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Faculty Respond to Library Survey: A Preliminary Report
David Kapp
Associate Director for Library Advancement
The Libraries' USER Team, under the leadership of Francine DeFranco, distributed a survey to all faculty in November 1996. It was the Libraries' first comprehensive attempt to discover what library collections and services faculty use--and how satisfied they are with them. Survey questions were grouped in three categories: 1) Use of library collections and services; 2) Satisfaction with library collections and services; and 3) Priorities for library funding. Answers to these questions are being analyzed carefully and a variety of cross-tabulations are being run in preparation for a detailed report to users later this spring. The general summary that follows is intended to provide readers with preliminary information about what we learned.
Who responded?
Nearly 400 people completed the survey. Most of the respondents
(89%) are from the Storrs campus and 86% regard the Homer
Babbidge Library as their primary library. The great majority
(77%) of respondents hold tenure and 45% are 51 or older.
Fifty-eight percent have been on the faculty for 11 years or
more.
What do faculty use?
A high percentage of faculty visit a UConn library regularly; 78%
say they come to a library at least once a month. About half
(55%) consult HOMER from their offices with the same frequency.
About one-quarter of the respondents connect remotely to the
Libraries' website (28%) or to a library-provided electronic
database (24%) at least once a month.
When asked to name which collections they use most to support their teaching activities, faculty rank books and journals highest, with reference collections and electronic databases also scoring significantly. In relation to their personal research, journals are used most often, with books, reference collections, and electronic databases following.
Faculty report that the services they use most to support teaching include reserve, HOMER, reference, and, for graduate teaching, interlibrary loan. Interlibrary loan is cited as the most-used library service in support of faculty research; HOMER and reference also rank high in this category.
How satisfied are they?
Three-fifths (61%) of the respondents report their overall
satisfaction with the Libraries to be "satisfied" or "very
satisfied;" 22% say they are "somewhat satisfied" and 10% declare
themselves to be "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied." (Seven
percent declined to answer the question.)
When asked to rank their satisfaction with heavily-used library collections (those collections used by more than half of the respondents), the percentages of faculty being "satisfied" or "very satisfied" are: 47% for electronic databases in the library; 45% for the book collections; 38% for the journal collections; and 37% for the reference collections. At the other end of the scale, journal collections earn the worst ranking for satisfaction with 23% of respondents indicating that they are "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied."
Satisfaction ratings with library services are higher than those received for collections. The percentage of faculty reporting themselves to be "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with interlibrary loan is 64%, with library hours 60%, with HOMER/UCAT 59%, with reference 54%, with HOMER/JREF 50%, and with their library liaison 46%. Lowest marks in this category are given to shelving, where 18% of respondents indicate that they are "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with the speed with which collections are reshelved.
Responses to questions about equipment and facilities indicate that most of the items listed are "somewhat satisfactory" or better. The glaring exception to this came as no surprise to anyone: photocopiers receive a 40% dissatisfaction rating (we hope that new ones will be in place when you read this). Other issues where concern is warranted include microfilm readers/printers and the condition of study and research space, where 16% and 19% respectively indicate dissatisfaction.
Where would they spend more money?
Respondents were asked to indicate two funding priorities for the
next three years in each of three categories: collections,
services, and equipment and facilities. In the area of
collections, the first choice is an unequivocal 80% vote for
journals and a solid 58% for book collections; nothing else comes
close. Answers to the question about services are more scattered,
but 28% choose interlibrary loan and 26% opt for HOMER/JREF. And
when it comes to priorities for equipment and facilities, the nod
goes overwhelmingly to better photocopiers (58%) and to improved
computer workstations (47%).
We're pleased that so many faculty took the time to complete the survey. It is our firm intention to apply the information we have gained to the provision of improved library services. If you would like more information about the survey or its results, please contact the the USER Team leader, Francine DeFranco: francine.defranco@uconn.edu
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