAN, (413) 545-0995

LIBQUAL+ SURVEY UNDERWAY AT UMASS AMHERST LIBRARIES

     Amherst , Mass. – A random sample of UMass Amherst students, faculty, and staff were contacted by email and asked to participate in a 10-minute web-based survey called LibQUAL + ™ between March 22 and April 18. The Library invites all students, faculty, and staff of UMass Amherst to comment on Library services and collections by taking the survey at http://survey.libqual.org/index.cfm?ID=403231.

     LibQUAL+ ™ is a rigorously tested web-based survey that helps libraries assess and improve their services and collections. The UMass Amherst Library System is among the 209 institutions participating in this year's survey. More than 125,000 respondents participated in the 2003 survey, which was deployed at 308 institutions throughout the United States , Canada , and Europe .

     LibQUAL+ ™ is administered by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The results of the survey will help direct efforts to improve Library services and collections in the future. The results will also indicate how UMass Amherst Library services compare to other institutions of similar size and mission.

     The LibQUAL+ ™ survey is an outcome-based assessment instrument adapted from SERVQUAL, an instrument developed for business and industry. SERVQUAL is grounded in the “Gap Theory of Service Quality” and was developed by the marketing research team of A. Parasuraman, V. A. Zeithaml, and L. L. Berry. After library trials and interviews with library users, the original SERVQUAL was modified and refined during 1999 - 2003. As of 2004, LibQUAL+ ™ is part of an ongoing service quality assessment program of ARL.

 

     For more information, contact Anne C. Moore, Associate Director for User Services, 545-0148 or annem@library.umass.edu .