What We Learned From the Community Survey

Thanks to the randomly-selected 1,365 people in Boone and Callaway Counties who took time to answer our questionnaire, we have a better sense of what we’re doing right and where we can improve. The information will also be valuable when we begin drafting our next long-range strategic plan.

We used ETC Institute, an Olathe, Kansas research firm, that does studies for public libraries and municipalities all across the country. Here are some of their findings.

ETC compared some of our findings with other governmental organizations and reported that:

  • Overall satisfaction with DBRL’s services of 92% is 17% above the national average of 75% for public libraries.
  • Of those surveyed, 87% are satisfied with the overall value they receive for their tax dollars going to libraries, which is 50% higher than the national average for local governments.
  • Satisfaction with DBRL’s customer service from staff, at 96%, is 42% above the national average for governmental organizations.

In our service area:

  • 98% of those surveyed agreed with the statement “libraries are important to our community.”
  • 93% are happy with the library’s selection of best-selling and new books.
  • 89% like the convenience and ease of use of the online catalog.

Source for above and chart: 2011, 2014 and 2019 Daniel Boone Regional Library Community Survey, ETC Institute