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Students give library thumbs up

North Lake Community Library celebrates first birthday, evaluates effectiveness

North Lake Community Library just completed its first year of operation and has received high marks from students.

In the North Lake College Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory, fall students rated the new library significantly above the national average in resources. Students rated the new library facility, resources and services second among a series of choices. Students rated helpfulness and approachability of library staff high, noting significant improvement.

This past spring the library conducted its own detailed survey of a patron sample. Those surveyed reflected satisfaction with the new library.

On a 5-point scale, students and other patrons assigned satisfaction ratings higher than 4 points to the following library areas: reference help and research, circulation policy and customer service, Web site and library catalog, as well as cleanliness and comfort. No score fell below 3.5.

On Aug. 3, 2002, the community celebrated NLCL's grand opening with the theme of books, bards and bytes. Dr. Lyle Vance, Irving Public Library managing director, said, ?We feel the library has become much more student-centered even while providing equal service to the community.

What do students like most? The quietness and environment/building/facility compete for the lead. Finding a good place to study is almost as important.
How do students actually use the library? Almost 60 percent quietly study alone or read. Nearly as many use the computers. The library is quite a hub of community-based learning.

What would students change about the 59,000 square-foot library? Most students listed no changes. Even longer operating hours were requested by some, even though the library is open more weekly hours than other area community college or public libraries. Others suggested more computers, books or time to use computer bytes. No one mentioned bards.

Reference librarians report that some former students return to the old 'H' building which housed the old library, and are surprised that the huge, new brick structure is the library. It is aptly named 'L' in the campus alphabet of labels.