Radar Information

RADAR is a new tool designed to keep library staff in touch with the changing information needs, attitudes, and behaviors of patrons. RADAR is fast, flexible and cost-effective, RADAR helps a library gather valuable data and insights into the changing information needs, behaviors, and attitudes of patrons. These data can serve to prepare a staff for immediate action or to shape a long-range plan.

The key elements of RADAR are panels of patrons who engage in face-to-face dialogue with library staff. Panelists share how they obtain information, what sources they use, and why they make the choices they make. They exchange ideas with staff about how the library might help them.

RADAR steps beyond data collection to identify actions for response to changing user needs.

It is a library’s front-line staff who most interact with patrons. They listen to patron requests and preferences, hear complaints, listen to frustrations, and observe idiosyncrasies. A library’s front line staff becomes a collective repository of information about patrons that is rarely tapped. RADAR is designed to mine this information as the product of discussion and dialogue between staff and users.

Before conducting a RADAR session, we work with a library’s administration to clarify what objectives are sought from the RADAR dialogue. For example, does the administration seek information only or do they want to see concrete actions implemented as a result of the RADAR session? We also help clients decide which staff should participate, who should be invited to serve on the patron panel(s), and how the room should be set-up for the actual RADAR session. The bottom line is that all concerned must be clear on what is to happen and what to expect.

The RADAR day consists of a series of moderated exercises and dialogs between library staff and patrons. Patrons are asked to present information such as how they obtain information they need, what sources they use, why they select these resources, what frustrations they encounter, their impressions of the library based on their experiences, etc. These presentations are followed by a series of questions designed to elicit more detail and to probe key issues. In these sessions the facilitator and members of the staff serve as the probers. After the session with patrons is concluded, the staff assesses what they have heard, what it means for the library, and if action is desired, what steps the library should take in light of what they have heard.

Richard M. Dougherty designed RADAR. Dougherty is an experienced librarian, library educator, and group facilitator. He has extensive experience working with groups, and his knowledge of the issues of public service librarians make him highly qualified to conduct RADAR sessions.

This is the question I’m most often asked. First, there is a similarity in the type of information the two techniques generate. But here is where the similarities end. Focus groups are guided by a facilitator who is responsible for probing panelists to provide insights on key topics. The quality of the information generated is dependent on the quality of the panel and the skill of the facilitator.

RADAR employs a panel of patrons who interact with Dougherty and the participating library staff serving. The panelists tell their stories to the assembled staff. Gradually a picture of patrons' actual information requirements and preferences emerges from the presentation. Following the panelist stories, it is the staff that take the lead in probing what the panelists had to say. Unlike focus groups, the quality of the sessions is not dependent on the skill of a single facilitator.

Of course, but for a variety of reasons public and academic libraries haven’t been notably successful in getting input from users. Surveys and focus groups are the normal means for obtaining feedback, but focus groups and surveys are expensive and time consuming, and there is nothing more useless than a superficial survey or poorly organized focus groups. RADAR taps the knowledge and opinion of both users and the frontline staff who serve them. The bonus benefit is staff participation in the process of change.

LibQUAL+™ is used to gather information about library performance; more specifically the methodology enables a library to identify areas of service strength and weakness as perceived by patrons. LibQUAL+™ is an administrative tool, the library’s staff are not directly involved in the data collection. While LibQUAL+™ is an effective tool, the data generated does not always provide enough information to pin down why exactly patron perceptions fell short of expectations. RADAR builds upon LibQUAL+™ survey findings by enlisting staff to probe for more specifics about the reported shortcomings in the survey.

Dougherty & Associates • PO Box 8330 • Ann Arbor, MI 48107