Category Archives: Surveys

To recall, or not to recall, that is the question….

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6334060675_c8cff5ae11There are two areas that the Library’s Customer Services Team receive most negative comments about throughout the year:
• problems about returning books during the vacation periods
• how long before the due date the courtesy notice emails we send to users should be sent.

For the first time, the Library has decided it will hold a vote amongst its users to decide on the future policy on these issues. If this vote is successful, we may look to hold further votes on specific issues in future.

The vote will run from Monday 15th April to Monday 13th May and can be found at here.  If you have any questions about the vote, please feel free to contact the Library’s Customer Services Manager, Matt Cunningham

Results from Library Users Survey 2012 now available

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peaceful mind in libraryThe Library undertook a general user survey in 2012 and the final report has been made available from the Library web site. There were 730 responses received from across the University. The results from this survey have already been used to inform various Library service developments. Some of the key findings are :

  • 16% of respondents visit the Library on a daily basis
  • 90% of academic staff use the Library online at least every week
  • People ranked the Enquiry Desk service as the service they were most satisfied with
  • Provision of textbooks/ essential texts was ranked as being the most important
  • 57% of Library users indicated the Library was the best place for them to study
  • 91% of Library users strongly or slightly agreed the Library was overall providing a good level of service

National Libraries Day

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NLD_FBplusStrapIt’s National Libraries Day next week, and to mark the occasion we’re hosting a couple of displays in the Library on Monday and Tuesday.

On Monday we’ll be extolling the virtues of our leisure reading collection and our new student book club, Club 790, which launches on Wednesday February 13th.

On Tuesday we’ll be running a survey on the use of mobile technology in the Library and promoting our new Library app, which you can access here.

Both stands will be running between 11AM to 2PM, and free goodies will be available by way of incentive!

National Libraries Day is a country-wide celebration of all things library, highlighting the positives things libraries and librarians contribute to people, families, communities, workplaces, the economy and society. To find out more about it, visit their homepage here:

http://www.nationallibrariesday.org.uk/

Evaluation of new webpages

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We are very proud of our website which we launched in January, but wanted to make sure you all liked it too!

New library homepageHow did we do this? Well, we asked you what you thought in two ways:

  • a user survey undertaken on 19th May 2012 in the Library and the Student’s Union building (we think the lure of free flapjack helped)
  • a mystery shopper exercise completed in May 2012 by a selction of volunteers: students, distance learners, alumni and University staff

We also have Google analytics embedded in our webpages to help us analyse the technical side of things (e.g. we found over 2,500 users accessed our webpages from London).

 

So what did we conclude?

  • the overall design and presentation is seen positively
  • the content and level of detail is appropriate
  • the navigation is effective and the use of headings is positive
  • people can find information quickly and easily

People particularly found the work we had done on targeting specific user groups on the homepage and the clearer opening hours were really helpful.

We will continue to monitor the webpages and will tweak them as the year progresses but if you have anything you would like to feedback to us, feel free to contact us – we would love to hear from you.

Get the Know-how survey–Win an Amazon voucher

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LIbrary–Get the Know-how coursesUniversity Library

The library runs short courses on topics to improve your study skills, our aim is to help you feel more confident tackling your course work and exams. We are seeking your views on the type of courses we run,  are there any gaps, any other topics you would like covered???

This is the last reminder to make your views known  in our survey, we really appreciate your time. The survey is still active untill Thursday 31st May only, and we would welcome your views. We’ve had some really useful information so far which will help us develop the courses and make them more relevant.

The link for the survey is below and remember to give us your email address , as one person will be selected at random to receive a £25 Amazon voucher.

 http://collis23.polldaddy.com/s/new-survey

National Library Day Survey – What You Said!

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Back in February you helped us celebrate National Library Day, and at the same time we ran a little survey asking you a few questions about what you most liked about the Library and what you’d most like us to change (or not!). Here’s a brief summary of our main findings…

46% of you regard silent study areas as being the most important study area.

The top 5 most mentioned aspects you like about the Library are;

1. Quiet study spaces.

2. Variety of study spaces.

3. High levels of customer service.                                          

4. Great atmosphere.

5. Open 3.

The top 5 changes you would most like to change within the Library are;

1. Make more PCs available.

2. Increase the seating available.

3. More power outlets for lap-tops/gadgets. 

4. More books, and a better selection of them.   

5. More group study areas.

With regards to Cafe 641, 56% of you said that the range of food and drink is the most important aspect of the café.

The top 5 changes you would most like to make to the café are:

1. Increase the range of food available.

2. Have less expensive food.

3. Increase the opening hours of the café. 

4. Have a greater range of hot food.

5. Increase the space and seating of the café area.

All in all a fantastic response, which we’ll be taking very great care to take note of in future!

Don’t forget that if you wish to comment on any aspect of the Library, you can contact us at any time quickly and easily here. Or just drop a note in one of the suggestion boxes dotted around the Library.

Open Access Survey

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Humanities and social science researchers are invited to help JISC Collections understand the future of the monograph through an online survey.

In an open access model the monograph is made freely available, but the process requires some investigation to establish the priorities for such a business  model. Neither readers nor their libraries have to pay to read it online because the costs of the publishing process such as typesetting and marketing are recovered through alternative routes such as research grants, institutional funding or perhaps through readers purchasing print editions or particular formats for their iPad or Kindle. 

OAPEN-UK is an Arts and Humanities Research Council and JISC funded project exploring the issues impacting upon the publishing of scholarly monographs in the humanities and social sciences (HSS). The project is working with Taylor & Francis, Palgrave Macmillan, Berg Publishers, Liverpool University Press, University Wales Press, research funders and universities, to understand the challenges and steps required to move towards an open access publishing model for scholarly monographs. Further information on OAPEN-UK is available on the project website here.

Surveys entered before 16th April 2012 will be entered into a draw for Amazon vouchers – there are three £100 vouchers, three £50 vouchers and three £25 vouchers to win.

You can complete the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/oapenukresearcher

National Student Survey 2012

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The National Student Survey (NSS) 2012 has just been launched. Now in its eighth year, the NSS is your opportunity to give your opinions on what you liked about your time at your institution/course as well as things that you felt could have been improved.

Loughborough University achieved excellent results in last year’s survey, with 88% of students (out of a national average of 83%) expressing satisfaction with their course.

The NSS is a national initiative, conducted annually since 2005. The survey runs across all publicly funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the majority of HEIs in Scotland. Additionally, Further Education Colleges (FECs) in England and Further Education Institutions (FEIs) in Wales with directly funded higher education students are eligible to participate.

The survey asks final year undergraduates to provide feedback on their courses in a nationally recognised format, students on flexible courses will be asked to participate as they near the end of their course but not necessarily in their final year. There are 23 core questions, relating to various key aspects of the student learning experience.

To register your vote, visit the NSS website:

http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/

SCONUL Survey on Student Access… With Prize Draw!

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Do you use other academic libraries? Would you like to? Can you get what you need?

The Higher Education library community wants to provide the best possible service to students, researchers and staff who, for all sorts of reasons, wish to access other academic and specialist libraries.

With that in mind, SCONUL have put together a short online survey, which should take no more than 5-6 minutes to complete. As an added incentive, there’s a prize draw for SIX lucky winners for £30 Amazon vouchers – optionally provide your email address at the end of the survey to be entered in to the random draw.

You can access the survey here:

http://www.sero.co.uk/sconul_access.html

Closing date for entries is 16th December.

University survey on open access publishing

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In recent years, open access publishing and the institutional repository have become significant developments for academic staff and researchers. At Loughborough, the Library and the Research Office are jointly undertaking a study exploring University attitudes to open access etc. The findings from this study will be used to further develop appropriate help and support for University academic staff.

It would be very helpful if you could find 5 minutes to complete the online questionnaire https://www.survey.lboro.ac.uk/openaccess/

It will be available between the 23rd May 2011 and the 6th June 2011. The questionnaire allows people to be entered into a draw for two £50 Amazon vouchers. If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Dr Graham Walton (tel: 22 2355 or e-mail; j.g.walton@lboro.ac.uk). This study is part of a nationwide initiative to gauge researchers’ attitudes to open access etc. that is being overseen by the United Kingdom Council for Research Repositories.

 Open Access (storefront) by Gideon Burton

“ open access – storefront” CC licensed photo from Flickr