Depository Library User Survey Report Released

In its efforts to address the value of Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) membership and to determine baseline outcomes-based performance measures, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), working with Outsell, Inc. and the Depository Library Council, developed a survey for depository library users. The survey ran from October 10, 2010 through March 4, 2011 and garnered over 3,300 responses from users of nearly 550 depository libraries. Submissions were well distributed both geographically and across different library types.

The final report, FDLP Users Speak: The Value and Performance of Libraries Participating in the Federal Depository Library Program, conveys the overall survey results and it compares results by library segment and by selective and regional designations.

All Federal depository libraries can benefit from the results:

• FDLP libraries that participated in the user survey can benefit from comparing their individual results against the overall survey results (which represent a benchmark of performance nationally), in order to assess what actions they might wish to take locally.
• FDLP libraries that did not participate in the survey can benefit as well by knowing the benchmarks and how they compare to respondents as a whole.
• All FDLP libraries can benefit by adopting the survey instrument as a template (modifiable according to particular circumstances or developments) for a continuing process of assessment of the performance and effectiveness of their individual libraries as measured against user outcomes and impacts.