Listening to Our Students: Enhancing Library Instruction Through a Qualitative Assessment of Student Feedback

Abstract

In our ongoing effort to foster a culture of customer service excellence, Texas A&M University Libraries uses LibQUAL+ to conduct annual reviews of service quality as measured by those who matter most; our patrons. This yearly practice reflects our belief that, “only customers judge quality … [and that] … all other judgments are essentially irrelevant.” (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Berry, 2006). In an attempt to apply this philosophy to library instruction the authors examined approximately 25,000 post-instruction questionnaires collected from undergraduate and graduate students between 2005 and 2010. Free-text comments from the questionnaires were transferred to ATLAS.ti and the data was coded to identify common themes, patterns and issues across a range of demographics.