Monday, August 17, 2015

SURVEY REPORT | “WE LOVE THE LIBRARY, BUT WE LIVE ON THE WEB”


Findings Around How Academic Library Users View Online Resources and Services

This report details the findings of a survey of users at seven UK academic libraries. Over 4,000 responses were collected between November 2014 and February 2015. Both the survey and report are sponsored by Innovative and managed by Sero Consulting.

Survey Analysis

The study found that user behaviours and attitudes are increasingly uniform and that the ‘digital-native’ is no longer a subset of library users. Although most access online library resources in the library, users see access from anywhere – on any device – as the 'most important' consideration.

The results suggest that libraries can meet the needs of their users by including all manner of library resources – including multimedia – in a single, effective discovery source; providing more direct workflows geared toward electronic research; enabling social features; and empowering users with apps. In addition, the report suggests libraries should seize the opportunity to engage users by surfacing their data on the greater web (through linked data, for example).

'User behaviour and the larger technology system are rapidly changing, so the library community has to ‘take the pulse’ of its user base in order to sustain a high level of service. We’d like to salute the staff at these academic libraries for their efforts and participation in the study.'

The report includes results from survey findings at: University of Glasgow; University of Hull; University of Keele; London South Bank University; Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh; Queen’s University, Belfast; and the Wellcome Library.

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