Purpose & Goals

The biennial Duke Libraries’ student satisfaction survey was conducted in 2023. In previous survey cycles, assessment staff produced lengthy lists of potential recommendations based on survey data for review and ranking by library staff and administration. This year, we decided to try a new approach to give students a seat at the table, not only in providing feedback to the Libraries, but also in analyzing survey findings, ranking problem areas, and suggesting solutions.

Design & Methodology

We conducted two Data Parties, one for undergraduates and one for graduate students. Participants were offered an incentive (a $25 Amazon or restaurant gift card) as well as snacks during the event. Email invitations were sent to the 437 students who had provided their contact information in the 2023 biennial student survey agreeing to be contacted about future feedback opportunities with the Libraries. The email provided eight date and time options. Thirty-eight students volunteered, and 14 additional volunteers were garnered from advertising via the Duke International Student Center newsletters and library social media accounts, as well as advertising on the library homepage, and tabling outside the library coffee shop with candy. During the Data Parties, a series of data visualizations were posted at five topical stations around a large conference room. Students were split into small groups, and each group was provided with a worksheet to complete as they moved through the stations. Students had roughly ten minutes per station, half of which was spent examining the data individually prior to discussing the data as a group and completing the worksheet. At each station, students were asked to consider the following questions and write down their answers on the worksheet:

• What, if anything, surprises you about the data?
• Do you notice any other patterns?
• What more do you wish you knew or what additional information do you wish you had?
• Given the data, what are the problems or issues that exist for the libraries in this area?

Following the small group work, students came together into a single group with staff moderators. Students generated a list of problems on a whiteboard, which they then ranked with colored post-its as having high, medium, and low impact. Then, they brainstormed solutions to the problems on a second whiteboard.

Findings

The structure of the Data Parties worked well to engage students in discussions about the survey data and generate high priority solutions. Students generated new ideas that would likely not have been included in a staff-only recommendations process. A post-event feedback form indicated that students enjoyed talking with peers about the libraries and brainstorming solutions, and they overall found the visualizations to be useful. One major challenge was recruitment and participation. Despite slots filling up quickly, only half of the graduate student volunteers attended the event. We used that information to increase our recruitment efforts for the undergraduate event, but we expect to need to “oversell” events like this in the future. We also tried to keep it easy for students to participate by keeping the event short and avoiding pre-work before the event. Graduate students, however, seemed to want to explore the data in more depth and might be willing to participate in a series of discussions instead of a single event. With a single, two-hour event, students are only seeing a staff-curated view of the data, which prevent students from exploring the data deeply and generating their own insights. We also found it difficult to juggle gathering feedback from both students and other library stakeholders. This method of engaging students in the analysis process had the unintended result of generating suggestions that did not get reviewed by the broader library staff. In the future, it may be better to treat the process as three phases that each need both staff and student feedback: analyzing survey data, brainstorming recommendations, and prioritizing those recommendations.

Action & Impact

We are entering a new strategic plan cycle, and we expect a lot of changes to be happening in the libraries over the next few years. Our plan is to reflect on our new priorities and what we have learned from our biennial surveys and redesign our survey instrument and analysis process. Some changes we are considering are: lengthen the cycle to one survey every three years, redesign the survey to reduce the length and ensure coverage of high priority topics, expand our engagement with students during survey analysis, use the data party format for staff data exploration events as well, and make sure our recommendations are focused and reflective of a combination of data from both the student and staff perspective.

Practical Implications & Value

Our focus on participatory design was inspired by presentations and workshops at prior LAC conferences, and we hope that others will use and expand on our methods. The methodology described here could be repurposed for a variety of data sources. Events like Data Parties serve many purposes: most importantly, they bring a student perspective to the table, giving students a greater voice in library decision-making around services and providing a new perspective for analyzing data and brainstorming solutions. Additionally, Data Parties are an engagement, advertising, and outreach opportunity. As more libraries begin testing methods for engaging patrons in the design of services, we hope to continue sharing ideas and lessons learned.