This communicates the concept behind the new survey approach:

(graphic courtesy of HBS Working Knowledge)

The idea is that we can work out how to better tune our programs by finding out more about the people we serve than we can by knowing more about what they think about us, at this point in time. So the focus goes off questions that have us in the center (”how did you find out about us?”), to questions that have them in the center (”how many books do you read a month?”).

Now it’s just a question of working out what questions to ask…

Apart from the national averages, which we can get from other sources, we want specific information about our demographic. We will be asking people what type and speed their Internet connection is, for example, because we want to know who will use Internet resources, and therefore what resources we should offer via Internet.

If we track this over time, then we will have a feel for the delta, or the rate of change. This will allow us to position ourselves proactively, making sure that we put the right amount of energy into development of Internet resources to be in the right place at the right time to serve the public.