Tolerance bar ranging from 6.7 to 7.9 is high on the graph. Perceptions of caring service at Texas A&M are generally higher than those at other ARL institutions. Steps Taken to Improve Affect of Service Scores In order to improve LibQUAL+® scores in the Affect of Service dimension, focus groups were held to better understand what interventions users wanted. In particular, users desired increased hours of library services. As a result of suggestions from LibQUAL+® respondents, the West Campus Library, and shortly thereafter the Library Annex, was opened 24 hours/5 days a week. All libraries began opening earlier on weekends and hours were further expanded in the Cushing Library and the Medical Sciences Library. Texas A&M Libraries thus increased their ranking to third in their designated aspirational peer group in terms of open hours. Interlibrary Loan (ILS), Circulation, and Reference services were merged to a single service point. Library personnel were directed to staff expanded service hours for ILS and the popular “Get It For Me” service through which users can request articles online if e-versions are not readily available. If owned in print, RLI 271 8 A Decade of Assessment at a Research-Extensive University Library Using LibQUAL+® ( C O N T I N U E D ) AUGUST 2010 RESEARCH LIBRARY ISSUES: A BIMONTHLY REPORT FROM ARL, CNI, AND SPARC 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 9 8 7 6 5 4 Y E A R TEXAS A&M PERCEIVED TREND ARL MINIMUM TREND ARL PERCEIVED TREND ARL DESIRED TREND Figure 1. Graduate student responses to item AS-6, “Employees who deal with users in a caring fashion”