Preliminary findings from the Library survey 2004
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1. Background
In the week of 22-28 March 2004 (Week 7 of Semester 2 and 2 weeks before the Easter break) people using the Frewen Library were invited to take part in a short survey. In order to obtain as broad a range of views as possible, the same survey was made available on the Library Website and given out in teaching sessions within the Library in weeks leading up to the survey week. In the week of 22-28 March the survey was also carried out in a variety of catering outlets around the University: Anglesea, Milldam, Park Building Basement, Portland and the Students' Union.
Students were recruited to administer the survey, although there was also an option for people to take away a sheet and return it later. Responses were gathered between 9am and midnight, Monday to Sunday. Most of the time just 1 student was on duty but between 11.30am and 3.30pm, Monday to Friday there were 2 students on duty as these were identified as busy periods. Students were on duty in locations outside the Library from 11.45am to 2.15pm, Monday to Friday.
The aims of the survey were to
- establish which facilities people would give priority to in an extended Library building
- check whether people liked the results of the Library refurbishment in summer 2003
- discover major likes and dislikes about the Library.
A combination of Likert scales and opportunity for free comments were used on the form. A copy of the survey form is at the end of the report.
2. Number of responses
Forms Gathered Outside the Library | 755 |
Forms Gathered Outside the Library | 985 |
Forms From Teaching Sessions in the Library | 230 |
Responses to the Web Version of the Survey | 165 |
Total Responses Obtained | 2135 |
The total figure comprised 91% students, 7% staff, and 1% non-Portsmouth University (1% of forms contained no clear information on category). 89% of replies were from full-time students/staff and 7% from part-time students/staff.
3. Opinions Regarding the Summer 2003 Library Refurbishment
Asked whether the summer refurbishment had improved the Library 27% of respondents said that it had, whilst 36% said no, it hadn't. The remaining 37% of replies gave no answer as they had not been at the University before the refurbishment took place.
When respondents were then asked to specify what - if anything - they didn't like about the refurbishment, the most common answer was that they hadn't noticed anything had been done (9.5%) e.g. "To be perfectly honest, I couldn't recognise any changes as study areas are as tatty as before". Complaints about the colour scheme used ("the horrible colours") were the next most frequent at 2%, followed by complaints about problems with the lighting (1%) e.g."the lights that make a noise!!!" and complaints about the disruption caused during prime research time (0.6%) e.g. "The disruption over the summer was terrible for me as a research active member of staff and I simply can't see what the point of it was?". It should be noted that the contractors have now fixed the problems with lights making beeping noises.
4. Priorities for the Library Extension
In order to inform planning for the Library extension which is due to open in Summer 2006, a major aim of this survey was to seek the views of students and staff about what should be included. The survey form listed 14 facilities/services which might be possible in an extended building and respondents were asked to rank each of these in importance using a scale of 1 (not at all important) to 5 (very important). There was also the opportunity to list and rank a 15th item which respondents could specify themselves.
The following table shows the 14 items ranked according to the number of respondents giving that item a priority of either 4 or 5.
Position in Ranking | Service/Facility | No. of Respondents Indicating Priority of 4 or 5 (Very Important) | % of all replies |
1 | More PCs | 1624 | 76% |
2 | Silent study areas | 1517 | 71% |
3 | More desks | 1471 | 69% |
4 | 24 hour access to PCs | 1417 | 66% |
5 | 24 hour access to whole Library | 1389 | 65% |
6 | More space for books | 1320 | 62% |
7 | Better reprographics service | 1315 | 61.5% |
8 | Walk-in short loan collection | 1272 | 60% |
9 | Group study rooms | 1193 | 56% |
10 | Room for watching videos/DVDs as a group | 1062 | 50% |
11 | More loanable laptops | 943 | 44% |
12 | Wider aisles between the shelves | 847 | 40% |
13 | Cybercafé | 769 | 36% |
14 | Lockers | 742 | 35% |
5. Major Likes and Dislikes Regarding the Library
Respondents were also asked to list up to 3 things which they liked about the Library and 3 things which would improve the Library for them. Free comments such as these are invaluable for the Library when planning for the future. The following tables show the top 10 issues which emerged.
Position in ranking | Good feature | No. of mentions | Percentage | Sample comments |
1 | Staff helpful/friendly | 466 | 21.8% | "Excellent staff - always helpful and knowledgeable""friendly and efficient staff" |
2 | Range of books available | 345 | 16% | "the great choice of books" "wide source of contemporary and older titles to browse" |
3 | Long opening hours | 213 | 10% | "Being open up to midnight during term time" "weekend opening" |
4 | Peace and quiet | 210 | 9.8% | "quiet areas upstairs" "quiet journal rooms" |
5 | Good PC access | 124 | 5.8% | "lots of PCs" "computer facilities good" |
6 | Location | 106 | 5% | "central location" "near to Union" |
7 | Atmosphere | 102 | 4.8% | "good place to work" "friendly working environment" "relaxed atmosphere" |
8 | Well organised | 101 | 4.7% | "Very well set out" "Good layout" "easy to find your way around" |
9 | Journal collection | 93 | 4.3% | "good run of old journals" "large journal collection" |
10 = | Coffee shop | 59 | 2.7% | "good coffee shop" "the canteen is conveniently close" |
10 = | Free Internet access | 59 | 2.7% | "chance to use Internet" |
Position in ranking | Issue of concern | No. of mentions | Percentage | Sample comments etc |
1 | More books | 542 | 25% | "not enough core texts for course work" "more copies of the 'hot' books" "some of the books are too old" |
2 | More computers | 362 | 17% | "improve crowding around computers" "more PCs with more workspace around them" |
3 | Longer opening hours/24 hour access | 161 | 7.5% | "should be open 24 hours with all services and facilities" |
4 | Silent study areas | 148 | 7% | "more rigorous insistence on silence in Library" "more discipline for noisy people" "people chat too much" |
5 | Improve the coffee shop | 134 | 6.3% | "coffee shop should be bigger" "better café with proper food" |
6 | More study spaces | 129 | 6% | "much more space for study" "wider selection of study areas" |
7 | Group study rooms | 100 | 4.7% | "group areas would reduce talking in quiet areas" |
8 | Improve the toilets | 74 | 3.5% | "toilets smell very bad" |
9 | More journals | 66 | 3.1% | "a wider selection of journals that are actually relevant to the courses taught at the university" |
10 | Issue Desk should be open longer | 52 | 2.4% | Requests to open the Issue Desk earlier in the mornings and for longer at weekends |
Detailed comments from the Library Survey 2004
Usage patterns of respondents:
- 11.5% daily users
- 44% several times a week
- 23% once a week
- 17% a few times a month
Staff
Positive - 466
(A further 18 respondents wanted more staff)
- Helpful and friendly staff
- The librarians are kind and willing to help
- Welcoming
- Staff - friendly and efficient
- Lovely staff
- Very knowledgeable and helpful personnel
- Helpful staff - approachable
- Nice people behind Issue Desk
- Staff at computer desk very helpful
- I find staff generous with their time when I have a problem
- Great staff
- Staff all very helpful
- Staff very helpful - especially 2nd floor
- Staff very good at what they do
- Staff are fab
- Staff go out of their way to help you
- The staff - excellent service
- Staff helpful and friendly. Efficient
- Kind library staff
- Polite staff
- staff are knowledgeable and efficient
- helpful service, especially the ground floor enquiry points
- Accessible staff who are generally friendly and helpful
- Staff are very friendly and helpful, and did a tremendous job last year whilst the library was in refurbishment and they had to source all book borrowing
- Excellent Staff - always helpful and knowledgeable
- Staff availability and support
Negative - 19
(+ 3 about security staff/attendants + 5 wanting better IT staff)
- Better staff
- Friendlier
- More helpful staff
- Staff approachability
- Staff that smile
- Staff attitude towards students - we're not all troublemakers
- Some librarians a bit rude, don't seem to like students
- Better training of staff
- Happy staff
- Security staff in evenings
- Reduce power mad security
- Civil tone/respect from security
Books
Positive - 345
- Good book collection
- Great selection of resources
- Wide range of books
- The great choice of books
- Extensive variety of literature
- Quality of library holdings
- Always got books I'm looking for
- They have some interesting and useful books
- Huge variety of books
- Finding scientific and humanities resources under the same roof
Negative - 542
- More books: there are almost no texts on my specific subject area this makes it very difficult for suggesting reading for students [action from academic staff themselves needed to address this]
- Not enough of specific books in demand
- Lack of books for individual topics - sports science/physiology
- More copies of the 'hot' books
- More key texts
- More key texts on big subjects
- More engineering books
- More books as opposed to electronic resources
- More than 1 copy of each book
- Nowhere near enough media books - always out
- More books on reading list
- More books for larger courses - water treatment awwa manuals
- Law books very out of date
- More psychology books not 3 between 100 people on 1 month loan
- More newly published academic books
- Some of the books are too old
- If the library updated its computing books I would've been more inclined to use it (PHP, SQL, C#, Java 1.4)
- Materials for learning English as a 2nd language
- Rare and new technology subjects - biometrics
- Increase copy numbers and coincide with reading lists
- Greater quantity of popular books so I can have one
- More copies of books (cannot find any during coursework) - daily library user surveyed in Anglesea
- more current and updated books
- Limited early years section
- American (U.S.) collection is poor
- investment in textbooks
- more environmental/tourism/conservation journals and books
- More psychology books- there are never enough to go around! especially recommended readings
- More of the SAME books, ie. software reference books are always in demand and always seem to be out on loan
- Selection of books is disgraceful! Especially for a university that concentrates so much on Research
- up to date art and design books
- more books in the area of flood management and training/exercises/simulations
- A good sort out of the old out dated books in the education section
- More pharmacy books! (especially latest editions of core textbooks)
- more money on ordering new books, we don't want to borrow the text books around 1980's
- more copies, eg at the moment- only one copy of a book in the library, which more than 30 people need access to!!!!!! therefore affecting the quality of our work! shocking!!
Noise levels
Positive - 210
- quiet areas upstairs
- quiet journal rooms
- peaceful
- the quiet rooms in the 2nd floor
- peace and quiet
- only relatively quiet place in the University
- the journal section which is usually really quiet and has a good working environment
Negative - 148
- Very silent study area
- Silent areas made silent
- People chat too much
- I would visit the library more often but I don't always feel that it is a very good area to study in, sometimes noisy
- More control on noise
- A reinforced silence policy but also areas for discussion as well
- A really silent area
- Strict enforcement of silence in journal room
- More silent areas
- Completely silent computer rooms
- Completely silent areas
- Ban radios etc from library
- more rigorous insistence on silence in Library
- Stricter control on noisy students- especially first years
- More discipline for noisy people (should be told to be quiet)
- If I want peace and quiet to study I don't go to Frewen
- Enforcement of silent conditions or segregation
- Absolute silence
- It is far too noisy. It is usually impossible to do any serious studying there. A dedicated area for group work might help.
- The noise from other students should be kept to a minimum - it gets too noisy around the computer area
- Better enforcement of quiet areas- don't keep asking students to be quiet when there are often library staff talking to each other (often quite loudly) which can be just as distracting.
- Ask library staff to use a quieter voice when answering questions or showing people where things are."
- SILENCE! No Food. I think that a policy like the British Library on food consumption and noise levels should be enforced Only the PC area should be allowed noise. Laptops should be assigned to different separate parts of the library.
- Search computers should be well away from the main working areas- people tend to chat there.
Atmosphere
Positive - 102
- Nice atmosphere
- Relaxed atmosphere
- Nice ambient atmosphere for study
- Friendly working environment
- Nice working environment
- Good place to work
- Easy to work in
- Good study environment
- Motivates me
- It's a quiet relaxed study area
- Ambience - the feel of Frewen is wonderful, very calming and conducive to study
Coffee shop
Negative - 134
(+ 27 wanting longer opening)
- Nicer café
- coffee shop should be bigger
- better café with proper food
- wide selection of healthy food
- microwave in café
- hot food
- more refreshments
- bigger café with more food choice
- better canteen with working vending machines
- chill out canteen
- coffee shop not got enough tables
- vegetarian food
- more tables
- reduced prices in café
- A nice cafe rather than a load of machines in a small space. Having real people servin in the cafe would be good too.
- The canteen should stay open and not keep shutting for five minutes at various intervals through the day and have more seating
- coffee shop closes too early
- café never open when I'm there
- open Sat and Sun
- 24hr canteen
Issues raised which don't appear in the top ten lists
IT
Positive
- Loanable laptops/wireless network 37
- Printers 7
- Scanners 3
Improvements needed
- Faster network 34 (includes 3 asking for broadband)
- Computers/software need upgrading 25
- More laptops 21
- Better computers 17 (e.g. 3D graphics, bigger monitors)
- More printers 15
- More catalogue PCs 15
- Better computer booking system 12
- More scanners 8
- Better printers 5
- Colour printing 5
- Cheaper printing 5
- Loanable software 5 (e.g. SPSS)
- Fewer general access PCs (its not a computer lab) 3 (Less b*** computers which should be in computer rooms not a book library; I'd say focus more on traditional library resources, and try to discourage general PC usage in the library (except where its directed at Learning). )
- Better mice 2
- CD Writers 2
- More PCs with database access 2
- Better maintenance 2
- Fax machine 2
- Headphones 2
- A0 printer 1
- Unix workstations 1
- AutoCAD 1
- Have computers distributed throughout the library not in one lump 1
- Get rid of sticky keyboards 1
- Editing suite 1
Services and Resources
Positive
- Library catalogue 56 (extremely useful library catalogue)
- Good/efficient service 53
- Easy to find the books 46 (coding system=easy to find books; easy to follow system)
- Good reservation system 31
- Generally all round good library 28 (Generally has all you need; I think it's great; does the job!; Best used)
- Photocopiers 25
- Interlibrary loans 22 (prompt and efficient ILL service; helpful ILL desk)
- Video 'rental' 19
- Easy to renew books 19
- Databases 17 (Includes: Athens search engine[!])
- Online resources excellent 16 (good range of electronic resources; includes 2 specific mentions of Website)
- Good off-campus access 15
- Issue Desk service 14 (good issue desk)
- Easy to borrow books 9
- Access to newspapers 8
- E-access to journals 7 (JStor Facility)
- Reference section 4
- Dissertations 3
- Good information talks 3
- Old books for free 2
- Accessible resources available to students, ie Information and Study Skills workbooks
Improvements needed
- More photocopiers 45
- Wider collection of films 32 (Wider selection of films on video would be helpful. Perhaps pooling the similar resources at Milldam and Park.; also includes 1 for: The establishment of an Audio-visual resource centre (curently such resources are scattered in various locations) with listening and viewing facilities that I can direct students to)
- Cheaper photocopying 25
- Catalogue difficult to search 15 (e.g. easier search through the e-library catalogue; don't like new catalogue - useless at times; better search methods - books available couldn't be traced through author index)
- Better copy facilities 13 (e.g. double-sided, feeder tray)
- Photocopiers on all floors 11
- DVDs 10
- Need more e-journals 8 (I can't even read science or nature online; the library is seriously behind world standard in purchase of electronic journals)
- More fiction/leisure reading books 8
- Books in on catalogue but not on shelves 8
- Better reservation service 8 (e.g. should be quicker; give notice by email)
- No copies of latest issues of journals 7 (Includes: Keep hard copies of journals)
- Colour copiers 4
- More databases 3
- Expand dissertation collection 3
- Access to e-books 3 (Includes: staff provide reading lists to librarians who then source digital copies - this is *hugely* environmentally friendly as well as significantly cheaper)
- Prompt access to new books 2
- On-line submission of ILL requests 2
- Appropriate space for microfilm reader 2
- Electronic search facilities can be confusing 2
- Easier off-campus access 1
- Essay archive 1
- Better collection of archival material not available via internet 1
- Perhaps a unified release point for all Portsmouth research papers into a digital repository would be a start. 1
- The library provides many services but their existence is not always obvious. A more systematic approach to describing the facilities/services available in the Library. 1
- Open access to the library resources outside the library 1
- Clearer information about subject librarians 1
- More specialist librarians for my students. As I am from ASK I send quite a few to you. 1
Policies
Positive
- Can take out large number of books 14
- Length of book loans 9
- Short loans 3
- It is non-smoking 1
Improvements needed
- Have areas where people can talk and study 25 (introduce 'free to chat' rooms; study area where we can discus ideas as during exam time want to ask friend how to answer a question on past paper but it supposed to be silent study area)
- Have a change machine 21
- More books on 4 wk loan rather than 7 days 18
- Fines are too high 16
- Borrow books for longer 16
- Easier filing system 15 (better number system for books)
- Better access to short loan books 15 (A browsable short loan would be Excellent!; short loans cannot be browsed - so impossible to decide whether a book might be useful without first requesting it)
- Better organisation/layout 14 (e.g. book shelves to be more organised and arranged in ascending order with easy view)
- Move art books back to Eldon 10
- Should be able to drink in Library 10 (lack of facilities to get a drink without packing up stuff and abandoning desk - means that it is tempting to go long hours without drinking or going to the toilet, - both of which are bad for the health)
- Better access during holidays 9 (e.g. as a part time student better opening times whilst the university is on holiday as we are required to study over these periods along with our normal working life.)
- Short loans are too short 9
- Need a bigger Issue Desk 8
- Issue Desk queue too long 8
- Be tougher on mobile phones 8
- Reminders when books are due 7
- More accessible help 7
- Self-service 7
- Don't loan out last copy of books - keep 1 on shelves 6
- More short loan books 6 (shorter loan times on books with very limited copy numbers)
- Unhappy with subject layout 6 (put interdisciplinary subjects together i.e. sports science)
- Have free water 5
- Improve disabled access 5 (Includes: better services for dyslexic students and more appropriate facilities for partially sighted people)
- Drop off bin/hand-in desk for returns 5 (drop off bin for returns rather than queueing for issue desk)
- More help on how to use and get info 5
- More help/training/info on how and where to find journals 4
- Shorten 4 wk loans to 2 weeks 4
- Borrow more books 4 (ability to take out more books than currently allocated, particularly in 3rd year)
- Chase up overdue books quicker 4
- More space for Eldon books 4 (better relocation of stock previously held at Eldon - where is it?)
- Harsher punishment on those who don't give back books 2
- No recalls 2 (it's unfair)
- Longer journal loans 2
- More tidying of books 2 (e.g. the books are in a mess)
- Have all videos in one place 1
- Home delivery 1
- Book return collections from other University buildings 1
- Fines for people who use it as a social lounge 1
- Taking books out is difficult for those who live many miles away and only attend uni once a month. We do not know if they will be recalled before we have another day in Portsmouth. 1
- about the electronic catalouge you should put a ready refrence in harvard format [sic] 1
- Staff being able to return items via internal mail. 1
- Trolleys by each section for re -shelving so more chance of finding the book you need 1
- Restrict Internet to academic work - not emails 1
Building Issues
Positive
- Space to study 41
- Size 29
- Spacious 29
- Warm 23
- Clean 18
- Plenty of places to work 17
- Natural light/windows 16
- Good lighting 14
- In a park 13 (The location in a small park. Please can we keep as much of the park as possible, so people can look at the trees, etc whilst studying. I'm not a f/t student now, but this was such a great point about the library when I was and I had to sit in the library for hours.)
- Decor 12
- Light and airy 12
- Ease of access 10
- Bright 8
- Tidy 8 (Library is very tidy not like some others)
- Smell of the books 6
- Security 5
- Architecture 4
- Automatic doors 4
- Chairs 4
- Carpet 4
- Refurb is great 2
- The lift helps a lot when you are disabled and cannot make it up the stairs 1
Improvements needed
- Wider aisles 39
- Better lighting 38 (e.g. aisles are too dark; table lights at tables)
- Need a bigger Library 35 (e.g. it is too small, most libraries at other contemporary universities are a great deal bigger)
- Ventilation/air conditioning needed 29
- Change the colours 26 (e.g. More neutral colour scheme; calm colours)
- Need easy chairs/sofas 21 (e.g. sofas where you can sit and read comfortably; At Sussex they have a circle of comfy seats surrounded by new publications)
- Signposts to specific areas 20 (better signs so you can find stuff quicker; clearer labelling of where books are; clearer signing e.g. of what classmarks are on what floor; Improved listings on the aisles)
- Lockers 18
- Parking spaces needed 17 (e.g. short-term carpark i.e. 15-20 mins max.)
- Too cold 16 (includes 1 for Keep it warmer in the winter)
- New desks 15 (getting rid of all those tatty looking study desks and chairs; Desks that are more user-friendly. At present they are tatty in comparison to the modern facilities of other Universities.)
- Individual study booths/desks needed 13
- More space for books 13
- More space for bikes/covered racks 11
- Too hot 11 (includes 1 for cooler in summer)
- Have a room for watching videos as a group 9
- Better security 11 (e.g. increased surveillance; I think that the security is insufficient and that all students should have access to lockers and be given clear plastic bags, no coats etc. and be asked to show contents before entering the main library. This policy would stop food being eaten and damaging books, it would stop mobile phone use which disturbs others and I think that the library would no longer be a general meeting place for chat but a place of work. I think that the library is suffering from student disrespect because the rules are not tight enough.)
- Have a smoking room 10
- No beepy noise 9
- Student access to lifts/escalators 8
- Smell 7
- Toilets on each floor 7 (Hope there's wash room on each floor so that we do not need 2 go all the way from the top floor to the ground floor to use the wc.)
- Ugly building 6 (Stop it looking like the Tricorn!!)
- Outside needs re-decorating/maintenance 5
- More windows 4
- Graffiti on desks 4
- Fresh air 3
- Mores stools for standing on 2
- Swipe access 2 (The use of campus cards to access the library via turnstile, would remove the public who do enter the library)
- Soft music 2
- Needs better shelving for the books - some appear to high for students and stools are not always available 2
- Cleaner 1 (many people are allergic to dust and books tend to accumulate a lot)
- The library should not exist physically 1
Anne Worden
26/4/2004