Temple Library staff members may have noticed yellow paper surveys floating about the building or seen Jim Bongiovanni’s e-mail messages about the web survey launched each month for users of proxied library resources. These are part of the “Overhead” or Cost Analysis Survey. We will be conducting the survey at random hours in Paley, Science and Engineering, and Ginsburg Health Sciences Library through June 2015. The survey is designed to establish a percentage of library costs that support “sponsored” research – for instance grants from the National Science Foundation or the National Institute of Health.
In the first three months, we’ve distributed 1620 surveys and had over 800 returned. And although it’s too early to have truly representative results, I’d like to share some user data gathered so far, with the caveat that only at the end of June will we have a full picture.
The responses are evenly split between Undergraduate and Graduate students, but we have a good number from faculty, staff and community members as well. 
Each of the libraries serves a different mix of patron types. Paley serves undergraduates primarily (58% of Paley responses are from undergraduates), and HSL serves graduate students (44%). SEL patrons are primarily undergraduates from the School of Engineering. And where are the faculty? They’re coming in from the Web. 74.4% of web responses were from faculty.
The chart above shows the top ten schools represented in the survey responses so far, but all the schools and colleges make use of the Libraries. Based on survey responses, HSL patrons are primarily students from Medicine, Podiatry, Pharmacy and Dentistry. And while mostly serving engineering students, SEL also supports students from Science and Technology and even Theatre. Paley has the widest “mix” of students.
The web surveys provide us with information about who’s using library resources, from where, and what resources those are. (This is anonymous data, of course). Of all patrons using online library resources (not including the catalog), 51% are off campus, 36.9% are on campus but not in the library, and 11.9% are actually in the library. That’s interesting, isn’t it? Perhaps an indication that students in the library space are here to work on papers, study, or attend a class – but not necessarily using the licensed resources. So far, the top databases and resources used via the Web are: PubMed, Refworks, PsycInfo, Academic Search Premier, JSTOR, and ISI’s Web of Knowledge.
These data are not too surprising, but as the year progresses, we’ll have more robust and interesting data. And I hope additional insights into use the the library and its resources.
I want to thank all of our students and staff who have helped out with the survey so far. They are: Tiffany Ellis and Lauri Fennel at HSL, Cody Smallwood at SEL, and from Paley, David Murray, Anthony Diamond, Lori Bradley, Jonathan LeBreton, and our invaluable students: Mariah Butler, DJ Daughtry, David Glover , Nadia Khatri, Roma Marcos, Kaitlin Mashack, and Steven Wei. Kate Lynch and Jim Bongiovanni have done a tremendous job with the web survey.
If you’d like to help out, please do let me know. There will be 9 more opportunities!