In April of 2010, we launched a survey of the Drew Community to explore both what you thought about the library, and where you thought we should be putting our energy. Almost 450 students took the survey (about 17% of all students currently enrolled), and about 280 of those students were from the CLA. 69 (27%) of faculty completed the survey.
What is most important to the Faculty?
The faculty cared most about the collections, both print and electronic. Although 84% of faculty respondents expressed some level of satisfaction with the collection, the main way to improve the Library’s usefulness was to increase our holdings of books and journals. CLA students mirrored your concern.
What do you use for your research?
- Google! Both faculty and CLA student respondents reported similar levels of using the open Web for research. Faculty, however, supplemented their research with books (73% reported using the Library Catalog and monographs), while CLA students were less likely (62%) to consult any books.
- Both CLA students and faculty reported similar – and fairly high - levels of searching online databases and indexes. 73-75% reported “always” or “usually” checking such sources, although CLA First-Year students were significantly less likely to use Library indexes or databases when doing any research. Faculty were somewhat more likely to go directly to databases like JSTOR or Science Direct that are simply collections of specific journals, rather than to discipline-specific indexes of articles.
- Faculty also reported frequent interactions with Library faculty and staff – 59% said they consult with Library faculty and staff at least once a month. Only about 40% of CLA student respondents indicated they had such frequent contact with staff, despite being physically in the Library much more frequently than their professors.
What electronic features would be useful?
- Once again, collections were important! The faculty indicated they would like more electronic books, and more flexibility in terms of how those books can be read (something that e-publishers are still working out!). And accessing Library services through mobile devices is also desirable.
- Faculty indicated that a deeper integration of Library resources into Moodle would be helpful.
How is the Library responding?
- We’re continuing to advocate for increased resources to improve our collections, both journals and books.
- We’re discussing the desirable balance between print and e-books. Electronic books are already the preferred medium for reference sources, and we have some significant collections of e-books, but we’re exploring more.
- We’ve implemented a mobile-friendly interface link for four of our most popular EBSCO databases.
- Instructional Technology Services has added a link to the Library’s Catalog as a default for Moodle course pages. And we’re always happy to develop tailored web-pages of pertinent Library resources to be linked, as well as a direct contact with a designated librarian.
More detailed information is available upon request!
http://www.drew.edu/library/survey/blogpost/Summary for students