Grace Adal Library plans April–May patron survey on hours, programs and collections

The Grace Adal Memorial Library plans to distribute a patron survey in April or May to gather updated feedback on hours, programming and the library’s physical and digital collections, the board heard Jan. 15.

Miriam, Library Director, said the last survey was conducted in December 2020 during COVID and sought retrospective answers; the upcoming survey will focus on current patron needs and awareness of services. “We don’t want it to be extraordinarily long,” Miriam said. “I’m anticipating that maybe open ended questions might be a little bit better… probably no more than 20 or 25 questions total.”

Staff intend to use a mix of distribution channels—city social media, the city website, the library newsletter and paper copies at branches—to target current users first; a separate mailed survey to nonusers was discussed as a later effort. The director said standard questions will ask whether respondents live in the library’s service area, whether they hold a library card and how often they visit, and staff also plan to ask about specific offerings such as the library of things and digital resources (for example, MelCat and LinkedIn Learning).

Board members suggested including questions that help the library shape marketing and scheduling (for example, whether patrons have heard of a service, have attended once, or would like to attend but timing prevents them). Staff will draft the survey and present a draft to the board for review before distribution.