Beyond Method # 11

And the survey says..... Surveys are a great way to get feedback from patrons as to the effectiveness of programming, materials and services provided by the library. The various tools that are available remove any obstacle from a library adopting this real time feedback resource. We were just discussing this last week that we wanted to put up a survey to get feedback concerning the various events we held during our 2011 summer reading program. Now I have the tools to create the survey and the ability to place it on our blog, website, or facebook page. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

For my survey I used survey monkey. It was very easy to use. I decided against linking it and went with the embedded option instead. It is my belief that the most steps required of a user the less likely they are to take those steps. By having the survey there in front of the user, hopefully they will take the extra time to run through the questions and provide their valued opinion.

At this time we have comment cards for our patrons to use, but they are seldom used. We also get emails from patrons expressing their opinions. A survey regarding a particular area of programming, service or material would provide a focused response and therefore help us to better know where we are succeeding and where there is more room for improved services.

I would also LOVE to have this tool to help with registration for events and summer reading. This year alone we had over 1000 children sign up for our Summer Reading Program. This resulted in a lot of forms where the information had to be transferred to a spreadsheet. It would be nice if there was a way to have patrons register online then download that information into an excel spreadsheet.

My survey:

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