At Your Service: March 2009 Archives

Everybody who uses the Temple University Libraries has at some point probably thought of something that could be improved, done better or made more efficient. If you have an idea for improving the library we want to hear from you - or even if you have a general complaint.

That's why we recently upgraded our old virtual suggestion box to a brand new suggestion blog called What's Your Suggestion. We found ourselves answering the same questions repeatedly for different individuals. We believe the blog will help to make your suggestions and our responses more transparent to the Temple University community. All suggestion blog postings will be stripped of personal information to ensure confidentiality. There is a link to the suggestion blog on the Libaries' home page. Just look for the "Suggestions" link.

You can submit to the suggestion blog anonymously or include an email address if you prefer a personal response. Submissions to the blog are first reviewed by a staff member so any request to refrain from posting the suggestion to the blog will be honored, and a personal response will be made instead. We hope you will use "What's Your Suggestion" to let us know how we can improve the library and better serve the Temple University community. For more information about the suggestion blog please contact Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian.

To continuously improve library services for the Temple University community we need to hear from our students, faculty and staff. Many of our service improvements come directly from comments and suggestions from the community. To facilitate this process the Temple University Libraries are currently conducting a campus-wide satisfaction survey. LibQual + is a standardized survey used globally by all types of academic libraries. LibQual+ differs from standard satisfaction surveys that use a Likert scale to measure satisfaction on a range from 1 to 5 or some point between "strongly agree" and "strongly disagree". Instead LibQual+ seeks to determine someone's minimum expectation for services, their desired level of services and then asks them to identify at what level they currently perceive the quality of the service. The other advantage of LibQual+ is that it is a standardized, national survey which makes it possible for the Temple Libraries to compare their findings to peer institutions.

As with most surveys LibQual+ is a randomized survey instrument. Therefore only certain members of the Temple University community will receive the e-mail message asking you to take the survey. However LibQual+ is being conducted on the main campus, at all the health sciences-related locations, the law school and the Ambler campus. Any member of our community at any of these Temple locations may be randomly invited to complete the survey. If you are one of those who does receive the invitation please take some time to complete the survey. Since we launched the survey on Wednesday, March 18 several hundred individuals have responded but we would greatly appreciate your response. The average time to complete the survey so far ranges between 9 and 12 minutes - so it takes very little time to complete.

LibQual+ is scheduled to end on April 2. We hope those who received the invitation will take the survey. Everyone who does is entered into a random drawing to receive some great prizes. For more information about the LibQual+ survey please contact Steven Bell.

New! Cell Phone Audio Tour of Paley Library

You can now use your cell phone to get information about Paley Library departments and services. Call 215-525- 1543, and enter a tour stop number (listed below), followed by the # key.

There is no charge for the call, just your cell minutes.

This service also features a Call Number Locator to help you locate Paley books! Enter 0, the keypad number corresponding to the first letter of the call number, and then the # key.

Tour Stops are posted throughout the library and a List of Stops and Floor Plan is available at the Circulation/Reserve Desk, the Reference Desk and from the Information rack at the Bell Tower entrance.

These are the current stops:
1 Dean’s Welcome
2 Paley First Floor
3 Reference Services
4 Circulation/Reserve Desk
5 Computer Workstations in Paley
6 Special Collections
7 Paley Second Floor
8 Paley Third Floor
9 Media Services
10 Urban Archives

You can leave us your feedback about the tour by pressing 0, followed by the # key.

For more information about the new cell phone audio tour of Paley Library, you can contact Gretchen Sneff.