Summary of Ballarat Toy Library Feedback Survey 2011
Q1: How did you hear about the toy library?
33% are hearing of us by family or friends,
35% between mums’ group, childcare, playgroup and health nurse;
13% internet, 11% newspaper
5.5% fetes, festivals
This shows that word of mouth is our best source of recommendation – thank
you to everyone who has introduced new members to the library, and keep
up the good work!
Q2: Are you satisfied with the current opening hours of the toy library?
84% said yes. However, the vast majority of respondents completed the
survey at the library, so if people are finding it difficult to make it in to the
library they might not have completed the survey to let us know! However it
seems we don’t have a mandate to make any changes to our opening hours
on the basis of this survey.
Q3: Is it easy to find toys you want to borrow?
73% said yes. While most people are happy, there is definitely room for
improvement, in terms of layout and also buying more new and popular toys
so people have a bigger range. A couple of people requested buying
additional duplicates of popular toys so they are able to be borrowed more
often.
Several responses were disappointed with the quality and range of toys – that
many were old or broken or they never seemed to be able to borrow any of
the new toys as they were never in the library when they visited.
Q4: Do you find the borrowing process easy to understand?
100% said “yes” – however there were some comments that the borrowing
area can be crowded and stressful.
One respondent asked “Are the volunteers trained prior to duty?” (They were
expressing disappointment that people sometimes don’t know what they were
doing and that there were often issues with their borrowing.)
Should we run a training night on how to use Mibase? If we advertise in
advance and require an RSVP we can gauge whether this would be popular.
Also suggested were big washing up type dishes for counting toys so the bits
don't go sliding off the table, and a clear area away from the desk to count
pieces – perhaps an extra table in the toy room? If anyone has some spare
dishes that would be suitable at home, please advise Trish (toy library coordinator).
Q5: Do you find the toys clean at time of borrowing?
71% said yes, 9% said no, 20% said unsure or sometimes.
It’s really important that toys are cleaned after each borrowing before you
return them – using either hot soapy water or “spray & wipe”, and either satay
skewers or cotton buds for crevices. If you find you’ve rushed in and haven’t
had time to clean before you arrive at the library, ask at the desk and we’ll
point you in the direction of cleaning equipment.
Q6: New types of memberships
Casual borrowing –This was a popular option. Keep your eyes on the
newsletter for more information.
Supersize membership – a few people indicated interest. Again, we will let
you know if we are able to incorporate this option.
Q7: Which toys would you like to see more of?
Results arranged in order of popularity:
Trikes, bikes and ride-on toys
Musical instruments
Tunnels, slides and rollercoasters
Sport e.g. bats, goal rings, balls
Play Houses, kitchens, tool
benches
Cars, trains, trucks, boats
Blocks - e.g. Duplo, wooden blocks
Costumes and dress-ups
Puzzles and games
Arts and crafts
52.0%
40.0%
34.0%
32.0%
32.0%
32.0%
30.0%
26.0%
22.0%
20.0%
We will aim to buy toys in all areas reflecting their popularity. At present, we
have a vacancy for a Committee Member in charge of Toy Buying – if anyone
is interested, please contact the committee or co-ordinator, or simply attend
the next monthly meeting.
Q8: How do you like to receive information from the toy library?
Email is by far the most popular way to receive information, 82%.
We will continue to use emailed newsletters as our main source of
information. For more frequent, brief updates we’ll use the Facebook page
and have signage in the library. We will limit the use of “snail mail” due to the
expense of printing and stamps.
Reponses to other comments:
 Request for a system to put specific toys on hold:
o Unfortunately this would be a lot of paperwork and would
require storing “on hold” toys somewhere separate. Also, we
want to make sure the toys are on loan as much as possible, so
we don’t want toys spending days/weeks on hold, so at this
point it’s not something the committee will be looking in to.
Sometimes a good way to get hold of a popular toy is to spend
half an hour playing at the toy library and look out for what toys
are returned during that time. Or being “on duty” also means
you get the chance to spend two hours keeping your eyes
peeled for your favourite toys to borrow.

A drop off box for returns when we aren’t open.
o This would be great, but considering the size of most toys, this
simply wouldn’t be feasible. A door/hole/box of sufficiend size
would be a security issue!

“I find it really hard to get parks to borrow big toys since the move to
new premises.”
o We are aware that the parking is difficult, but there aren’t any
easy solutions to this one. If anyone has any suggestions,
please let us know.

Working bees need to be organized further in advance. One
respondent felt (s)he was keen to help but wasn’t notified far enough in
advance to enable her to attend.
o We did try to promote the regular monthly Thursday Toy Team
meetings this year, but they had poor attendance. Perhaps we
need to try varying the times of working bees, and ensure they
are on the newsletter, website and signs in the library at least a
few weeks in advance? We will work on improving
communication to all members about upcoming events. Please
make sure we have your current email and phone number, and
(if you like) sign up to our Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/ballarattoylibrary