Evaluation of User Satisfaction with NAL Internet Sites Supporting Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

“Evaluation of User Satisfaction with NAL Internet Sites”

Gary McCone

Associate Director for Information Systems

National Agricultural Library

10301 Baltimore Ave.

Beltsville, Md. 10301

Phone: 301-504-5018

Fax: 504-6968

Email: [email protected]

“Evaluation of User Satisfaction with NAL Internet Sites”

Supporting Statement

1. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

This is a request, made by the National Agricultural Library (NAL) Office of the Director (OD), Office of the Associate Director of Information Systems, that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve, under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, a three year blanket clearance for NAL to conduct user satisfaction research around its Internet sites. This effort is made according to Executive Order 12862 which directs federal agencies that provide significant services directly to the public to survey customers to determine the kind and quality of services they want and their level of satisfaction with existing services and seeks to extend the previously approved three year blanket clearance for NAL web satisfaction forms.

The National Agricultural Library Internet sites are a vast collection of Web pages created and maintained by component organizations of NAL, and are visited by 4.6 million people per month on average. All eight of NAL Information Centers and a dozen special interest collections have established a Web presence with a home page and links to sub-pages that provide information to their respective audiences.

The National Agricultural Library has migrated the majority of its internet sites to a dynamic Content Management System and initiated substantial changes to the search interface, including new software and a federated search function and two new digital repositories.

There is a clear need to measure user satisfaction with the many changes made to NAL Internet sites in order for NAL to comply with Executive Order 12862. In accordance with Executive Branch and Congressional mandates to provide information dissemination, and under its mission, NAL has rapidly expanded availability of vital agricultural information. This project aims to evaluate user satisfaction with the content and usefulness of Web-based delivery methods.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The purpose of the research is to ensure that intended audiences find the information provided on the Internet sites easy to access, clear, informative, and useful. Specifically, the research will examine whether the information is presented in an appropriate technological format and whether it meets the needs of users of these Internet sites. The research will also provide a means by which to classify visitors to the NAL Internet sites, to better understand how to serve them.

The information generated from this research will enable NAL to evaluate the success of this new modality in response to fulfilling its legislative mandate to disseminate vital agricultural information and truly become the national digital library of agriculture.

3. Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction

As appropriate, automated information technology will be used to collect and process information in order to reduce the burden on the public.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

In an effort to identify duplication, a poll of NAL Webmasters was conducted to discover if any of the Divisions or Information Centers had conducted online surveys. Of the 22 content generators only 2 had been able to conduct an evaluative study with OMB clearance, the Food Stamp Educational Materials Resource sharing form (PRA#0518-0031) and the Foresee Results Customer Satisfaction Survey (PRA#1505-0186). This request applies to those NAL sites whose owners have not yet applied for clearance to conduct this research.

5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

The burden on small businesses or other small entities will be reduced both by the voluntary nature of the study and the short length of time required to respond to the survey instruments.

6. Consequences of Collecting the Information less Frequently

This research will be conducted over the next three years and survey results will be administered, analyzed, and interpreted as needed on an on-going basis by individual Divisions and Information Centers. Additional improvements and subsequent surveys can be offered on an as-needed basis to continue to refine the content and navigation of the NAL Internet sites, databases, and search functions. If this collection is not conducted, NAL will be hindered from advancing its mandate to provide accurate, timely information to its user community.

7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5CFR 1320.5

There are no special circumstances that require the information to be collected in any of the formats identified, and request fully complies with regulation 5CFR 1320.5.

8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside the Agency

   1. As required by 5CFR 1320.8(d), a notice of this proposed data collection appeared in the Federal Register, September 28, 2007 / Volume 72, page Number 188. No comments were received from the public.

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2. Outside consultation continues to be conducted with a firm contracted by NAL to prepare a survey instrument tailored to NAL audiences (attached). The Foresee Results Company (2929 Plymouth Road, Suite 220 Ann Arbor, MI 48105; phone: 734-205-2600; fax: 734-205-2601) was instructed to develop survey instruments in accordance with industry standard Web site evaluation techniques. These standard questions provide useful information in the aggregate but do not solve the ongoing problem experienced by the Web site content generators who each serve different user communities and would benefit from their own survey instrument.

9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents

There are no payments to respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

The Privacy Act is not applicable. Demographic information will be used for analytical purposes only. Names will not be recorded on the questionnaires, nor will personal identifying data be maintained in the database. While respondents may be given the option of providing their e-mail addresses for the purpose of receiving a response to a particular inquiry, these addresses will not be used for purposes of linking particular respondents to particular survey responses. The addresses will not be retained after the reply is sent to the respondent.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

No questions of a sensitive nature are included in the survey.

12. Estimates of Hourly Burden Including Annualized Hourly Costs

    1. Estimated Annualized Burden Hours:

It is estimated that participants will require no more than 5 minutes to complete each survey. Actual time required will vary based on participant reading speed and level. The annual burden table below shows total burden to participants.

Survey Area	No. of Respondents	Freq. of Response per Respondent	Avg. Burden Per Response (hrs.)	Burden Hours
NAL Site wide	2000			168
Overall User Satisfaction	1000	1	0.1002	100
Top Level	500	1	0.0668	34
Tools and Initiatives	500	1	0.0668	34
Individual Divisions & Information Centers	10000			835
Overall User Satisfaction	5000	1	0.1002	501
Top Level	2500	1	0.0668	167
Tools and Initiatives	2500	1	0.0668	167
Total	12000		0.0779	1003

2. Estimated Annualized Burden Costs:

An average hourly salary of approximately $19.29 is assumed for all respondents, based on the Department of Labor (DOL) civilian labor force average wage guide (2006). With a maximum annual respondent burden of 1003 hours, the overall annual cost of respondents’ time for the proposed interviews is estimated to be a maximum $19348. There will be no direct costs to the respondents other than their time to participate in each study.

13. Estimate of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondent or Record-keepers

There will be no capital, operating, or maintenance costs to the respondent.

14. Annualized cost to the Federal Government

The approximate cost to the government for this study is $7,000. This price includes costs for research design, pre-testing, development of the clearance package, data collection, data entry, data analyses, and development of a final report. It is estimated that five NAL staff members will require, collectively, 250 hours for the duration of the proposed research. Assuming 200 hours at an hourly salary of $24.61

(grade 11– step 3) and 50 hours at an hourly salary of $39.46 (grade 13– step7), total government personnel costs will be $68,095.

15. Changes in Hour Burden

This is a reinstatement of a previously approved collection with no change in burden.

16. Plans for Tabulation, Publication, and Project Time Schedule

There are no statistical methods used in this study.

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

No exemption is requested.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission

No changes were made from the previous collection.