College Students' Perceptions Of Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership

Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005) summarized the findings of an international study on information-seeking habits and behaviors. OCLC staff in the Market Research Team developed the concept of this project and commissioned Harris Interactive, Inc. to survey the information-seeking behaviors of a wide range of people throughout the world. Over 3,000 responses were collected from Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

A subset of this study was analyzed extracting the college student responses in regard to the following items: Library use, Awareness and use of library electronic resources, The Internet search engine, the library and the librarian, Free vs. for-fee information, and The “Library” brand.

With extensive input from hundreds of librarians and OCLC staff, the OCLC Market Research team developed a project and commissioned Harris Interactive Inc. to survey a representative sample of information consumers. In June of 2005, over 3000 responses were collected from individuals in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"The findings indicate that information consumers view libraries as places to borrow print books, but they are unaware of the rich electronic content they can access through libraries. Even though information consumers make limited use of these resources, they continue to trust libraries as reliable sources of information." (report summary on http://www.oclc.org/reports/perceptionscollege.htm)

I requested that OCLC look at the community college segment of this study to see if there was a statistical sample that is viable so that an analysis of community college student perceptions can be done.

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10/2/2006
Note: The demographics that Harris Interactive collects about
survey respondents does not have that level of granularity. Respondents
only indicate if they are participating in post-secondary education.

Also, the US system of community colleges isn't duplicated exactly in
other countries. This was an internation survey.
The survey did not ask any of the questions about any
particular library. Respondents were asked, at the beginning, to answer
with the library they had used most recently in mind.

IMLS Survey form on Technology and Digitization

http://www.imls.gov/resources/TechDig05/Agencies_Survey.pdf

IMLS Technology and Digitization Survey

I have been exploring a variety of surveys to use in a phase of my sabbatical project that assesses where California community colleges are along the spectrum of readiness and enagagement in the digital arena.

The most significant studies I found were from The Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Institute "is committed to helping libraries and museums take full advantage of the power of technology. Through grantmaking, research, conferences, and publications the Institute helps to create and share best practices and provide important data for administrators, policy makers, and the public."

In 2001, the Institute conducted the first survey of the nations museums and libraries on technology use and digitization. "The use of technology and particularly digital technology has affected nearly every aspect of library and museum services, from the automation of internal cataloging and management systems to the digitization of physical collections, and from the acquisition of new “born-digital” works of art and library publications to the use of technology to present collections and engage audiences."

While the 2001 study surveyed general use, the second study (2004) looked more specifically at how institutions use technology and digitization in their collections.

Part of the survey group was academic libraries, of which community colleges were included. Of the target study, 31.(% (22) junior/community colleges participated: 7 small, 10 medium, and 4 large.

The overall findings include the following summary items:
Small museums and public libraries have made dramatic progress, although they still lag behind their larger counterparts.

Libraries and museums are putting services and activities online to manage their institutions and provide enhanced public service.

Insufficient funding and staff time are barriers to implementing technology.

Assessment of user and visitor needs is strongest among academic libraries and state library administrative agencies and weak among other groups.

Digitization activities have increased for all groups, with state library administrative agencies and archives leading the way..

While more institutions have digitization policies in place than was the case in 2001, many institutions that are digitizing do not have digitization policies.

With a substantial number of materials left to digitize, institutions are held back by lack of funding, lack of staff time, and other pressing priorities.

While collaborative digitization efforts are underway, they are not yet widespread.

Only a small portion of museums and libraries assess user and visitor needs for digitized collections and services.

For more information on each of these items, go to http://www.imls.gov/resources/TechDig05/findings.htm

City of San Mateo--New Central Library

Since I had planned to go visit Lorrita Ford at the College of San Mateo Library, I met her at a Librarians' tour of the new city San Mateo library. It is a beautiful three story "environmentally-designed" building with underground parking. One of the most striking features was the mezzanine windows that draw you outside as they frame the redwood trees. One of the local patrons called this 90,000 square foot library "university-like" and there is no question that people will be drawn to learning here...

There are Internet stations scattered in a variety of learning locations, an Instruction room, a Biotechnology Center (sponsored by Genetech) and a Fisher Journalism Center (as is the Fisher Investment Letter). There is also a cafe, an inviting children's reading room as well as a teen room. There is no question that this library will bring people in...it is inviting and comfortable and provides so many areas to explore. On opening day, 6,500 patrons came in to see it!

For more information: http://tinyurl.com/nakvra