The library recently conducted a survey:
Student Library Survey: Win a Flip Camcorder! The results were quite interesting.
I'm not sure if the results of the survey will ever be released for public consumption, but I'm sure that the brief impression I leave here will give you some idea of the comprehensive nature of the survey. The respondents of the survey included freshmen through seniors, as well as evening and graduate students.
For me, I noticed that the bulk of positive comments were about the staff and about the services the library provides. The bulk of the negative comments were about things the library and staff have virtually no or little control over.
The positives included comments about the friendliness of the staff, the helpfulness of the staff, the availability of quiet study areas, and the abundance of access to electronic resources and computers, and the ease and availability of ILL services. There were a few comments recommending updating the book collection.
The negatives included comments about the lack of hot water in the bathrooms, the oppressive heat or frigid cold in the building, the spotty WiFi coverage, and the gestapo-like swipe system for entering the building.
The swipe system was instituted by Public Safety after a rash of thefts believed to be the work of outside interlopers. Thefts still occur and they are generally student-on-student incidents.
The environmental concerns are basically handled by Facilities and Housekeeping. We do our best with keeping up with the problems and reporting them and Facilities and Housekeeping do their best with keeping up, but we can only do so much. It's kind of hard to keep the place clean when students won't pick up behind themselves or see just how far they bend or twist something before it breaks.
The technology concerns are mostly handled by IT. The decision to hire Tech Students to work at the Reference Desk beside the librarians has been a boon to the staff. The tech students are able to troubleshoot problems, help with maintaining the computer lab, and provide help with software questions the rest of the staff can't handle, doesn't have the time to handle, or isn't trained to handle.
Occasionally something may come up that neither we nor IT is responsible for. Just yesterday, one of our electronic resource providers made a change that prevented students working from home from accessing the vendor's databases. The problem was eventually resolved.
Overall, I think the survey shows the library is doing a good job and the students recognize that.
ttyl
