Needs Assessment at the South Carolina Supreme Court Library

Identifying and Addressing Gaps in Services

to the Legal Community

Eve RossSLIS 797

South Carolina Supreme Court

South Carolina Supreme Court Library

www.judicial.state.sc.us/supreme/library.cfm

Needs Assessment MethodologyPrepare• Define question• Gather your team• Identify stakeholders and SWOT

Plan and Conduct• Define the questions• Determine resources available• Develop a timeline• Define your customers• Gather data from identified sources

Analyze and Report• Analyze the data.• Make a decision and plan of action.• Report to administration; evaluate needs assessment

process.• Repeat needs assessment in the future to see if gap is

smaller.

Needs Assessment

1.Define question– Interview with library director– Fewer visitors: why? – Lack of awareness of library’s strengths?– Generational differences?– How to prioritize possible projects?

2.Gather your team3.Identify stakeholders and SWOT

Prepare

Stakeholders

• Judges and judicial staff• General public (self-

represented)• Lawyers and law clerks

(student interns)

WEAKNESSESNo web-accessible collectionNo social media presenceNo public access computerNo OPAC Limited hoursNo parking Limited staff

STRENGTHSPrint collection:

Acts of legislatureJournals of legislatureRecords on appeal to Supreme Court

OPPORTUNITIES

Projects in progressCreate awareness

THREATSBudgetaryGenerational?

Needs Assessment

4.Define the questions5.Determine resources available6.Develop a timeline7.Define your customers8.Gather data from identified

sources– Primary sources– Secondary sources

Plan and Conduct

Survey

Questions – demographic

Closed-ended or open-endedReich et al. “is there any area in which you would like expansion?”

47 areas

Questions – prioritize projects

6 areas

Questions – awareness

Needs Assessment

9. Analyze the data.10.Make a decision and plan of

action.11.Report to administration

and evaluate needs assessment process.

12.Repeat needs assessment in the future to see if gap is smaller.

Analyze and Report

Results – demographic

3858%

2742%

lawyersstudents

Results – demographic

<35 35-55 >55 NA0

5

10

15

20

25

30

stu-dents

lawyers

Results – project priority

Social

Parking

Hours

Website

Catalog

Computer

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00

1.57

3.88

3.95

4.25

4.32

4.32

Results – project priority

Compu

ter

Catal

og

Web

site

Hou

rs

Parki

ng

Socia

l0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

5.00

Under 3535 to 55Over 55

Results – awareness

SCSCL CKLL other0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Acts

Journal

Record

Results – awareness

NA

peer

Westlaw

internet

SCSCL

Google

other

CKLL

librarian

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

students lawyers

Recommendations

Clarify mission to legal community.Add a computer with library catalog.Put acts, journals, records online.Market SCSCL to law librarians.

Lessons Learned

Research journal is useful.Pilot group from target population.

ReferencesDudden, R. F. (2007). Using

benchmarking, needs assessment, quality improvement, outcome measurement, and library standards: A how-to-do-it manual with CD-ROM. Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Reich, M. (2013). Assessing clinical researchers’ information needs to create responsive portals and tools: My Research Assistant (MyRA) at the University of Utah: A case study. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 101(1), 4-11.