Monkey Business

Another step toward digital super stardom! I created a survey using a free account through SurveyMonkey. Although the free account limits survey options to some extent, it was still useful for creating a concise survey with a variety of response opportunities (multiple choice, rating scales, free text comments, etc...). I decided to survey my fellow staff members to gain their thoughts about the accessibility and usefulness of our school library program and resources. Aside from the obvious, collecting empirical data on our library program to better guide the direction of our program improvement, the process of generating the survey held additional benefits for me. In creating the survey questions themselves, I was forced to think more deeply about our library program, the resources available, and my own perceptions of our program and staff library usage patterns. Simply taking the time to reflect on these aspects was useful in its own right.

This Web 2.0 tool holds a few advantages itself! It is a one-stop shopping experience for your simple survey needs. Users can generate and save surveys instantly with just a few clicks, and develop links to email the survey to possible respondents, or create a pop-up feature on a web page prompting users to take the survey. SurveyMonkey not only collects the responses from participants, but also tabulates them into useful statistics---Yet another constructive tool for collaboration (through free text comments) and communication in the digital age.

I'm looking forward to seeing the actual responses offered by my fellow staff members, if they choose to take part at all (which is a response in and of itself)! But first, a quick question about data collection addressed to the help desk, and then a pilot of the survey to send to my library colleagues to test out the design and language! Wish me luck...