LibQUAL+™, Libraries, and Google™

CNI Spring 2005 Task Force MeetingWashington, DC

4/4/2005

Martha KyrillidouFred Heath

Jonathan D. Sousa

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ARL Statistics and Measurement

…To describe and measure the performance of research libraries and their

contribution to

teaching, research, scholarship and community

service …

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Library Expenditures as a Percent of University Expenditures for 40 ARL Libraries, 1982-2002

2.40

2.60

2.80

3.00

3.20

3.40

3.60

3.80

1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Copyright Association of Research Libraries, 2005

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What is LibQUAL+™What is LibQUAL+™

LibQUAL+™ is a suite of services that libraries use to solicit, track, understand, and act upon users’ opinions of service quality. The program’s centerpiece is a rigorously tested Web-based survey bundled with local training that helps libraries assess and improve library services.

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Dimensions

2000 2001 2002 200341-items 56-items 25-items 22-items

Affect of Service

Affect of Service

Service Affect Service Affect

Reliability Library as Place

Library as Place

Library as Place

Library as Place

Reliability Personal Control

Information Control

Provision of Physical Collections

Self-Reliance Information Access

Access to Information

Access to Information

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ARL Overall

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ARL Undergraduate

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ARL Graduate

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ARL Faculty

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Impact of Information Technology Impact of Information Technology Upon LibrariesUpon Libraries

Costs

Access Restrictions

Scalability

User Behavior

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Libraries Remain a Credible Libraries Remain a Credible Resource in 21Resource in 21stst Century Century

98% agree with statement98% agree with statement, “My … library , “My … library contains information from credible and contains information from credible and known sources.”known sources.”

Note. Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and InformationResources. (2002). Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment.

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Changing BehaviorsChanging Behaviors

Recent Survey:Recent Survey:Only Only 15.7% agreed with the statement15.7% agreed with the statement “The “The Internet has not changed the way I use the Internet has not changed the way I use the library.”library.”

Note. Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and InformationResources. (2002). Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment.

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Library Use SummaryLibrary Use SummaryLibQUAL+ Spring 2003 Survey – UT Austin AggregateLibQUAL+ Spring 2003 Survey – UT Austin Aggregate

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Googlization

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“…everyone in class tried to get those articles on line and some people didn’t even bother to go to the stacks when theycouldn’t Google them.” Graduate Student NYT Online 6/21/04 (Katie Hafner, “Old search engine in the

the library tries to fit into a Google world”)

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Printed Book Circulation: All ARL LibrariesPrinted Book Circulation: All ARL Libraries

Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2002).ARL Statistics 2000-01. Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.7.

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Research Behavior: Research Behavior: Personal ControlPersonal Control

When searching for When searching for printprint journals for journals for research:research:

• Only 13.9% ask a librarian for assistanceOnly 13.9% ask a librarian for assistance• Only 3.2% consider consulting a librarian a preferred Only 3.2% consider consulting a librarian a preferred way of identifying information way of identifying information

Note. Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and InformationResources. (2002). Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment.

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Reference Decrease: All ARL LibrariesReference Decrease: All ARL Libraries

Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2002).ARL Statistics 2000-01. Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.7.

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ARL Means

5.00

5.50

6.00

6.50

7.00

7.50

8.00

IC 1 IC 2 IC 3 IC 4 IC 5 IC 6 IC 7 IC 8 AS

1

AS

2

AS

3

AS

4

AS

5

AS

6

AS

7

AS

8

AS

9

LP 1 LP

2

LP

3

LP

4

LP

5

LibQUAL+ Questions

Me

an

Va

lue

Minimum Mean

P erceived Mean

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Google™ Strengths

• Breadth

• R&D – 20% rule

• Money

• Ubiquity of access

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Google™ Services

• Google™ Scholar• Google™ News• Google™ Images• Google™ Maps• Google™ Local• Google™ Groups (includes all of Usenet)• Google™ Desktop• Google™ Ride Finder• GMail• SMS Interface• Google™ API• And on and on…

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Google™ Services

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Google™ Labs

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Google™ vs. Library OPAC

• Internet– Very broad– Little or no editing—

everyone contributes

– Very speedy additions

• Wide focus• Secrecy

• Commercial interests motivate Google™ and can impact its content

• “Walled Garden”– More limited scope– Cataloged content—

knowledgeable few contribute

– Delay in additions

• Dedicated purpose• “Black Box” effect for

users• Scholarly intent

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Google™ Isn’t Everything

• Yahoo– From search, to portal, and back again. Now where?

• A9– Offering from Amazon, includes “Search Inside the

Book®” and Google™ Web searching.– Requires a login to move your search history and

preferences inside their servers.

• Microsoft– MSN Search

• Many other niche tools

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Google™ Issues

• 302 Redirect Exploit• “Cloaking” — Presenting different content to

users from that sent to Google’s crawlers• Hidden content — Placing content off a

Webpage via CSS• “Googlebombing” — Organized campaigns to

link certain search terms to a particular site.• Advertising, paid rankings, “spamdexing”, etc.

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What Can Libraries Do?A Few Approaches1. Collaborate

• Google Digitization Initiative2. Integrate

• From Google™ Scholar FAQs:• I am a librarian. Can you show my patrons the appropriate access links for my

institution?

Yes, we are working on this. We are currently testing OpenURL support with several libraries. It will be more widely available once we have worked out the kinks. Please let us know if you are interested.

• Is there any way I can read the full text without being a subscriber?

Check a nearby academic library, which will likely have a copy. For books, click on "Library Search" next to the title to find a library near you that has a copy of the work in question (this service is provided courtesy of OCLC).

3. Imitate• <http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/tenthings.html>

4. Educate5. Fight

• Risks alienating the very users one is trying to recapture