Post written by Josh Been, Director of Data and Digital Scholarship and Digital Scholarship Librarian and Eric Ames, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications for ITS/Libraries
Exciting news! The Baylor University Libraries are poised to embark on a 3-year plan to assess our organizational health and diversity so that we can celebrate our many strengths and uncover areas that may be improved.
Step 1: ClimateQUAL survey
What is ClimateQUAL?
ClimateQUAL®: Organizational Climate and Diversity Assessment is an assessment of library staff perceptions concerning (a) their library’s commitment to the principles of diversity, (b) organizational policies and procedures, and (c) staff attitudes. It is an online survey with questions designed to understand the impact perceptions have on service quality in a library setting. The survey addresses a number of climate issues, such as diversity, teamwork, learning, and fairness, as well as current managerial practices, and staff attitudes and beliefs.
Respondent confidentiality is of paramount concern, given the sensitive nature of the questions and responses. Results are reported back to individual institutions in a way that will not compromise respondent identity.
When will the survey be administered?
The first step is for all full-time and part-time employees to participate in the ClimateQUAL survey. This survey will be administered Monday, October 25 through Friday, November 12.
The timing is perfect to participate this semester. Dean Jeffry Archer recently started in June 2020 and the University Libraries have not engaged in a comprehensive survey like ClimateQUAL before. While library faculty have recently participated in a campus-wide COACHE survey, this was not as useful as it was designed specifically for teaching faculty and did not include the non-faculty employees in the University Libraries. As we hope to hire several new employees over the course of this year, the timing is excellent to gain an understanding of the status of our organizational health.
Step 2: Evaluate Results, Celebrate Strengths, Uncover Areas for Improvement
In Spring 2022, an assessment planning committee will be formed to transparently share the results of the ClimateQUAL survey and to come up with new programming to improve areas that may need improving.
Step 3: Implement New Programming
The new programming developed by the assessment planning committee will be implemented and its success gauged during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic years. This completes the first 3-year cycle.
2024: Restart the 3-Year Cycle
During the Fall 2024 semester, the University Libraries will re-take the ClimateQUAL survey.
All full-time faculty and staff will receive access to the ClimateQUAL survey on October 25. More information will be available in “From the Stacks,” our monthly newsletter, as well as via targeted emails in the weeks ahead. Our goal is 100% participation in the survey – which, again, is anonymous and completely confidential – so that we can best plan for a successful 3-year cycle for the Libraries.
Looking forward to what our collective insights will reveal!
The Libraries’ ClimateQUAL Team