Beyond Method #11: Survey Says!!

Discovery Exercise:

1. Read this March 2011 TechSoup/Idealware article  A Few Good Online Survey Tools for Your Non-profit. At our beginning level, the free packages would probably be enough. Our Friends group does subscribe to Constant Contact for its e-mail marketing features and this is a powerful yet inexpensive program. I assume that the Survey would also be a good value, and would investigate it first if further sophistication is required. Constant Contact does provide excellent online tutorials, webinars, and in-person training to learn to maximize the use of their services.
2. Next, read some of the best practices listed in this TechSoup article Use Online Survey Tools to Get the Feedback You Need. This repeats much of the information presented in the article above, but did add some good suggestions on how to structure the questions. This is an area I need to learn more about.
3. Watch the YouTube video An Educator’s Introduction to Poll Everywhere . I have enjoyed the survey instruments used in webinars, and they probably were based on Poll Everywhere, or a tool like it. For example, early polls would identify the type of library you worked at (public, school, academic or special), and your level of familiarity with the topic under discussion (not familiar, somewhat familiar, very familiar). The presenter was then able to base further comments on the demographics of his/her audience. It's sort of like a show of hands in a face-to-face presentation.
4. Discuss your experience with online survey tools. I have responded to many online surveys, but have not created one myself. I can't wait to do it, because this type of interactive feedback is extremely valuable. Our library system started surveying customers this summer, to generate interest in our adult summer reading program. From the answers to some of the poll questions (like what was your favorite book that you read this summer) it was obvious that teens and children were responding to the survey, too. I don't think that this was expected. Our library has surveyed customers with paper forms in the past (e.g. during Texas Library Snapshot Day), but now is moving toward online surveys accessible from our web page. Our Young Adult Librarian uses polls in her teen newsletter, and I now want to include one in our general Friends newsletter as well. I think it is a great tool for building connections between the library and the people it serves. If we end up doing an online conference for a branch meeting, the live Poll Everywhere software would be a way to make the discussion more lively.
5. Create a short survey. Here is the link to my first survey of customer satisfaction. It was extremely easy to create. I need to read more about the best way to structure questions to find out what I need to know. I am hoping I can indirectly inform customers about our services with such a survey, as well as learn from them about what they need. I posted this survey to my Facebook page, just to see what kind of response it generates.  [Note: The survey has only been up a few minutes, and already it has captured two responses containing information that will be useful to me in telling the library's story.]