This is the second year we have asked our users for feedback on the Marshall Library via a Survey. This year saw a great increase in Part I students replying (
up 10%!), but this goes with a decrease in participations from all other students. Whereas the small increase in number of respondents by 1%, to 24%, is positive, and maybe above response rates for similar surveys, it means that we are not being given a full mandate to follow some of the quantitative questions. However, the following will aim to present some of the noteworthy trends. For a fuller picture, please look at our
Marshall Library 2015 Survey Highlights at Piktochart.
63% of all undergraduate students who responded claim to visit the Library twice or more per week (up by 5%). This is interesting, as the overall book borrowing (as for most libraries) has decreased, yet the
number of renewals has gone up by 45% for the academic year 2014-15! When we take the students’ word for this activity, the overall trend of lower book borrowing is continuing:
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Book borrowing at
Marshall Library
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Our total number of visitors (gate figures are up by
+15%, compared to 2013-14) also backs up the students’ statement that they continue to use the Library as a place of study, and that this function of the library remains to be very important. Naively, one could assume that each student having a college library, and that the Marshall being in close proximity to the UL and other medium to large libraries, such as the Squire Law Library and Seeley History Library, would mean that students are not too fixated on being in their ‘home’ Library, but it seems that a lot of Economics students prefer studying with their peers. For those who are not sure where “home” is:
SpaceFinder might be useful.
There is definitely a fan-base for us as a Library, which is maybe indicated by the more than 70% of respondents who say that they have used the Social Area in the Marshall at least once a month or more often. Our increases in opening hours from 54 to 67 hours per week (during term time, 2014-2015 compared to the previous academic year) got a big stamp of approval: 76% of students (up by 24% from 2014) believe that the opening times are okay (apart from 24/7 libraries, most libraries will probably get complaints about their opening hours). Us buying a significant amount more of textbooks between January 2014 and October 2014 has also led to now 74% of students being ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ (up 8% from 2014).
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| Marshall Library Issue Desk with box for book suggestions |
When it comes to the crucial textbooks and how happy students are with these being available to them, again 74% of respondents are happy, but it is noticeable that in 2015 no one stated that they were very dissatisfied – an acknowledgement, perhaps, that we are providing significantly more copies of most textbooks than most college libraries. We are always, however, happy to have further suggestions, either for more copies of textbooks (if such copies are available), or of books which might be useful for someone’s dissertation or research (either email us, leave a suggestion form at the Issue Desk, or fill out our online form at
http://www.marshall.econ.cam.ac.uk/contactus/book-purchase-suggestion-form)
There are many more observations which could be made – also relating to ebooks usage – but I cannot end this post without busting a myth about student library use in 2015: nearly 80% of respondents ‘disagree’ or ‘strongly disagree’ with the statement that they ‘do
not consult physical books much any more’ – making a bit of breathing space for traditional library provisions and librarians:
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| From Marshall Library Survey 2015 |
If you found the above interesting, you might also want to read the
132 individual suggestions given by respondents – and our comments.
CG
