Library Out Loud

The Library would like to thank the students who participated in the Insync satisfaction survey in 2021. The survey told us what was important to students and where there might be gaps in our service delivery. We are pleased to report that there are no areas where we need to immediately focus our attention. The survey did highlight four areas of importance to students that also featured in the top performance gap list – meaning these should be looked at further for service improvement. These are:

• usefulness of the Library’s Discover search for finding relevant information
• wireless access
• quiet study spaces
• online resources (e.g. online articles, databases, ebooks).

We are currently analysing the data and comments further for ways we can improve our buildings and services, and will report back on this.

Here are the details of what we have reported to our University stakeholders:

The Library has recently surveyed all students using the Insync survey. Insync is an Australasian university library benchmarking tool which gathers feedback on resources and services, and provides comparative data as well as an opportunity to identify needs.  

Benchmarking with other Australasian university libraries 

The Library recorded an overall weighted performance index score of 84.6%, placing us in the top 25% of libraries that have surveyed with Insync recently. This is up from 82.4% in 2017 when the survey was last run.  

Highlights include: 

• All four categories performed over the benchmark median 

• All four categories recorded higher performance scores than the 2017 survey.  

Source: Massey University Library Insync Survey, October 2021, Key Findings Report 

Note: At the time the survey was administered, 19 other university libraries had completed benchmark surveys. It is this group that makes up the comparison group. These libraries include Charles Sturt University, La Trobe University, University of Melbourne, University of Technology Sydney. 

Net Promotor Score (Advocacy) 

The survey asked students if they were likely to recommend the Library to others. The results revealed a Net Promotor Score (NPS) of 59, which is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. The 2017 survey NPS was 49. Although we are unable to benchmark this result against other libraries, Insync note that this is “an excellent result that demonstrated that student advocacy for the Library service is very high”. 

How students believe the Library is performing 

The table below shows, in descending order, the 10 factors ranked highest in performance by clients in 2021 as compared with those ranked highest in 2017. 

Source: Massey University Library Insync Survey, October 2021, Key Findings Report 

Where students believe the Library can improve 

In identifying factors for improvement, Insync analyses the perceived difference or gap between the importance and performance scores for variables which are asked about in the survey. The survey results identified no issues requiring immediate attention. In addition, eight of the top ten gap scores have decreased since the previous survey in 2017. 

Despite this positive result the Library can utilise the survey to investigate areas for further continuous improvement. There were four areas of importance to students that also featured in the top performance gap list: 

• The Library’s Discover search enables me to find relevant information quickly and easily 

• I can get wireless access in the Library when I need to 
• I can find a quiet place in the Library to study when I need to 
• Online resources (e.g. online articles, databases, ebooks) are useful for my studies and help me with my learning and research needs 

 The survey also produced 417 verbatim comments that will also be analysed for continuous improvement opportunities.