Do you know the
digital library?
University Library of Bolzano
User Survey 2005
Results
Overall description
>> Aim
Knowledge, use, how to promote electronic resources
User Satisfaction
>> Main target group
Internal users (students, lecturers and staff of the Free University of Bolzano)
>> Method
Web-based survey
>> Period
23rd May 2005 – 26th June 2005
>> Responses: 334
>> Valid responses (sample): 295
The sample
is representative of the university population
and of the relative segmentation
6,8% of the potential users (internal + external)
9,9% of the internal users
Participants overview
Students
74 %
Internal users: 2.952 (June 2005)
Students
78 %
6 %
11 %
9 %
Other
Staff
Lecturers
11 %
11 %
Staff
Lecturers
Participants: the student’s status
SSIS student
5,4%
no answer
29,9%
PhD student
1,0%
MSc student
5,8%
Graduand
11,5%
Undergraduate
46,4%
Participants: Faculties overview
no answer
12,9 %
28,1 %
Education
Economics
41,7 %
9,5 %
2,4 %
Engineering
5,4 %
Design and Art
Computer Science
Participation in Faculties
Economics
Education
not
participated
87 %
not
participated
91 %
13 %
Computer Science
participated
9%
participated
not
participated
86 %
12 %
Engineering
Design
not
participated
94 %
6%
not
participated
92 %
participated
8%
participated
participated
IT Literacy
Poor
5,1 % No answer
6,4 %
Satisfactory
12,2 %
25,1 %
Excellent
51,2 %
Good
Command of English
86,8% of the users has a
passive command of the English language
Use and
Knowledge
1.
Have you ever used any online resources
offered by the University library?
Yes
84,7 %
No
11,5 %
no answer 3,7 %
1.2.
If you have answered no,
why have you never used our online resources?
I don‘t know
enough about them.
82,4 %
other
14,7 %
2,9 %
I don‘t need them.
1.1.
If you have answered yes, how
did you get to know them?
on my own
33,2%
during a course which was
organized by the library
16,6%
the staff of the library
pointed them out to me
16,3%
12,5%
from a colleague
other
no answer
6,1%
15,3%
3.4.5.
During the last year …
1,4%
… I was looking
16,6%
for information
5,4%
27,8%
43,7%
3,1%
… when I was looking
for information
4,1%
13,2%
47,8%
24,1%
6,4%
I used the library
3,7%
1,7%
… when I was looking
for information I used
the online resources
7,1%
37,3%
9,5%
28,5%
once a week
4,1%
2,4%
offered by the library
every day
11,2%
once a month
once during the semester
once
never
no answer
6.
Indicate the importance of the following
resources when you are searching for
information needed for a scientific paper
(e.g. exam paper, seminar paper)!
fully agree
agree
disagree
fully disagree
no answer
50 %
3,1%
69,2%
search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo)
4,1%
19,7%
4,1%
3,4%
49,5%
books and journals found in the University library
34,6%
7,1%
5,4%
11,2%
books and journals found in other libraries
17,6%
32,2%
32,2%
6,8%
4,7%
33,6%
online resources offered by the University library
online resources offered by other libraries
subject portals (e.g. SOSIG, Bildungsserver etc.)
12,9%
9,2%
26,1%
30,8%
41,0%
31,5%
26,8%
15,3%
20,0%
21,7%
5,4%
9,5%
11,5%
Importance of resources
Search engines, books and journals offered by the
University library are very important, especially:
Search engines for:
- the students (95% of the category vs 76,9% of the lecturers) and
- computer scientists (100% vs 93,8% of the designers).
Printed resources for:
- students (92,2% vs 73,1% of lecturers) and
- pedagogues (94,2% vs 81,3% of designers).
Online resources are less important for:
- designers (43,8 % of the category vs 82,5% of the pedagogues).
Less important are external subject portals, especially for
- designers (18,8% of the category).
10.
Essential databases
21,4% Oxford English Dictionary
18,6% Encyclopedia Britannica
16,9% Datastream
14,9% ACM Digital Library
16,3% Psyndex
14,6% Web of science
13,9% WISO-net, Banche dati De Agostini professionale
13,2% Sociological Abstracts
11,5% AIDA
11,2% Lexis-Nexis
For Lecturers:
46,2% Web of science
34,6% ACM Digital Library
26,9% IEEE/IEE Electronical Library (IEL) Online
23,1% Lexis-Nexis
19,2% Oxford English Dictionary, Current Contents, JSTOR, CAB Abstracts
15,4% Sociological Abstracts, AIDA, Juris data
11.
Which of the following ways of searching for
e-journals do you know?
I use it
I know it
I don't know it
no answer
50 %
EZB
EBSCO
Kluwer
Springer
Elsevier
Blackwell
25,8%
7,5%
12,5%
7,8%
5,1%
56,6%
61,7%
7,5% 8,8%
11,9%
37,6%
19,3%
14,6%
53,6%
17,3%
23,4%
22,0%
20,0%
9,8%
60,3%
22,0%
12,9%
59,0%
23,1%
13.
Do you know
what SFX is?
If your answer was
yes, did it help you?
No
No
68,8%
25,4%
4%
38,7%
5,8%
57,3%
no answer
Yes
Yes
no answer
Do you know SFX?
NO
75,6% of the students vs 53,8% of the lecturers
87,5% of the designers
84% of the pedagogues
76,9% of the computer scientists
71,4% engineers
54,2% of the economists
Did SFX help you?
YES
85,7% of the staff
58,3% of the lectures
54% of the students
72,2% of the pedagogues
66,7% of the computer scientists
52,8% of the economists
0% of the designers and of the engineers
Promotion
2.
In order to effectively promote the online resources of
the library, the following methods are appropriate?
fully agree
agree
disagree
fully disagree
no answer
50 %
4,4%
28,1%
52,2%
e-mail
10,8%
4,4%
4,7%
Information given by
the teaching staff
37,3%
38,0%
7,5%
12,5%
5,1%
Individually personalized
sessions
Information given by the
staff at the circulation desk
26,1%
37,6%
36,6%
23,4%
7,8%
3,4%
8,8%
11,2%
40,0%
6,1%
Guided library tours
Information published on
the webpages
(UniNews, library News,
online guides ...)
Courses organized
by the university library
23,1%
36,3%
26,1%
8,5%
4,7%
32,9%
36,6%
7,1%
18,6%
5,4%
27,1%
39,7%
8,5%
19,3%
11,2%
Leaflets and handouts
20,3%
34,9%
25,1%
8,5%
Which promotion for different users?
E-mail + personal contact at the desk are the best way to promote online resources.
Less efficient: leaflets and handouts
Role of lectures less important for lecturers and engineers
Importance for:
68% of the lecturers vs 82,5% of the students
42,9% of engineers vs 87,8% of economists
Info on the Web less important for lecturers and designers
Importance for:
61,5% of the lecturers vs 81,5% of the staff and 74,6% of students
53,3% of the designers vs 89,3% of computer scientists
Library courses less important for lecturers and designers
Importance for:
60% of the lecturers vs 74,6% of the students
37,5% of the designers vs 78,8% economists
Leaflets and handouts less important for lecturers and pedagogues
Importance for:
56% of the lecturers vs 71,4% of the staff and 59,5% of the students
56% of the pedagogues vs 85,7% of the engineers
Satisfaction
7.
Indicate if you agree with the following statements!
fully agree
agree
disagree
fully disagree
no answer
50 %
5,8%
In general I‘m satisfied with the
collection of books at the library.
30,8%
11,9%
49,8%
1,7%
In general I‘m satisfied with the
collection of journals at the library.
47,1%
27,5%
12,2%
9,2%
4,1%
In general I‘m satisfied with the
online resources offered by the library.
29,8%
47,8%
8,5%
10,5%
3,4%
Being abel to access the online
resources at home is very important for me.
The online resources are well presented.
59,7%
20,3%
7,5%
7,1%
5,4%
25,8%
45,4%
15,9%
10,5%
2,4%
The online resources are easy to use.
22,7%
42,4%
17,6%
12,5%
4,7%
It would be important to be able to
simultaneously search different resources.
31,2%
41,4%
13,2%
10,5%
3,7%
With the help of the library staff it was easier
for me to find and use the appropriate resource.
12,5%
42,0%
13,9%
27,5%
4,1%
When having problems with online resources,
I was able to solve them on my own.
30,5%
37,3%
13,9%
14,9%
3,4%
Segmentation
Good level of satisfaction with:
Books
88,9% of the students vs 70,8% of the lecturers
100% of the engineers vs 81,3% of the designers
Online resources
Journals
85,7% of the students vs 58,3% of the lecturers
100% engineers vs 68,8% of the designers
Access from home
87,8% of the students vs 80% of the lecturers
100% of the computer scientists vs 66,7% of the engineers
Situation more critical with the following statements:
It would be important to be able to simultaneously search different resources
especially for 89,3% of the staff vs 81,5% of the students and 66,7% of the lecturers
and 88,5% of the computer scientists vs 33,3% of the engineers
Online resources are easy to use
especially for 69,6% of the lecturers vs 95,8% of the staff
and 42,9% of the designers vs 87,5% of computer scientists
Self-help
59,6% of the students vs 74,1% of the staff and 73,9% of the lecturers
30,8% of the designers vs 87,5% of computer scientists
8.
In your opinion, which of the following factors interfere
with the possibility of accessing online resources or
conducting efficient research?
45,1%
A slow internet connection
34,9%
Not enough computers available
27,8%
The opening hours of the library
26,4%
No internet access at home
It takes too long to consult
all the appropriate resources
20,7%
Not enough IT knowledge.
20,7%
Lecturers are not motivating me
to use the online resources
16,9%
The offer is not well structured
15,9%
The library offers too much.
13,6%
Not enough foreign language abilities
12,5%
It‘s too complicated to use
the online resources
I don‘t know what‘s really
important for me
The online resources offered are not
relevant for my research or field of study
11,5%
3,7%
3,1%
Directions
9.
45% of the library budget is spent on online
resources. In your opinion, it should be …
kept at this
level
64,4%
22%
raised
5,8%
cut
7,8%
no answer
12.
What‘s missing?
Keine (4) / I find the offered resources already satisfactory (2)
No idea (2) / Kann ich nicht beantworten (3) /
Elsevier, Kluwer, Blackwell, Springer / Elsevier/Kluwer/Blackwell/-Life Sciences
Dictionary like mayer's / English-Italian dictionary / Online dictionary Italian-German
Alle deutsch- und englischsprachigen pädagogischen Datenbanken
Datenbanken für Unterrichtspraxis / Didattica delle lingue
Everything
Firmenbuch, economics / Steuerrecht
General things
Giornali di scienze matematiche
More journals of linguistics-languages / More literature & linguistics
Old years of journals as there are no hard copies at all
Philosophical and Political studies
Più risorse in italiano
PsychLit / Westlaw / Physical review letters, A,B,C,D
S.th. economics or general knowledge
Specialized resources on computer science papers
Wurde noch nicht über elektronische Ressourcen informiert / Kenne keine
Web of Science is fundamental for research in Life Sciences. Would it be possible to get
access (even if limited) to previous years than 1990?
Bidoc, andere pädagogische Datenbanken vgl. http://www.grundschulpaedagogik.unibremen.de/lehre/linksnuetzlich.html
Other comments
“I already attendee a course about researching here but if you do not use the
databases regularly you forget how do it efficiently.” (Student Economics)
“Utilizzo poco le risorse elettroniche, ritengo più importante che la biblioteca
arricchisca la sua collezione di libri contattando i docenti e chiedendo suggerimenti
sui testi da comprare. Pochi docenti li richiedono spontaneamente…” (Student
Education)
“È necessaria un’informazione chiara e strutturata, e non solo propagandistica”
(Student Engineering)
“Offer more information (flyer...)” (Student Design) / “Do seminars to explain things”
(Student Education) / Library tour compulsory for first year students, do it during
one lesson (Student Computer Science) / “Es sollte uns mitgeteilt werden, dass es
die Möglichkeit gibt, in Datenbanken zu recherchieren“ (Student Education)
“The online sources are too complex to understand altogether, but some are a
great help which too little students appreciate” (Student Economics)
“for my research I like it more to read in "real" books and magazines... although I 'd
like to get to now more about the online resources (how to use, what about, etc.)”
(Student Design)
Off-topic
“Stop spamming me with the change of opening hours of the university
library” (Staff)
“I want to bring my bag inside the library!”
“Es bräuchte mehr Computer!”
“If somebody is suggesting a book, s/he should be informed if the book is
going to be buyed yes or no.
Moreover, when returning a book to the checkout system, the system
should not only print the strange number but also the title of the book (this
work in Brixen, but not in Bozen).”
Opening hours (no „ponte days“, 7 days open)
“I want to bring my bag inside the library!”
“Trovo stupida l'idea di mettere online i materiali per gli esami. Stampare
da PC è più costoso che fare fotocopie e inoltre è molto spesso è
impossibile stampare dall'università o dalla biblioteca. Le stampanti si
inceppano o non stampano, sono vecchie e poche per il numero di studenti
così come pochi sono i PC.”
“I think that the library has got many good books but often i just don't find
them.”
“Chat per comunicare in tempo reale con altri studenti e se possibile con
professori”
Thanks to everyone who
helped us to improve
our service!