The Search for New Measures: The ARL LibQUAL plus Project-A Preliminary Report

The strength of the project is the rigor of its design and the robustness of the statistical analysis to which the results will subjected. Close peer scrutiny of the findings is assured through broad dissemination of the results. The model recognizes the pre-eminence of local findings and surfaces best practices across institutions. If successful, the pilot project will be scaled to a national undertaking, accommodating other related research. The experience will enable a technology transfer to libraries generally as well as to a broad range of related ARL applications. The project plan envisions the migration of the operational oversight of the tool to ARL by 2002, with the instrument available for widespread administration. The advantages of an assessment tool, well grounded in theory and rigorously administered, hold promise to answer finally the calls for greater accountability and responsiveness to user needs in college and university libraries. Copyright © 2000 by The Johns Hopkins University Press.