240 likes | 364 Views
Evaluating the need for an Information Centre. Murari P Tapaswi National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula 403 004 Goa, India murari@nio.org. ODINCINDIO Marine Information Management Training Course 13-24 February 2006. Realization of the need… 1.
E N D
Evaluating the need for an Information Centre Murari P TapaswiNational Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula 403 004 Goa, Indiamurari@nio.org ODINCINDIO Marine Information Management Training Course 13-24 February 2006
Realization of the need… 1 • Waste of funds in acquiring same information • Unable to lay hands on the available / scattered information • Limited time to carefully study and select useful information • Duplication of efforts in searching information
Realization of the need… 2 • Same information required by many departments • Unable to make quick decisions due to non-availability of readymade information • Waste of time and money in searching information
End result… • Establishment of an Information Centre ------------------------------------------------------ Beginning of the business of the Information personnel
Understand…… • Objectives of the organization • Documents that speak objectives: Memorandum of Association, Policy Statement, Mission Statement, etc. • - Documents that speak activity and scope: Organizational Charts, Statements of Responsibility, etc.
Know the people… • Who wish to • Use your services and facilities • Don't ! • The way • Needs assessment surveys ?Best time for Needs Assessment Surveys
Time for assessment surveys • No one good time • Continual process • Do it as and when • Technology/ environment changes • Users change • Good reason to have a dialogue with the users!
Needs assessment surveys: How • Identifying the customer or customer group • Planning for data collection • Collection of data • Analysis • Action on findings
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action • The people we serve • The users for whom the service is targeted at • Client base vs perspective clients • Method to find them
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action • Available options in offering information/ service • Informal discussions • Understanding vocabulary of the user • Distinctive value of the service to the users • Assessment with qualitative or quantitative data, or a mixture of both • Qualitative info provides in-depth info about fewer cases • Quantitative info provides more breadth of info across a large number of cases
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action • Different ways • Surveys (print forms/ online/ e-mails) • Interviews (personal / over phone) • Focus groups • On-site observation
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action Surveys (print forms/ online/ e-mails) • Advantages • Can be administered among large populations • Less intrusive (and biased) than other methods of data collection • Statistical applications on digitized quantitative info lead to excellent results • Simple, well tested questionnaires result in accurate and positive rate of return
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action Surveys (print forms/ online/ e-mails) • User satisfaction vs User needs surveys or both in two sections • Purposeful • Decide before hand how data for each question would be analyzed • Open ended questions (allow subjective interpretation) vs close questions
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action Surveys (print forms/ online/ e-mails) • Close questions/statements with ranked choice • e.g. You would prefer to receive reminders for the books that are due (1 2 3 4). 4 – highest in agreement • Close questions with forced choice (yes/no) • e.g. Should we charge late fee for delayed returns (yes/no)
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action Interviews (personal / over phone) • Interviewee can ask clarification on the question • Replies may turn to qualitative nature and loose track • Replies may get influenced by interviewers preferences and body language • Recording of replies is an art • Good for smaller populations
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action Focus groups • Knowledgeable/ experienced small group of experts • Expensive • Feedback can help in designing future surveys
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action On-site observations • Time-consuming method • Users may not know that they are observed • Observer must be knowledgeable to draw conclusions • Log of every small observation is required to be kept • Best to be used in combination with other types of evaluations
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action • Different approach for analysis of qualitative and quantitative data • Qualitative data needs to be converted to common threads from set of responses • Selection of appropriate statistical packages for analysis • Plotting data in Impact vs Ease chart
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action High • Plotting data in Impact vs Ease chart B A Impact D C Ease Low High ?Squares A to D in order of preference for action
Needs assessment - User identification- Planning- Data collection- Analysis- Action • The items/suggestions that are of high impact and easy to implement to be taken up first. Rest in sequence of possibility of implementation/importance • Feedback user with the results and actions after the survey
Needs assessment: Other tools • Standards • Smaller libraries can base needs of their users by established standards which have been derived from experiences by other libraries • Suggestion box • Needed to be opened at fixed short intervals • Discussions with fellow users • Informal / formal
Needs assessment: Other tools • Online survey softwares – built in survey templates • Web-based surveys – nothing to download • View results real-time • Examples: • http://www.questionpro.com/ • http://www.sectorresearch.com/
Sources for further studies • Good description • http://digital.library.arizona.edu/nadm/tutorial/ • http://nnlm.gov/ner/nesl/9410/tol.html • Electronic survey form examples: • http://www.kaiaghok.com/A55885/pulp.nsf/survey • http://library.uthct.edu/libsurvey1.htm
Needs assessment survey assignment Design a needs assessment survey for a service in your library and state how would you go about on following three aspects: • Purpose • User identification • Planning • Data collection • Analysis • Action