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Survey of Library Collections Use by Faculty

Survey of Library Collections Use by Faculty. in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Georgia. Nan McMurry Kristin Nielsen. Survey Population. Franklin College (excluding sciences) Business Education Environment & Design Journalism Family & Consumer Sciences

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Survey of Library Collections Use by Faculty

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  1. Survey of Library Collections Use by Faculty in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Georgia Nan McMurry Kristin Nielsen

  2. Survey Population • Franklin College (excluding sciences) • Business • Education • Environment & Design • Journalism • Family & Consumer Sciences • Public and International Affairs • Social Work Faculty Survey

  3. Survey Distribution 1299 surveys were distributed to faculty mailboxes in October 2002. Faculty could return the print survey or take the survey online. The return deadline was December 2002. Faculty Survey

  4. Response Rates 263 surveys were returned, for an overall response rate of 20%. Response rates for individual departments ranged from 3% to 100%. Faculty Survey

  5. Categories • Since rates of return varied widely among departments, we analyzed the data by the following summary categories: • Humanities • Social Sciences • Business • Education • Family & Consumer Sciences (FCS) • Journalism Faculty Survey

  6. Questions 1 and 2: Visits 1. How often do you come to the library? 2. How often do you consult library resources (GIL, GALILEO, etc.) in electronic format from your home/office? Faculty Survey

  7. Visits Virtual visits outnumber physical visits. 42% of all faculty surveyed make physical visits to the library at least weekly. 87% of all faculty surveyed make virtual visits to library resources at least weekly. Faculty Survey

  8. Visit Library at Least Weekly 95% 92% 86% 75% 57% 17% Faculty Survey

  9. Visit at Least Weekly 89% 76% 69% 16% 0% 7% Faculty Survey

  10. Visits • Humanities faculty significantly outstrip other faculty in frequency of use: • 60% make daily virtual visits • 75% make weekly physical visits Faculty Survey

  11. Question 3: Importance of Resources • How important are library resources (print and electronic) to your research and teaching? • Very important • Somewhat important • Not very important Faculty Survey

  12. Importance of Resources Answers displayed greatest unity of any question, with an average of 94% answering “Very Important” Highest: 98% (Social Sciences) Lowest: 89% (Journalism) Faculty Survey

  13. Question 4: Resource Types • How often do you use the following library materials (in print as well as electronic formats)? • Books • Current journals • Backfiles of journals (older than one year) • Newspapers • Government documents • Special collections materials (rare books, archives, audio-visual resources) • Microfilm collections Faculty Survey

  14. Resource Types • 71% describe themselves as frequent users of books • 77% describe themselves as frequent users of current journals • 68% describe themselves as frequent users of journal backfiles (older than one year) Faculty Survey

  15. Resource Types Less than 13% of faculty describe themselves as frequent users of newspapers, microfilm collections, government documents, and special collections. Faculty Survey

  16. Resource Types • Faculty who describe themselves as either frequent or occasional users: • Newspapers: 43% • Government documents: 42% • Special collections: 44% • Microfilm collections: 51% Faculty Survey

  17. Resource Types: Humanities Faculty Survey

  18. Resource Types: Social Sciences Faculty Survey

  19. Resource Types:Business Faculty Survey

  20. Resource Types: Education Faculty Survey

  21. Resource Types: FCS Faculty Survey

  22. Resource Types: Journalism Faculty Survey

  23. Question 5: Use of Online Resources • How often do you use the following Web-based resources? • GIL (UGA Library Catalog) • Online catalogs of other libraries • GALILEO indexing and abstracting services (MLA, Historical Abstracts, PsycINFO, etc.) • GALILEO full-text databases (JSTOR, Project • Muse, etc.) • Web search engines and directories (Google, Yahoo, etc.) Faculty Survey

  24. Use of Online Resources 87% 26% 68% 58% 86% Faculty Survey

  25. Use of Online Resources • A strong majority of all faculty describe themselves as frequent users of GIL: • Humanities 98% • Social Sciences 89% • Business 77% • Education 82% • FCS 69% • Journalism 100% Faculty Survey

  26. Use of Online Resources Family & Consumer Sciences faculty are more likely to be frequent users of search engines (77%) than any library resource. Business faculty place frequent use of GALILEO full-text databases and search engines in a dead heat (86% each). Faculty Survey

  27. Question 6: Reference Sources • How often do you use the following library reference sources? • Indexes and abstracts in print format • Indexes and abstracts in electronic format (databases) • National bibliographies • Books in print for countries other than the U.S. • Bibliographies specific to your discipline • Encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks Faculty Survey

  28. Reference Sources Faculty Survey

  29. Reference Sources • Humanities faculty make greater use of a greater variety of types of sources. • Humanities faculty posted the highest percentage of frequent users of: • National Bibliographies 24% • Foreign Books in Print 26% • Discipline-specific bibliographies 66% • Encyclopedias 50% Faculty Survey

  30. Question 7: Top 3 Reference Sources Please list the titles of the top three reference sources (databases, indexes, bibliographies, etc.) that you consider essential for doing research in your field. Faculty Survey

  31. Top 3 Reference Sources The 263 respondents listed 159 different reference sources by title. • 102 of these titles were named by only one faculty member. Faculty Survey

  32. Top 3 Reference Sources All of the top ten choices were electronic: • 10. Medline • 9. WorldCat • 8. EBSCO • 7. Lexis Nexis • 6. Web of Science • 5. ABI Inform • 4. JSTOR • 3. PsycINFO • 2. ERIC • 1. MLA Bibliography Faculty Survey

  33. Top 3 Reference Sources • Sources named by a large number of people and across the widest variety of departments: • ABI Inform Lexis Nexis EBSCO PsycINFO ERIC Web of Science JSTOR Faculty Survey

  34. Question 8: Research Methods When identifying library materials for research or teaching purposes, how often do you use the following resources/ methods? • General GALILEO Databases • Databases or print indexes specific to your discipline • Footnotes & bibliographies in books or articles • Browsing the library shelves • Recommendations of colleagues • Internet listservs Faculty Survey

  35. Research Methods Frequent Users Faculty Survey

  36. Research Methods Frequent Users Faculty Survey

  37. Question 9: Foreign Languages • How often do you use library materials in languages other than English? • Frequently • Occasionally • Rarely or Never Faculty Survey

  38. Foreign Languages Faculty Survey

  39. Questions 10 & 11: Journal Backfiles 10. How often do you use backfiles of journals more than ten years old? 11. Under what circumstances should journal backfile volumes be sent to the Libraries Repository? Faculty Survey

  40. Journal Backfiles Frequent users of journals more than 10 years old Faculty Survey

  41. Journal Backfiles Frequent + occasional users of journals more than 10 years old Faculty Survey

  42. Journal Backfiles When can we send journal backfiles to the Repository? Faculty Survey

  43. Journal Backfiles to Repository • Not surprisingly… • The heaviest users of older journals are the most opposed to their being sent to the Repository • Less frequent users specify a shorter timeframe before journals are sent to the Repository Faculty Survey

  44. Journal Backfiles to Repository Why not send them to the Repo? It’s inconvenient Browsing is vital to research Missing the serendipity factor Electronic is not an acceptable substitute (images, graphs, pagination, incomplete coverage) Should use criteria other than date (journal quality, usage level) Faculty Survey

  45. Question 12: Format Types In what format(s) do you use the following resources? (please check all that apply) Books | Journals | Newspapers | Government documents | Collections of primary sources Options for each were: Print Electronic Microfilm/fiche N/A Faculty Survey

  46. Format Types: Current Use All Fields Faculty Survey

  47. Format Types: Current Use All Fields Faculty Survey

  48. Question 13: Format Preferences Which statement best represents your preferences concerning information formats? • I prefer to use library materials in electronic format whenever possible. • I prefer to use library materials in print format whenever possible. • Format makes little or no difference to me as long as the material is available. Faculty Survey

  49. Format Preferences Humanities Prefer electronic 16% No difference 30% Prefer print 58% Faculty Survey

  50. Format Preferences Social Sciences Prefer electronic 34% No difference 30% Prefer print 31% Faculty Survey

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