Penn State University Libraries - Focus on Assessment - Oct 11, 2010

Word clouds of past survey comments reflect changing priorities

Contributed by the Library Assessment and Metrics Council

As we discussed in our August 30 Interview article, the Assessment and Metrics Council has
created word clouds of the comments from the LibQUAL+® surveys done in 2002, 2004, and
2008. Upon analyzing these word clouds, we were able to see how the respondents’ issues and
priorities have changed over the years. You can view all three word clouds on our website at
https://intranet.libraries.psu.edu/home/groups/assesscouncil/projsrepts/wordclouds.html.

We distinctly see the change in the prominence of “journal”, “student”, “resources”, “study”, and
“helpful” over time. Other words, like “need”, “staff”, and “available” remain fairly consistent in
all three word clouds. What other changes do you see? What kind of story do these word clouds
tell?

We also wanted to bring your attention to the 2010 Student Satisfaction Survey, which was
conducted by Penn State’s Division of Student Affairs. The survey results can be found at
http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/assessment/satisfaction.shtml. Note that the Libraries received a
very high satisfaction rate from students at both University Park and the Commonwealth
Campuses.