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Paul Kobulnicky
Director, University Libraries
Many of you will recall that the library recently undertook its first major survey of the UConn faculty, seeking your opinions about the quality of library collections and services. Nearly forty percent of the faculty responded. As I write, in early February, we have available to us the raw scores for the questions and answers on the survey and we have, listed anonymously, the comments that respondents sent us. We are now analyzing the data received and running important correlations that will give us more precise information. A preliminary report of general conclusions may be found inside the newsletter, but let me share with you here a few of the common responses we received.
| "Need more journals. Need more journals. Need more journals." |
Our collections are not what faculty would like them to
be. This is reflected most clearly in comments made about the inadequacy of our journal holdings. It is also an issue that is exacerbated by two other factors. |
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| "One of my students found twelve ...resources for a paper on The Grapes of Wrath using our electronic indices. The library has one of them." |
The tools of bibliographic inquiry and our user's access
to those tools have both improved dramatically. Students and faculty have on-line access to citations to the world's literature and, armed with relevant citations, they now want to get the actual documents. Clearly, we have raised expectations. |
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| "I know that you cannot make bricks without straw!" |
However, inflation in the cost of books and
journals continues to erode our purchasing power for local collection development. Thus, we do not always have the items that faculty and students can identify bibliographically. For that which we do not own, we direct our clients to Interlibrary Loan. |
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| "ILL office is great! Could use more resources." |
Demand for interlibrary loans has increased
dramatically, both at UConn and at other research libraries. Rapid, on- demand delivery of journal articles, in place of subscriptions to expensive journals, offers real hope to improve access to more of the world's literature within the limits of our budget. If, through self-service document delivery for the more common books and journals, we can stem the tide of activity that currently swamps the ILL office, then ILL staff can continue to provide quality service in the search for less easily obtained items. |
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| "The photocopier situation is particularly disgraceful." |
When we do own what our clients need, the line forms
at the copy machines. We are aware of the poor state of our photocopy equipment and, at the time of the survey, had placed orders for several new machines. We hope they will be in place by the time you read this. |
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| "...the work I'm doing would be impossible without the helpful library personnel...Hats off! I'm doing the best work of my life thanks to you all." |
Of the many comments we received, I was most
heartened to read those that complimented library staff for their service and dedication. Clearly, if the Libraries are to be successful, it will be because of the efforts that individual staff undertake to maintain close, collaborative, working relationships with faculty and other library users. |
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| "I am cheered by the fact that this survey is being done." |
So am I. |
Please see the following article for a summary of the general findings from the faculty library survey. Contact Paul Kobulnicky at 486-2219.
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