Research

In this blog entry, I'm going to look at a specific attempt at research recently performed at our library and judge three things: was it true research, what kind of research was it, and how does this kind of research benefit anyone?

In April of this year, our library asked patrons to participate in a survey for National Library Week (April 13-18). You can find that survey in its entirety here. We made this survey available both inside the library and online on our website. A great number more filled out the survey in the library, likely during their visit, than they did online. In fact, we only had about 100 people complete this survey online while hundreds more personally turned it in to us on location. I would attempt to offer some more insight on why this was the case, but I was not employed at the library at this time.

How the research was performed is obvious; we conducted a survey. But was this true research? I would argue that was, specifically applied research (and even more specifically, evaluation research). Powell writes in addition to his Webster's (broad) definition of research that "[it] is also often thought of as a process that leads to the dependable resolution of problems or things about which we want to know more" (168). These surveys were completed anonymously and many issues were brought up that sought resolution: parental controls, parking issues, and even permissible noise levels within certain parts of the library. It is important to note here that we cannot solve all of these issues. For example, as much as our patrons complain about parking issues, we simply cannot expand elsewhere. At least, at this time, it is not a top priority.

However, other suggestions provided us with many ideas to resolve some of the issues expressed. We have since considered setting apart quiet areas within the libraries for patrons who visit us in order to escape other noisy environments. Clearly, we are incapable of making this happen in the youth department (where some patrons requested we place such a space). We can consider this in another area and thus possibly offer an alternative solution.

We then presented these suggestions to both our board members and divided them up and gave them to the areas where they could generate the most response (i. e. questions about our website went to our computer services department). By first looking at these as a whole, we were directly able to see what the top concerns were of those patrons who filled out the survey. Powell points out the largest problem with survey research is that you are only receiving and processing the complaints and concerns of those willing and/or able to fill out the survey. But even through a few hundred surveys we were able to closely reflect on what some of our biggest problems were in the eyes of our community.