Patron surveys
Overview of patron survey options
Patron survey forms gather information about your patrons' satisfaction with your library's reference service. Patron survey reports summarize and list the responses to the survey forms.
Your library can choose one of the following options:
- No patron survey forms and reports
- External patron survey forms and reports that are created, managed, and viewed outside the QuestionPoint system
- Internal patron survey forms and reports that are created, managed, and viewed inside the QuestionPoint system
Indicate your library's choice on the Institution's Survey Form page (Administration > Institution > Surveys > Survey Form).
Note: If your library had an internal patron survey form and changes to an external one, the reports and responses for the internal form remain available in QuestionPoint.
No patron survey
If you choose to have no patron survey, do the following on the Institution's Survey Form page:
- Select the Link to the Internal survey defined below button.
- Uncheck the Chat Session and Ask Answers boxes.
- Click the Save button.
External patron survey
External patron survey forms and reports are created, managed, and viewed outside the QuestionPoint system. Responses to external surveys are not brought into QuestionPoint or in any way included in QuestionPoint survey reports.
If you choose to use an external patron survey, you can provide a link to your survey form. The link appears in the following places:
- In the patron's chat window or Qwidget at the end of each chat session
- With each chat transcript sent to a patron by e-mail
- With each answer sent to a patron by e-mail
To provide the link to your external survey form, do the following on the Institution's Survey Form page (Administration > Institution > Surveys > Survey Form):
- Select the Link patrons to an External survey located at button.
- Type the URL (including http:// or https://) for your survey form in the Survey Location box.
- Click the Save button.
Internal patron survey
Internal patron survey forms and reports are created, managed, and viewed inside the QuestionPoint system.
- How the internal patron survey forms work
- Notes about internal patron survey forms
- How you view the responses for internal patron survey forms
- E-mail notice of responses to internal patron survey forms
- Additional information about internal patron surveys
How the internal patron survey forms work
Survey forms contain multiple-choice questions that you choose from a menu in the Administration module. They also contain a place for patrons to type comments.
You can choose to provide one, both, or neither of the following survey forms:
- Chat survey form. Presented at the end of each chat session and with each chat transcript sent to a patron by e-mail
- Ask survey form. Presented with each answer sent to a patron by e-mail
Notes about internal patron survey forms
You can include different questions on the chat survey form and the ask survey form.
You can include up-to-15 questions on each form.
Your library's survey form is presented even if a librarian for another library chats with, or sends an answer to, your library's patron.
The ask survey form is not sent with requests for clarification.
How you view the responses for internal patron survey forms
You can view:
- Survey reports (including all responses) in the Administration module (Administration > Institution > Surveys > Survey Reports)
- Survey responses for individual questions and chat sessions in the Ask a Librarian module
E-mail notice of responses to internal patron survey forms
When a patron responds to a survey about a question assigned to you or a chat session with you, QuestionPoint sends a message to your e-mail address (My QuestionPoint > Settings > E-mail address) and to your library's e-mail notification address (Administration > Institution > Settings > E-mail Notification). The message contains the patron's response to the survey and the Question ID of the Full Question.
Additional information about internal patron surveys
