15 Security Survey Questions for Your Library Staff: Better Answers Get Better Results

When it comes to making changes in library security polices, procedures, equipment, or security staff members, it can be essential to start with a short employee survey to gauge the opinions of the library staff. Some will have strong opinions, both positively and negatively; others may be more neutral; and some will not bother to complete the questionnaire at all. That’s all okay because what you’re looking for - besides just the data itself - is to provide the opportunity to your employees to voice their opinions, anonymously, and with the chance to provide additional details in the Comments section as to what they mean and why it matters.

This data-gathering project uses 15 key questions, crafted by Dr. Steve Albrecht, about the physical and psychological sense of security, as perceived by your staff. He’ll discuss the questions in detail during the webinar.

A survey serves several purposes: 1) It gives every employee, at all levels, full or part-time, the chance to be heard; 2) It tells employees, we care enough to ask them what needs to be fixed and what is sufficient, in terms of our current facility security and operational postures; 3) It can provide an early-warning to management about security, safety, or patron behavior issues that may not be apparent to them but are a real concern to the staff; 4) It tells the leadership team where they should either start or focus their efforts to make immediate or gradual changes, as time and budget restraints allow; 5) And it says to all staff, “This is your chance to be heard, on paper, without attribution. We only want your opinions, not your names;” 6) And finally, if they don’t reply, they cannot say we never asked.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

With any employee survey, there are three rules you must follow:

• Keep the comment answers confidential if they mention specific patrons or employees.
• Provide the results back to the employees in the form of a report, as soon as possible. Nothing can crash the validity of the survey process like no feedback. Transparency matters. Show the scores for the multiple-choice answers and pull selected comments when they emphasize a theme.
• Act on the information in a timely way. Pick small changes that you can make that become visible to the staff immediately. Work on longer-term issues as your budget and other resources improve.

Learn by asking. Make security changes based on feedback from the employees who work where the rubber meets the road - on the floor, behind the desks, with the patrons.
 

CALL Training Partner: Library 2.0

Track: Security