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

Survey of Library Collections Use by Faculty

in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of

Georgia

Nan McMurryKristin Nielsen

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

Faculty Survey

Survey Population

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

Survey Distribution

263 surveys were returned, for an overall response rate of 20%.

Response rates for individual departments ranged from 3% to 100%.

Faculty Survey

Response Rates

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

Categories

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

Questions 1 and 2: 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

Visits

Faculty Survey

Visit Library at Least Weekly

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Hum Soc Sci Bus

Physical

Virtual

75%

95%

57%

92%

17%

86%

Faculty Survey

Visit at Least Weekly

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Educ FCS Jour

Physical

Virtual

7%

76%

16%

69%

0%

89%

Humanities faculty significantly outstrip other faculty in frequency of use:

•60% make daily virtual visits•75% make weekly physical visits

Faculty Survey

Visits

How important are library resources (print and electronic) to your research and teaching?

Very important Somewhat important Not very important

Faculty Survey

Question 3: 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

Importance of Resources

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

Question 4: 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

Resource Types

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

Faculty Survey

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

Resource Types

Faculty Survey

Resource Types: Humanities

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Frequent Users

Books 95%

Current Jnls 76%

Jnl Backfiles 64%

Newspapers 5%

Gov Docs 4%

Spec Coll 24%

Microfilm 8%

Faculty Survey

Resource Types: Social Sciences

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Frequent Users

Books 77%

Current Jnls 79%

Jnl Backfiles 75%

Newspapers 18%

Gov Docs 10%

Spec Coll 15%

Microfilm 18%

Faculty Survey

Resource Types:Business

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Frequent Users

Books 43%

Current Jnls 71%

Jnl Backfiles 69%

Newspapers 17%

Gov Docs 0%

Spec Coll 0%

Microfilm 0%

Faculty Survey

Resource Types: Education

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Frequent Users

Books 54%

Current Jnls 84%

Jnl Backfiles 68%

Newspapers 2%

Gov Docs 4%

Spec Coll 2%

Microfilm 5%

Faculty Survey

Resource Types: FCS

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Frequent Users

Books 46%

Current Jnls 69%

Jnl Backfiles 61%

Newspapers 8%

Gov Docs 23%

Spec Coll 8%

Microfilm 8%

Faculty Survey

Resource Types: Journalism

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Frequent Users

Books 63%

Current Jnls 63%

Jnl Backfiles 75%

Newspapers 38%

Gov Docs 25%

Spec Coll 13%

Microfilm 13%

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, ProjectMuse, etc.) Web search engines and directories (Google, Yahoo, etc.)

Faculty Survey

Question 5: Use of Online Resources

Faculty Survey

Use of Online Resources

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Search Engines

GALILEO FT

GALILEO Indexes

Other Libs OPACS

GIL

Frequent Users (all fields)

87%

86%

68%

58%

26%

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


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


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

Question 6: Reference Sources

Faculty Survey

Reference Sources

All Schools Frequently Occasionally Rarely or Never

Print indexes 12% 45% 41%

Electronic indexes 51% 35% 13%

National bibliographies

12% 35% 51%

Foreign books in print

14% 24% 61%

Discipline-specific bibliographies

38% 35% 26%

Encyclopedias 24% 44% 31%

Faculty Survey

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%

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

Question 7: Top 3 Reference Sources

The 263 respondents listed 159 different reference sources by title.

Faculty Survey

Top 3 Reference Sources

102 of these titles were named by only one faculty member.

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


All of the top ten choices were electronic:

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


When identifying library materials for research or teaching purposes, how often do you use the following resources/ methods?

Faculty Survey

Question 8: Research 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

Research Methods

0% 50% 100%

Listservs

Colleagues

Browsing

Footnotes

Discipline

Gen GAL

HumanitiesSoc SciBusiness

Frequent Users

Faculty Survey

Research Methods

0% 50% 100%

Listservs

Colleagues

Browsing

Footnotes

Discipline

Gen GAL

EducationFCSJournalism

Frequent Users

How often do you use library materials in languages other than English?

Frequently Occasionally Rarely or Never

Faculty Survey

Question 9: Foreign Languages

Faculty Survey

Foreign Languages

Field Frequently Occasionally Rarely or Never

Humanities 46% 30% 23%

Soc Sciences 23% 11% 64%

Business 0% 9% 89%

Education 2% 11% 86%

FCS 8% 8% 85%

Journalism 0% 11% 89%

All Schools 21% 16% 61%

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

Questions 10 & 11: Journal Backfiles

Faculty Survey

Journal Backfiles

56%

23%

18%

34%

46%

60%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Jour

FCS

Educ

Bus

Soc Sci

Hum

Frequent users of journals more than 10 years old

Faculty Survey

Journal Backfiles

89%

92%

74%

80%

94%

96%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Jour

FCS

Educ

Bus

Soc Sci

Hum

Frequent + occasional users of journals more than 10 years old

Faculty Survey

Journal Backfiles

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

>5 >10 >20 Elect LR

Humanities

Soc Sci

Business

Education

FCS

Journalism

When can we send journal backfiles to the Repository?

Faculty Survey

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

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)

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

Question 12: Format Types

Faculty Survey

Format Types: Current Use

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Books Journals Newspapers

Print

Electronic

MF

N/A

All Fields

Faculty Survey

Format Types: Current Use

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Gov Docs Primary Sources

Print

Electronic

MF

N/A

All Fields

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

Question 13: Format Preferences

Which statement best represents your preferences concerning information formats?

Faculty Survey

Format Preferences

Electronic

Print

No DifferencePrefer print58%

No difference30%

Prefe

rel

ectro

nic

16%

Humanities

Faculty Survey

Format Preferences

Electronic

Print

No Difference

No difference30%

Preferprint31%

Preferelectronic34%

Social Sciences

Faculty Survey

Format Preferences

Print58%

Print44%

Electronic

Print

No Difference

No difference

14%

Preferprint11%

Preferelectronic71%

Business

Faculty Survey

Format Preferences

Electronic

Print

No Difference

No difference26%

Preferprint21%

Preferelectronic54%

Education

Faculty Survey

Format Preferences

Electronic

Print

No DifferencePreferprint31%

Preferelectronic54%

Family & Consumer Sciences

No difference

15%

Faculty Survey

Format Preferences

Electronic

Print

No Difference

No difference33%

Preferprint44%

Prefer electronic22%

Journalism

Format Preferences

Print58%

JournalismFCSEducation

BusinessSocial SciencesHumanities

ElectronicPrintNo Difference

Faculty Survey

Format Preferences

Sample comments:“I prefer journals in electronic format and books in print”“I prefer electronic format, but availability should be the priority”“the electronic format allows me to access the material from home, even when I’m working at midnight! It is a much more efficient research method for me.”

Faculty Survey

Format Preferences

Sample comments:“Electronic is backup, searchable, but not a substitute for print” “Access to visual information (photography and visual art) is often better in a print format”“The electronic format is ok only if the page numbers and volume numbers are available”“Print is 10 times easier on my eyes and 20 times easier to move through!”

Faculty Survey

Question 14: Format Availability

Which statement best represents your view of the availability of essential research tools (indexes, bibliographies, etc.) in your discipline? Most of the essential research tools in my field are available in electronic format. Some essential research tools are available in electronic format, but others are available only in print. Most of the essential research tools in my field are available only in print format.

Faculty Survey

Format Availability

Summary Electronic Mixture Print

Humanities 14% 61% 23%

Social Sciences 30% 62% 10%

Business 34% 57% 3%

Education 33% 60% 7%

FCS 8% 69% 23%

Journalism 11% 89% 0%

All Schools 25% 62% 13%

Faculty Survey

Question 15: Core vs. Unique Resources

When purchasing new resources, the library should (please check one answer):

Place greater emphasis on acquiring core resources in electronic format, even if they duplicate materials already held in print Place greater emphasis on acquiring new or unique materials not already held in another format

Faculty Survey

Core vs. Unique Resources

Humanities Faculty

Duplicate New/UniqueNo Response

Duplic

ate

Core

13%

AcquireNew/Unique84%

No R

esponse

4%

Faculty Survey


Social Sciences Faculty


Duplicate Core

25%


No R

esponse

11%

Faculty Survey


Business Faculty


Duplicate Core66%


No R

esponse

11%

Faculty Survey


Education Faculty

Duplicate New/UniqueNo ResponseDuplicate Core

54%


No R

esponse

9%

Faculty Survey


Family & Consumer Sciences Faculty


Duplicate Core

31%


No Response23%

Faculty Survey


Journalism Faculty


Duplicate Core

22%


No Resp

onse

22%


Journalism

Humanities Social Sciences Business

Education FCS

Duplicate New/Unique No Response

Faculty Survey


Sample comments:

“I’d prefer core materials available in digital format and less-central materials accessed via ILL.”“the key goal should be to acquire as much as possible, not duplicate materials at the expense of not acquiring new materials”

Faculty Survey


Sample comments:

“Most of us are, by now, comfortable with either format; therefore it seems that diversity of materials, NOT updating of format, should be the priority.”“Breadth is always more important (But then I’m right across the street)”

Faculty Survey


Sample comments:

“Hard call – I changed my mind twice on this. A balance between the two is optimum, of course…”“This is a tough one. Electronic is key, but not at the expense of getting something important.” “Not sure, leave it to you”

Faculty Survey

Question 16: Print Journal Subscriptions

If the library acquires access to a journal in electronic format, it should (please check one answer): Cancel the subscription to the print format of the journal Continue the subscription to the print format of the journal to ensure that back issues will be available in the future

Faculty Survey

Print Journal Subscriptions

Areas that expressed a strong preference for continuing the print subscription

Area Cancel Continue

Humanities 15% 78%

Soc Sci 21% 75%

Education 16% 75%

Journalism 11% 67%

Faculty Survey


Areas that were divided over the issue:.

Area Cancel Continue

Business 43% 54%

FCS 46% 54%

Faculty Survey


Sample comments:

“Unless and until we can be assured of keeping historical versions ‘forever,’ it would be risky to dump the print versions” “But cancel only if there are assurances that back issues will always be available.”“Never fail to get print format”

Faculty Survey


Sample comments:

“If this is a triage situation, whichever is cheaper”“Why wouldn’t back issues be available in elec. format?”“We should digitize back issues ourselves to ensure continued availability”

Faculty Survey

Question 17: E-Books

How important to your research and teaching needs is it for the library to purchase e-books (full-text monographs in electronic format)?

Very important Somewhat important Not very important

Faculty Survey

Importance of E-Books

Very important

Somewhatimportant

Not veryimportantNot very important

63%

Somewhat important27%

Very important

6%All Fields

Faculty Survey


Sample comments:“Journals are terrific in electronic format; books are better in print format” “I hate reading e-books--anything longer than a journal article is too hard to read/process. E-books only marginally better than microfilm.”

Faculty Survey


Sample comments:“I’ve just discovered netbooks. What a great resource!” “Perhaps I would be more enthusiastic about this if there were enough titles available in my discipline to make looking for e-books worth the effort.”

Faculty Survey


Sample comments:“I dislike e-books and do not use them: I think they are a waste of money.” “As yet, e-books seem useless. At worst, they might even be part of a conspiracy to move from a purchase model to a rental model for library materials.”

Faculty Survey

Finally…

What does it all mean?

Faculty Survey

Library is Central to Faculty Research & Teaching

As evidenced by:• Frequency of visits• Frequent use of GIL, the libraries’ catalog• Frequent use of library books and journals• Reluctance to send journal backfiles to the Repository

Faculty Survey

Library is Central to Faculty Research & Teaching

“What a great library!”“…we are especially well-served by the staff of the Main Library who do a fantastic job keeping our collection relevant, accessible and user-friendly. Thank you.”“I well know how lucky we are to have such a fantastic library. For my needs, it seems to provide 95% of the items I require.”“I have never been as wonderfully supported by a library in my entire career as I have been since coming to UGA…”

Faculty Survey

Significant Differences Among Disciplines

• Extensive vs. intensive use of materials

• Receptivity to electronic resources

• Use of foreign language materials

Faculty Survey

Diversity Within Schools and Departments

Most questions did not have unanimity of opinion…even within a single department.

Faculty Survey

The ‘Transition to Electronic’

Will it really be a straight transition with electronic eventually replacing all print?

Faculty Survey


• Preferences are rarely all-or-nothing

• Some faculty have specific reasons for disliking print or electronic, rather than a simple like/dislike

• Some Humanities and Social Sciences faculty consider print the “gold standard” and electronic merely auxiliary

Faculty Survey


“Electronic collections of every nature--go for it.” “I really appreciate the effort that the library has done in the past years to increase the number of journals online. It has made teaching and research so much easier.”

Faculty Survey


“While electronic sources are useful…, the director of the libraries should remain keenly aware of the vital importance of print materials to us. The book remains a thing of great beauty in addition to being a useful source that one can hold in his hands and ponder at length. It would be a great mistake to fall victim to the fanciful notion that electronic materials are superior to the printed book and the printed journals. View electronic materials as an aide, not as a replacement for the pillars of civilized society, and your priorities will be straight!”

Faculty Survey

What’s Next

How can this guide our future collection decisions?

Faculty Survey

UGA Libraries Faculty Survey

Presentation and full report available:

G:\UGALibs\Collection Development\Faculty Survey

Documents

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