Assessment of Staff Needs and Satisfaction in an Evergreen Environment

1. Assessment of Staff Needs and Satisfaction in an Evergreen Environment David Green NC Cardinal Consultant State Library of North Carolina

3. Agenda Assessment Steps: • Plan • Create • Collect • Analyze, Report, Act

4. Culture of Assessment “A Culture of Assessment is an organizational environment in which decisions are based on facts, research, and analysis, and where services are planned and delivered in ways that maximize positive outcomes and impacts for customers and stakeholders. A Culture of Assessment exists in organizations where staff care to know what results they produce and how those results relate to customers’ expectations. Organizational mission, values, structures, and systems support behavior that is performance and learning focused.” Lakos, A. & Phipps, S. (2004). Creating a Culture of Assessment: A Catalyst for Organizational Change. Libraries and the Academy, 4(3), 345-361.

5. Service Quality Gap theory of assessment: perceptions, service quality and satisfaction Perceptions  Service “Only customers judge quality; all other judgments are essentially irrelevant” Zeithaml, Parasuraman, Berry. (1999). Delivering quality service. NY: The Free Press.

6. Plan

7. Why? • Goals • Targets of interest

8. Because • Goals • Understand the perceptions and expectations of library staff using Evergreen in NC Cardinal • Make a plan to improve the services of NC Cardinal • Targets of interest • Staff satisfaction and needs • Development

9. Elements of an Assessment Plan • Purpose • Links to strategic documents • Resources • Data policies • Goals • Timeline for continuous assessment

10. Elements of our Assessment Plan • Purpose • Links to strategic documents • Resources • Data policies • Goals • Timeline for continuous assessment

11. Plan Summary • What do we want to know? • What is the purpose? • What kind of results are needed? • How do we report back? Keep notes!

12. Create

13. Choose an Assessment Method • Depends on the goals • Multiple methods • Quantitative and qualitative • Selective

14. Our Assessment Method • Survey • Both qualitative and quantitative questions • Under ten minutes • Scale & Rankings • Required demographics • Follow-up interviews? Focus groups?

15. Survey Instrument – Introduction

16. Survey Instrument – Demographics

17. Survey Instrument – Services

18. Survey Instrument – Communications

19. Survey Instrument – Development

20. Survey Instrument – Circulation

21. Survey Instrument – Cataloging

22. Survey Instrument – Admin

23. Survey Instrument – Training

24. Survey Instrument – Final Question

25. Create Summary • From whom and where will you get data? • How will you get the data? • How will you analyze the data? Keep notes!

26. Collect

27. Pilot • Create a pilot sample • Test in different settings • Platforms • Browsers

28. Sample • Separate into groups • Consider fatigue

29. Our Sample • The entire population • Response rate • Representative?

30. Communicate • Email, forums, liaisons • Invitation • Direct link to the survey • Focus on benefits • Incentives • Reminders • Once a week • Include a thank you

31. Request to Participate Subject: NC Cardinal staff survey Body: Dear [Library Director], As we plan for the future of NC Cardinal, it is essential that we understand the perceptions and expectations of all involved staff so that we can provide services they most need. Below is a link to a survey on staff satisfaction and needs. Please ask your staff to take a few minutes of their time to respond – approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Their participation is important to maintaining the health of the NC Cardinal consortium. Please be assured that all answers are confidential and anonymous. No identifying links between responses and the individual responding will be retained and only aggregated data will be reported. If there is any difficulty using the survey, please let us know by emailing david.green@ncdcr.gov. We would certainly appreciate it if staff would complete the online survey before [a date three weeks from this email]: [Survey URL] Many thanks for helping us improve NC Cardinal services! I have reworded this message below, in case you would like to use it in communication to your staff. Next week, I will send a survey reminder to the Cardinal listservs. Please ask everyone that uses Evergreen or otherwise is involved in the consortium to take the survey, including you. My sincere appreciation, David Green

32. Direct Invitation Subject: NC Cardinal staff survey Body: Dear staff members of NC Cardinal libraries, If you have filled out the staff survey already, thank you! If not, we ask you to take a few minutes to go to the URL below and help us in this important endeavor by taking the survey. Only you can tell us how well we are serving your needs. [Survey URL] Staff from newly migrated libraries Cumberland and Forsyth are also encouraged to take the survey. If you feel that you do not have enough experience to answer any particular questions you may skip them or choose “N/A”. Please complete the survey by [date two weeks from this email] (deadline extended due to the winter weather). As we plan for the future of NC Cardinal, it is essential that we understand staff perceptions and expectations so we can provide the services you most need. The survey will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete. Your participation is important in maintaining the health of the NC Cardinal consortium. Your responses will be collected by the State Library. Please be assured that your answers are confidential and anonymous. No identifying links between responses and the individual responding will be retained and only aggregated data will be reported. If you have any difficulty using the survey, please contact David Green at david.green@ncdcr.gov. Thank you for your assistance, David

33. Thank You Subject: NC Cardinal staff survey is closed Body: Hello everyone, Thank you to everyone who responded to the staff survey. We closed the survey this week after 209 submissions. That means we heard from over 30% of staff at Cardinal member libraries - an excellent response rate. Now that we have your input, we will analyze the data and provide a summary of the results to the consortium. From there, we can identify actions to take immediately and develop plans to tackle long-term improvements. Once again, we want to thank you for your participation in the survey. Your responses and comments are essential to helping us improve NC Cardinal services. Sincerely, David

34. Collect Summary • Sample • Communication • Flexibility Keep notes!

35. Analyze, Report, Act

36. Analyze and Interpret • Representativeness Keep in mind: • Goals • Audience • Written statement

37. Report Purpose: • Who is the audience? What do they want to know? Content: • What did you do? Why did you do it? • What did you find? How will you use it? • What is your evaluation of the assessment plan?

38. Actions • Gather further data • Create long-term plans • Identify action items • Report actions taken

39. Analyze, Report, Act Summary Keep notes!

40. Sources • Babbie, E. (2009). The practice of social research (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. • Greene, J. & Caracelli, V. (1997). Advances in mixed-method valuation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. • Lakos, A. & Phipps, S. (2004). Creating a Culture of Assessment: A Catalyst for Organizational Change. Libraries and the Academy, 4(3), 345-361. • Oakleaf, M. (2010). Writing information literacy assessment plans: A guide to best practice. Communications in Information Literacy, 3(2), 80-90. • Volkwein, J. (1996). Program evaluation and assessment: What’s the question. • Zeithaml, Parasuraman, Berry. (1999). Delivering quality service. NY: The Free Press.

41. Thank You Please write or call me any time. David Green State Library of North Carolina david.green@ncdcr.gov 919-807-7408