Needs Assessment of Central Library Spring 2012 LIS 650

1. Needs Assessment of Central LibrarySpring 2012LIS 650 Mohamed Berray Jamie Kollar Jennifer Patterson KD Rouse Paula Ward

2. Executive Summary • Team 4 conducted a needs assessment of Central Library located in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County • Interviewed the Assistant Director then submitted survey questions to her • The team was given permission to conduct a survey to both internal and external customers via Survey Monkey, a web based survey application. • Reserved two time slots to conduct live focus groups • The customer survey is designed to measure how well Central Library is meeting the needs of the community while the internal survey of staff measures the job satisfaction of employees by using the 12 questions from First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

3. Executive Summary cont’d • The staff survey questions receiving the lowest ratings, 4.8 and 4.2 respectively, regarding the questions: “In the last week, have I received recognition or praise for my work?” and “Do I have a best friend at work?” • Other lower scoring questions: “Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work correctly?” (6.4 out of ten) “Does someone at work encourage my development?” (6.7)“Do my opinions seem to count?” (6.1) and “In the last six months, has someone talked to me about my progress?” (5.6) • While the external customer survey reflected solid approval of the staff and resources, a slightly lower rating was given regarding the hours the library was open.

4. Introduction-Central Library • Central Library, situated in downtown Winston-Salem, serves as a hub for the Forsyth County Library System, housing in-depth collections for its nine branches, as well as the Collection Management Department which prepares all materials for circulation throughout the county. • Supports Adult, Teen, and Children’s Services • Houses a non-profit resource center • Has both a photography and art collection • Offers free computer access to customers • Out of a population of 350,000 people in the county,approximately220,000 people are library card holders.

5. Central Library cont’d • Offers multiple story time, arts and crafts, music programs, and films for all age children • Teen poetry jams, open mike nights, and a Teen Advisory Board • Special classes offered in assorted topics such as family history research, estate planning, yoga, and downloading media • Free computer training , resume writing, and tax assistance offered • Hispanic Outreach services

6. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County • Winston-Salem, located in Forsyth Country is the fourth largest city in NC • A history of textiles and tobacco • Six colleges and universities • The “City of Arts and Innovation” • Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is the largest employer in Winston-Salem • River Run International Film Festival and National Black Theater Festival • Home to Old Salem, Bethania, Bethabara, and Reynolda Gardens

7. Forsyth County Statistics • Total area of 408 square miles • 58.7% non-Hispanic white, 26% African-American, 11.9% Latino, 1.9% Asian, 2.2% two or more races • 24.4% under 18, 13% 65 or older • 52.5% females, 47.5% males • Median income $46,749, per capita income $26,213 • 15.3% live below the poverty line • The library is located in the heart of the town which serves as the county seat and is a thriving and vital part of the community. In an average month, 32, 373 people visit, 32, 939 items are checked out and 12, 559 people sign up to use a computer at Central Library.

8. Forsyth County and Central Library • $40 million bond referendum passed which will be used for a new Central Library building • The new Central Library will allow adequate space for collections and display, and have room for more computer stations, meeting rooms, and programming space. • Outreach Services will expand, as will the North Carolina Room, allowing space for digitization units and photograph storage. • Parking will increase from the 77 parking spaces available at the current location. • Updated technology such as self check out stations will be possible in the new building, and plans are made for many other innovative features.

9. Central Library Information • 98 staff members employed • Central Library is open Monday through Wednesday from 9AM to 9PM, • Thursday and Friday from 9AM to 6PM • Saturday from 9AM to 5PM, • Sundays from 1PM to 5PM.

10. Methods • Surveyed both internal and external customers online using Google.docs • A link was put on the Central Library Website along with a featured story inviting customers to let the library know how they were doing. • This is what appeared on the Library website the day after we emailed our information to the webmaster who had been contacted by the Assistant Director immediately after our interview with her, an interview that was also arranged promptly after our request to meet with her: • How Are We Doing? • Excellence is not just a word found in the dictionary but also the level of customer service we strive to deliver each and every day. To do so we need your help. We invite you to complete a short customer satisfaction survey that will help us deliver the very best Library service possible.

11. Methods cont’d • Internal customers were invited to take the survey via email with a request to reply within a week by the Assistant Director after she received our survey link via email. • Three of our members met with two focus groups conducted for library customers, where hard copies of the survey were used. • Focus Group Comments were recorded by one of our group members. • Group members went to the first floor of the library to direct potential survey takers up to the second floor meeting room where the focus groups were held on two consecutive days. • Another group member stayed in the meeting room to greet survey takers. • Staff members were asked to evaluate statements based on the twelve questions, using a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being Strongly Disagree and 5 being Strongly Agree.

12. Strengths and Weaknesses • While we were pleased with our response for both our internal and external customer surveys, we did not survey enough people to consider this a fair representation of the library staff or community using the library. 74% of the external customers surveyed were female as opposed to the general community population which is 52.5% female. This being said, we did uncover both strengths and weaknesses in the library, some of the weaknesses unavoidable due to lack of funding, such as requests for more e-books and DVD’s, longer hours, and more staff. The strengths are with the staff, described as friendly, caring, helpful, pleasant and eager to answer questions, with book collections, and with access to resources customers could not afford on their own.

13. Customer Satisfaction Strengths/Weaknesses • Staff is helpful and friendly • People like the collection itself • Report feeling comfortable and at home in the libraryPeople are generally happy with the staff members, but feel the library is short-staffed and needs more people • people feel the buildings themselves are old and in need of renovation, particularly Central, as well as wanting more space for parking • People like the availability of computers and online services, but find the technology old and slow sometimes, and would like greater availability of wireless • In particular, people would like to see a greater variety of e-books and audiobooks, and more copies of new and popular e-books available for download • Several customers also report dissatisfaction with signage • Customers want longer hours and more evening programming • Obviously there are some areas where people don’t agree, or where their desires conflict

14. Employee Satisfaction Strengths/Weaknesses • On the whole, employees feel very positively about their coworkers and describe feeling like they’re part of a good staff (although many do not have a best friend at work) • Employees describe feelings of satisfaction at knowing they’re performing a public service and helping the community • There’s a lot of frustration related to communication; employees describe feeling like mandates are handed down from on high without input from the people they have an impact on, and questions about feeling like their opinions matter and receiving praise seem to consistently get lower scores • Old technology is a problem here as well - the computers the staff are using, and also the public computers, as employees are frustrated to be constantly apologizing for the slow computers and never able to do anything about it

15. Survey Strengths/Weaknesses • Small sample size (although good for the time frame allowed); may not accurately represent the library-using community (since the majority of survey-takers were female) • In retrospect, a question asking which branch of the library patrons frequent would have been a good idea; for example, there’s a huge gap in satisfaction scores for staff helpfulness and friendliness (some 8/9/10, some ⅔, very little in the middle), and one customer mentions that the Lewisville librarians are rude but the Clemmons and Central librarians are better. The difference in scores might be because of people attending different branches, rather than because they have different expectations or different opinions of the same service, there’s no way to be sure with the results we have. • Given the time allowed, though, we had a strong turnout and got a lot of write-in responses, which make it easier to pinpoint positive and negative areas (compared to numerical ratings)

16. Results • While external customers rated library staff and services very highly, they expressed a need for more e-books, and DVD’s, as well as a new Central Library building. They would like to see an increase of staff and longer hours for the library to be open, more parking and more quiet places to read. One respondent complained about the “undesirables” hanging out in front of Central Library, making it uncomfortable to enter the premises from the 5th Street entrance. • Internal customers related satisfaction with their jobs but also saw the need for a new Central Library, better equipment for the staff, more communication, and more acknowledgement of work well done. While external customers have only positives to say about the staff, the staff members themselves would be reassured by communication from management, regarding the status of their jobs, their job performance and development.