This paper examines the evolution and findings of an on-going longitudinal study that is assessing the satisfaction of distance education students with library reference services through the use of a transaction-level survey. The survey's purpose is two-fold: first, it is used to garner valuable input from these students; and second, it also serves as a communication device that encourages students to seek further assistance. Survey requests are emailed to distance education students following individual reference transactions or clustered transactions. After submitting the survey, students are immediately taken to a linking page encouraging them to contact the library whenever they need research assistance. Findings thus far have been quite positive overall; however, the negative comments have been just as telling, and have allowed us to make some real changes to how we provide distance education-related reference services. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)