Form questions
Library survey questions for members and visitors
Twenty questions covers an annual round and ten suits a desk intercept. Three should never be dropped: the main reason a person comes in, which services they used this year, and what is missing from the collection. The first defines who you are hearing from, the second frames every rating and the third is the only answer that spends money.
A library survey has to hear from the person who comes in for the wifi as clearly as from the person who borrows forty books a year, and those two will not answer the same questions. These ask what was used before asking how good it was.
The questions
How you use the library
Which branch do you use most?DropdownRequired
Include an online only option, because a growing share of members never come in.
How often do you visit in person?Single choiceRequired
More than weekly through first visit, plus an online only answer.
What is the main reason you come?Single choiceRequired
A single forced choice. It is what separates borrowers from study space users.
Are you a member?Single choice
Non members use the space, the wifi and the printers, and a membership gated survey never hears from them.
Who do you usually come with?Single choice
Alone, with children, with a class or group, with someone I care for.
Which services have you used this year?Multiple choice
Borrowing, ebooks, meeting rooms, public computers, childrens programmes, local history, help from a librarian.
How it is working
How good is the collection?Rating gridRequired
Row one of a grid whose first column is have not used.
How good is the study and seating space?Rating gridRequired
Row two.
How good are the computers and wifi?Rating gridRequired
Row three.
How good are the children and family areas?Rating gridRequired
Row four.
How good is the help you get from staff?Rating gridRequired
Row five, and almost always the highest scoring row in a public library survey.
How good is the online catalogue?Rating gridRequired
Row six.
How easy is it to find something on the shelf once the catalogue says it is in?Single choice
A specific failure that a general collection rating hides completely.
Hours and access
How well do the opening hours suit you?Single choiceRequired
A five point scale from very poorly to very well.
When would you use the library if it were open?Multiple choice
Weekday mornings, evenings after seven, Saturday afternoons, Sundays, public holidays, or the current hours suit me.
How do you usually get here?Single choice
Walk, drive, public transport, cycle, someone brings me. It is the parking question asked usefully.
Is anything about the building hard for you to use?Single choice
Steps, noise, lighting, signage, seating, nothing. An accessibility question phrased so it gets answered.
What is missing
What is missing from the collection?Long text
Prompt for subjects, languages, formats and titles, which turns an open box into an acquisitions list.
Which of these would you come for if we ran it?Multiple choice
Author talks, digital skills help, language conversation groups, job and resume help, repair sessions, none of these.
Anything else the library should know?Long text
Which questions to make required
Five things are required. The branch and visit frequency are required because a result that cannot be split between a busy central branch and a mobile van is not usable in a budget submission. The main reason question is required because it defines the population answering everything else. Every rating row is required so the grid can be averaged, and the first column is have not used so nobody is forced to rate a service they never touched. The opening hours scale is required because it is the question the funding decision will turn on.
- Which branch do you use most?
- How often do you visit in person?
- What is the main reason you come?
- How good is the collection?
- How good is the study and seating space?
- How good are the computers and wifi?
- How good are the children and family areas?
- How good is the help you get from staff?
- How good is the online catalogue?
- How well do the opening hours suit you?
The form built from these questions
A static copy of a form built from part of the bank, exactly as it renders.
How to change this for a different kind of library
A school library. The users are a captive population with a timetable, so replace visit frequency with when they can come in, and add questions about whether they can find something for their current assignment and whether they read anything they chose themselves this term. Ask teachers separately about the resources they need for a unit, because the two groups want entirely different things from the same room. A university library. Study space overtakes the collection as the main product, so split the space row into silent, group and bookable, and add questions about opening hours during exam periods, which is when the whole service is judged. Add a row for database and journal access, since for research users that is the collection. A special or corporate library. The population is small enough to interview, so keep the survey to six questions and use it to prepare the conversation rather than to replace it. Ask what the person needed and could not get, how long they waited, and what they used instead, because the answer to the last one is usually a competing service you did not know was in use.
Questions people ask
Should a library survey be open to non members?
Yes. People who use the space, the wifi or the printers without a card are a large share of the traffic, and a membership gated survey excludes them systematically. It also excludes exactly the people whose answers would justify keeping the building open longer.
Why ask about opening hours twice?
The rating tells you whether the current hours work and the checklist tells you which hours to add. A budget submission needs the second, and the first alone never produces it. Reported together they turn a complaint into a costed proposal with demand attached.
How do you reach people without a device?
Print the same questions, leave them at the desk with a box, and type the paper responses in under the same branch. A survey about digital access that is only available digitally has answered itself before anybody fills it in, and libraries serve precisely that population.
What is the right length?
Ten questions for a desk intercept and twenty for an annual round sent to members. Beyond that you lose the casual visitor, who is the respondent you were short of. Grid rows help because they are one tap each and six of them cost less time than two open questions.
Should the survey ask about staff by name?
No. The staff help row is almost always the highest scoring part of a library survey, and naming individuals adds nothing to a result that is already positive while creating an obvious problem on the rare occasion it is not.
How do you make the collection question useful?
Prompt for subjects, languages, formats and titles inside the question rather than leaving an empty box. Four prompts turn a vague wish into an acquisitions list, and the language prompt in particular surfaces demand that circulation data cannot show because the items were never bought.
When should a library survey run?
Annually, timed to land before the budget submission rather than after it, and not during school holidays when the visitor mix is unrepresentative. Publish a summary at the front desk afterwards, because a visible result is what makes the following year survey worth running.
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