Likable Library Still #1

By Anita Miller
News Editor

San Marcos May 16, 2008 11:38 am

— The city has released the results of its annual residents’ survey and once again, the public library is at the top in terms of “citizen satisfaction.”
Library Director Stephanie Langenkamp readily admits she’s pleased, but credited her staff and the support of city administration and the community at large.
San Marcos “is a great library town,” Langenkamp said. “We have an interesting community here,” she said. “Quite diverse and also a lot of people that value education that come from all walks of life. It’s not just because we’re a university town. Citizens care about having access to things like a good library.”
Other city department and services that ranked highly in the survey were fire services, garbage pickup, parks, open spaces and recreational facilities.
At the bottom end of the ranking were bicycle lanes and routes, downtown parking, sidewalks and redevelopment in the downtown area.
The eighth annual Community Outreach Survey was sent out to 3,279 residents in January and by the cut-off date in mid-march, 302 had been returned. The results were then analyzed by Dr. Hassan Tajalli, associate professor of Political Science and statistician at Texas State University.
The survey also showed that those who responded felt drainage issues, traffic signs and signals, police, municipal court and garbage pickup were the most improved over the past year.
In contrast, the respondents indicated redevelopment in the downtown area, the municipal airport and planning and development services worsened.
“The findings of this survey provide information that local leaders need to improve the management of the city,” Dr. Tajalli said. “Not only do the results help identify service delivery areas that need more attention, but more importantly, these results can be considered an annual progress report of service delivery.”
Overall, the top priorities respondents listed were (in order): Solving traffic problems, economic growth and job development, taxes, fees and charges, roads, streets, route maintenance, sidewalks and bike routes and police and crime prevention.
Other results were that about 62 percent of those who returned surveys had used the city’s web site. Most requested online services were bill paying and account maintenance, information about city services and departments, events, activities and information about elections.
Results were broken down to reflect demographic groups including Texas State University students, homeowners, renters, different ages and income levels. Dr. Tajalli also cross-referenced this year’s survey with the seven previous ones.
Langenkamp said that “while libraries probably everywhere would tend to be ranked highly,” her staff of 12 full time workers and 12 part time put San Marcos’ library on top.
“In addition to a great staff, the city has been very supportive of the library in terms of providing the financial resources we need,” she said. “I think people come in and get a really positive feeling about the place, the really friendly, helpful people that work here.”
Langenkamp has been director of the library for 26 years and “it’s all been fun.”
The full results of the survey are available under “Quick Links” at ci.san-marcos.tx.us.