Bibnuus / BibNews

 

Please click here to complete the English questionnaire

The Library Service has acquired the authoritative web-based survey, LibQUAL+^TM, that was developed by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) of North America. The package includes training in the use of the product as well as detailed analyses of the results. Currently five South African universities are for the very first time making use of the LibQUAL measurement instrument, namely the Universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Grahamstown, Potchefstroom and Pretoria.

Questionnaires were distributed to the Stellenbosch academic community at the beginning of August by means of e-mail. On the day of the survey launch, 497 questionnaires were completed by students and staff. The survey has now been active for some three weeks and to date approximately 1035 questionnaires have been completed. The Library Service considers this survey to be of particular importance in terms of improving services and facilities and our sincere thanks goes to everyone who has taken the time to complete the questionnaire.

Clients' comments on the Library Service (43% of respondents gave comments) have up to now been fairly diverse, although the lack of computers in the JS Gericke Library accessible to students stands out as one of the burning issues to be addressed. We'd like to inform our clients that this matter has already received attention as it is being planned to expand the number of computers available on the lower level of the Library.
 

From the accompanying graph it is clear that the larger proportion of questionnaires are being completed by students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, whereas a much smaller percentage of academic staff has given us their opinion. We need to emphasise that the opinion of academic staff will be of considerable value in the planning of improvements to our services. The official results of the survey will be publicised later this year.

A lucky draw will take place at the end of the survey, probably early in October. Those participants who provide their e-mail addresses in the questionnaire will be eligible for a number of prizes to be won, such as vouchers for lunch, cinema tickets and even a pedicure!

Enquiries may be addressed to Marié Roux (tel.: 808-2623) or Matthew Syphus (tel.: 8083946). Please consult the LibQUAL webpage for further information.