Description and highlights of faculty library survey, Winter 2006

by

Tina Hovekamp

In February 2006, a total of 108 faculty were surveyed to find out how COCC instructors use and feel about the Campus Library.  All 83 full-time and 25 adjunct faculty were sent surveys.  An initial and two follow up email messages informed faculty that a print questionnaire was mailed to them asking for their response.  Faculty were assured of compete confidentiality.  The survey response rate was 56.5%.  SurveyPro was used to enter data and prepare descriptive statistics.

46% of participants have been on this campus for over 10 years.  25% of them were from the Humanities department.  88% of the respondents reported that they had used the library within the last two years.  Of those that did not use the library, 57% said that they could find what they needed for classes using the free web. 

Faculty seem to be more likely to come to the library in person on a monthly or weekly basis rather than to access it over the web.  89% of the participants indicated that they visit the library in person, the majority of them on a monthly or weekly basis.  76% of the respondents indicated that they access the library through the web, the majority of them accessing it remotely on a weekly or more frequent basis.  24% rarely use web access to the library.

When faculty were asked about the importance of different types of sources of information, the majority of them indicated that  their “own collection of books, journals, files, etc” was the most important to them with web resources (not provided by the library) coming next in importance. 

Looking for articles in databases came up as the most frequent library related activity.  It was interesting to find that despite the Summit resources we have available, close to half of the participants (48%) rarely look for books in other libraries.  In general it seems that faculty tend to underutilize the different library resources as evidenced by low frequency of reported use.

Regarding library hours, the majority of faculty find library hours sufficient most of the time, although some of them rated weekend (27%) and summer (19%) library hours as less than sufficient.  In their written comments a number of them commented that the library should be open on Saturdays.  When faculty were asked  about the kind of services needed during evenings and weekends, 56% indicated “access to library collections,” 54%  indicated “computer access,”  48% indicated “checkout materials,” & 40% indicated “place to study” (only 25% indicated “Librarian help with research”).

Finding or requesting books, articles, and AV materials, in general, were rated as quite easy to do.  Getting assistance when needed, consulting library staff as well as using the library website received the highest rating as far as ease of access.  Also, written comments showed that faculty appreciate the library staff’s support.

When asked to rate their satisfaction with different library services, library staff assistance and the library website received high marks.  Although faculty rating on library instruction was quite high, a significant number of them (56%) reported lack of experience with this service. Satisfaction with the rest of the services was quite high among users.  However, a significant number of respondents marked “don’t use”  on a number of these services.

Regarding library priorities, a great majority of faculty indicated that increased access to online journals or databases should be the top one. Improvement in the quality of book collection and increased library hours also surfaced as some of the most important “top” priorities for the library.  It’s worth noting that 37% of the participants also wish to see instruction in using library resources as another important priority for the library.

In their written comments at the end of the questionnaire some faculty stated the need for instruction on how to use the different resources.  One of the survey participants commented that the library needs to consider 1-hour modules for student instruction.  Another respondent suggested that the library needs to consider an “awareness campaign” to promote its services among students.

Faculty satisfaction with the overall library services, was quite high.  On “overall library satisfaction level” a combined 91% of participants said that they were satisfied to very satisfied.