Kenosha Public Library participated this year in the free Library Impact Survey to gauge customer interaction with library technology and found the real wealth of information came through participant comments. Barbara Brattin, Director of Kenosha Public Library, will share what Kenosha learned directly and passively through participation.

1. Library Impact Survey
Library Edge Initiative
Barb Brattin
Kenosha Public Library

2. About Us
100,000 service population
57,000 registered borrowers
4 locations
Bookmobile

3. Background

4. Impact Survey Edge
● surveys users
● reactive
● local needs and
wants
● designed for
advocacy
● surveys library staff
● proactive
● measure against
national standards
● designed for
planning

5. Why we did it
Free
New Director
New Strategic Plan
4 locations with different needs
Lean Resources

6. Impact Survey
How we did it
● 3 weeks (max)
● via website- paper option
● popup forces participation

7. Reports
tabulation done for you!
● what software people use
● why they use it
o education, entrepreneurship, eGovernment, civic
engagement, social inclusion, employment, health
and wellness, e-commerce
● how often
● impact on their lives

8. What you get
1. Code to insert survey on your homepage
2. Results in charts and graphs
3. Letters to the editor ready to go
4. One page advocacy fliers
5. PPT for community presentations
6. COMMENTS SUMMARY BY LOCATION

9. convenience survey
generates stories (outcomes) more than
representative statistics (outputs)

10. What we learned
% respondents who believe that library
technology is critical or very important to the
community
87

11. What we learned
% respondents who use our computers BUT
also have access elsewhere
92

12. What we learned
% respondents who get help while using
computers
52

13. What we learned
% computer users that are low income
18

14. What we learned
Our computers are old

15. What we learned
Our bandwidth isn’t
keeping up

16. Rich Comments
 Digital- only users
 New books are in the wrong place
 Types of digital classes desired
 Ebooks/ Zinio 2 hard 2 use
 Seating/outlets for personal devices
 Engaged but frustrated

17. Moving Forward
USER EXPERIENCE TEAM
 Improved bandwidth
 2015 budget= technology
 New uses new spaces
 Rearrange collections
 Examine policies

18. Library Edge Initiative
Setting a path for continuous improvement

19. 155 questions
Community value
(what’s the value of your digital
services to your community?)
Engaging the community
(Did you ask what they want?)
Organizational management
(Staff? Budget? Measurement?)

20. benchmarks
Digital literacy training
Access to digital content
Decision making

21. benchmarks
Sufficient devices
Sufficient bandwidth
Sufficient staff

22. What you get
Your total “Score” (1,000 pts. possible)
Your “Level” (1-3) under each benchmark
Prioritized lists of strategies to meet “the next
level”

23. How we’re using results
Strategic Planning Strategies
Budget
Staffing/ Org Chart

24. How we’re using results
Low Score Examples:
• No accessibility goals for
website in the strategic plan
• Don’t track average wait time for computers
• Patron privacy (partitions, private rooms)

25. Summary
Library Impact Survey for
• Outcomes
• Advocacy
• Rich Comments

26. Summary
Library Edge for
• Self-assessment of digital services
• Strategies to improve services
• Comparisons to similar libraries
(population)

27. Questions? Contact
Barb Brattin
Kenosha Public Library
bbrattin@mykpl.info
libraryedge.org
impactsurvey.org