Thursday, January 29, 2009

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...)

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