---

LITS Takes Survey Results to Heart; Institutes Changes

In three separate surveys over the last year, faculty and staff have been asked what they like about Library, Information, and Technology Services (LITS) and what areas need improvement. "You answered, we listened, and we're making changes," says LITS director Susan Perry.

A survey of faculty by the Academic Computing Steering Committee noted that faculty were most satisfied with the courtesy and technical expertise of LITS staffers, and least satisfied with the quality and availability of written documentation. Satisfaction was up in each category when compared with last year's results. Planned changes based on survey results include: providing more handouts and other documentation, training people across campus in commonly needed computer skills (such as Web use for academic purposes), and making it possible for more faculty and staff to connect to the World Wide Web from their homes.

A second survey asked MHC staff to assess their own computer skills and indicate what programs or skills they wanted to learn. Most respondents are fairly comfortable using email and word processing for standard tasks, and prefer handouts over workshops for increasing their knowledge about topics with which they are already somewhat familiar. Workshops are preferred, however, for topics about which people know little or nothing. These preferences will be reflected in the number of handouts and types of workshops offered.

In addition, Assistant Director for Technical Support and Repair Cindy Legare is developing a program to train "local experts," employees across campus who will combine technical training from LITS with their own knowledge of a particular department, computer application, or subject area to help colleagues handle common computer problems. Legare emphasized that this will supplement, not replace, the help desk.

A third survey asked faculty and staff how satisfied they were with various LITS services. The LITS staff got high marks overall on measures including courtesy, useful Web pages, availability and accessibility of library materials, and levels of expertise, though faculty respondents were significantly less satisfied than staff respondents in two of the eleven measures (availability of written documentation and levels of expertise). LITS's responses to this survey's results include: appointing an ombudsperson (Circulation Manager for Access Services Gail Scanlon) to whom concerns about any aspect of LITS may be directed, continued improvements to the help desk system (though many respondents felt positively about it already), and improvements in computer training and documentation.

Legare added that improving service and more closely meeting the community's needs is a constantly evolving process for LITS. "We use information from surveys and other self-checks to help us modify our path," she said.