What they tell us: Listening to your residents with Pat Cavill and Wendy Newman

• slides are online here
  
• the input of your community is critical to a library's survival
• tools:
• surveys
• interviews
  
• preferred futuring
• focus groups
• "finding out what people need, then changing, if necessary, to meet those needs"
• helps libs remain relevant and responsive
• never assume! it's arrogant and dangerous
• Rule #1: don't ask if you're not prepared to act (or at least re-think)
• use surveys when:
• stats and measures are required
• find out what people need; their beliefs, preferences, satisfaction rates
• surveys must be well designed and tested
• disadvantages of surveys:
• random sample difficult
• poor design or analysis = misleading results
• "preferred futuring:
• vision for 10 years hence...about saying what you want, not fortune-telling
• Focus Groups:
• powerful research tool
• explore peeps feelings about issues
• 6 - 12 people ideal
• not statistically valid, but has "face validity"
• participants should be "opinion leaders" whenever possible
• participants should be homogeneous
• kinds of questions:...determine your objectives...what do you need to know?...who is most likely to give you the info?
• more hours and better parking are *always* on top of wish lists!!!
• report back to participants on a regular basis...
• identify usable quotes for your advocacy work
• link to online presentation (not online yet...)