Survey Results - Community Survey 2007

The community survey completed in July of 2007 was extremely useful in the development of the Oak Park Public Library’s 2008-2012 Strategic Plan. We've learned so much from the community survey already, and we'll be learning from it for months to come. Thanks to everyone who contributed to it!

About the survey design and sample

We knew that our survey would not be completed by a representative (scientific, random) sample of the 52,000 Oak Park residents - and in fact it wasn't. People chose to respond, and those who did tended to be engaged, invested library users, not a surprising finding. A number of important subgroups weren't heard from adequately (library non-users, teens, kids, and more) but we did hear loud and clear from 783 passionate and frequent library users. We hope to target research towards other important groups in the future.

Who answered?

• 249 responded to our more in-depth online survey
• 534 completed the paper survey sent out with the Village's FYI newsletter
• more than half left comments and suggestions
• the great majority of responders were folks who use one or more of the Library locations at least twice a month
• responders were Oak Park Public Library card holders from all over our village
• a wide range of ages completed our surveys
  

  With limited page-space for the paper version, and a desire not to fatigue our online respondents, the scope of the survey was limited to what would directly feed into the strategic planning process. We hope to address other concerns with research in the future.

Results

The quantitative results from the two survey versions can be read:

• Online survey results
• FYI/paper survey results
  

  We're still working with and analyzing the data, but here's some of what we've learned:

• Satisfaction with the Library is strong; the Library is well-loved, appreciated and serving the needs of the community very well.
• There's much the public doesn't know about us - many services, offerings, programs - providing a great opportunity for us to get that information out!
• In this highly literate community it's important that the Library actively promote literacy and the joy of reading.
• It's important that we provide a good balance of materials in the collection, and that we be a source of impartial information.
• It's important that we support and enhance early childhood education throughout the village.

  The survey allowed for free comments and suggestions, all of which have been a rich source of information. Many of the comments have already been useful in changing the way we do things.

Last updated: 10/5/07