Assessing the good will of community users in an academic library

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report the second phase of a study on the impact of one North American academic library extending library privileges gratis to community users.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reports the results of a web‐based survey of community users at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), Arkansas, USA. The survey was conducted to obtain information on demographics and community users' perception of the value of library privileges.

Findings

Community users often have some connection to the university and tend to be satisfied with and value the privileges. Receiving the privileges may increase the users' good will toward the university and willingness to donate to development efforts. The benefits to the organization, such as increase in good will and social capital, are difficult to measure.

Research limitations/implications

This paper reports a study of the perceptions of community users at one North American academic library and may provide guidance for other libraries contemplating the value of community outreach. The results of this study may or may not be generalizable to all academic libraries.

Originality/value

There has been little research that attempts to assess community users' perception of the value of an academic library extending library privileges to them. Previous studies surveyed librarians about their perceptions of the pros and cons of extending privileges.

Citation

Dole, W.V. and Hill, J.B. (2012), "Assessing the good will of community users in an academic library", New Library World, Vol. 113 No. 5/6, pp. 270-280. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074801211226355