#111: If you do a survey, don't set it up to let you off the hook

If your library surveys patrons on the effectiveness or the accessibility of library services, be thoughtful about where you offer the survey. If you’re only offering a paper survey inside the library, you are only capturing patrons who have made it in. If you only offer it at service desks, you’re only capturing patrons who are comfortable enough to come up and talk to a staff member. If you offer it online via the library website, you’re again missing non-users. Consider taking your survey outside a grocery store or laundromat and talking to patrons who don’t use the library about what would help them use it.