The biennial survey that the Library administers will be made available to Library users from Monday 5 October to Friday 16 October.
On Monday a live link to the Insync site and the University of Canterbury survey will be put up on the Library home page, along with some further information on Library News.
There has already been some publicity for this in Canta, and each Library by now will have some posters advertising it as well. There will also have been news items in the Diary and Staff news this week. It is an online survey only.
Philip
I noticed today that there is a note in the information about the survey from the link on the Library Home page that states that the survey has been extended until Friday 30 October. I thought others might not be aware of this. The posters we have on display state that the survey ends on 16 October. Caroline Anderson.
Hi Caroline – yes the survey has been extended for another couple of weeks. Despite extensive advance publicity the return rate for most of the original two weeks was extremely low. In consultation with Insync we have checked the links etc, and agreed to extend the time period the survey will be available. The extended period is noted on Library News.
Philip
Thanks Caroline – that’s good to know.
I have just finished taking down our central library posters and most of them are now in recycling bins…sorry Philip.
Are we printing any updated posters or is it not worth it?
Romy
No – will not be reprinting or updating posters. I even question the usefulness of a print poster at all to advertise an online survey, and I suspect that the initial low response rate reflects this.
Philip
The timing of the survey is possibly a factor in the low response rate as well. It is quite close to exams.
Hi Caroline – I have checked on the period when all other Insync surveys were carried out, and this formed the selection of this period in the academic year for 2009. Surveys previously have been most successfully carried out in the end of lectures/study week/exam period.
Philip
How about we add it to the Library Catalogue and the Library Home page as a pop-up request?
a quick update on progress of survey returns.
As of 9:20 AM today: (Thursday 22 October)
Response Summary
1192 people have started the survey.
996 (84%) have completed the survey.
Breakdown of Responses
Which library on campus do you use most?
719 Central Library
101 Education Library
71 Engineering Library
95 Law Library
17 Macmillan Brown Library
111 Physical Sciences Library
78 Unspecified
Another update on survey progress.
As of 6.50pm today: (Wednesday 28 October)
1473 people have started the survey.
1225 (83%) have completed the survey.
Breakdown of Responses
Which library on campus do you use most?
866 Central Library
122 Education Library
106 Engineering Library
118 Law Library
25 Macmillan Brown Library
140 Physical Sciences Library
96 Unspecified
Philip
Interesting results so far. Just a tad ironic that the second most highly used library is the one we are closing…
Or is it just that people who use PSL feel compelled to fill in the survey this year?
That could be a factor. Guess any bias will be revealed when the full results are in. It would be interesting to see if the branch library usage stat has changed much from 2008 to 2009
Lies, damned lies & statistics! – You have to be careful how you interpret some of these things.. Some students may use two (or more) libraries the same amount or may not come in to the library at all. Some subject disciplines are more print focused so may have to come in to the library more often. Some people prefer one place to study more than others – e.g. we (PSL) seem to get plenty of students from other disciplines coming in to the library at exam time. Lending stats give another shade to the picture as do those for information requests and head counts. It will definitely be interesting to see what people have to say about PSL closure but in the end the key number is probably how many people answer the survey compared with last time…