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Bound for Disappointment Faculty and Journals at Research Institutions

Explore the correlation between journal collections and faculty satisfaction, addressing dissatisfaction concerns at research institutions. Analyzing LibQUAL+ data, examine strategies for improvement.

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Bound for Disappointment Faculty and Journals at Research Institutions

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  1. Bound for DisappointmentFaculty and Journals at Research Institutions Jim Self University of Virginia Library USA 7th Northumbria Conference Stellenbosch, South Africa 15 August 2007

  2. Session outline • LibQUAL+ overview • LQ at the University of Virginia in 2006 • Association of Research Libraries data • Composite LQ results 2004-06 • Focus on question IC:8 • Interviews with UVa faculty • Conclusions

  3. The questions for today • What is the relationship between journal collections and overall library satisfaction among faculty? • Given the substantial investment in journals, why are faculty consistently dissatisfied with their library’s journal collections? • How should we address the dissatisfaction?

  4. LibQUAL+ Overview • 22 core questions • 1-9 scale • Ratings of minimum, desired, perceived • Locally selected questions • General satisfaction ratings • Information literacy questions • Queries on use of libraries and search tools • Demographic questions

  5. LibQUAL+ Question IC-8 • Print and/or electronic journal collections I require for my work

  6. Question IC-8 and ARL faculty • Highest ‘desired’ score • Highest minimum score • Most negative adequacy gap

  7. Drilling into the ARL data • The relationship between serial expenditures and LibQUAL+ scores for IC-8 • The relationship between IC-8 scores and overall satisfaction

  8. Dollars and Desires • Serial expenditures at ARL libraries ranged from $3.6M to $11.4M US in FY05 • The 37 libraries spent $232M for serials • No relation between serial expenditures and faculty ‘desired’ score (r = -.14)

  9. Dollars and Perception • Do serial expenditures affect the perception scores and the adequacy gaps for IC-8? • Significant correlation of serial expenditures and IC-8 adequacy gap, among faculty (r = .63)

  10. Journal Ratings and Overall Satisfaction • Do journal scores relate to overall satisfaction? • Strong correlation of IC-8 adequacy gap and overall satisfaction, among ARL faculty. (r = .81)

  11. Following up with Journals at UVa • Who is unhappy? • Drilling down by college and discipline • Why are they unhappy? • Reading the comments • Conducting targeted interviews

  12. Examining the survey comments at UVa • Usually general, not specific or actionable, sometimes contradictory • “Budget problems have caused too many cancellations.” • “We need more journals in my field.” • “My chief disappointment is in the cancellation of journal subscriptions.”

  13. Follow up interviews regarding journals • Focus on areas with low scores • Diverse group of faculty • Asked for specific needs and wants • Including names of needed titles • Quick interviews

  14. Four questions • Is the Library meeting your minimum level regarding journal collections? • If not, what can we do? • Is the Library meeting your desired level? • If not, what can we do? • Does it matter if journals are print or electronic? • Any other comments about the library?

  15. 82 faculty interviews • Humanities – 20 • Engineering – 19 • Architecture – 14 • Social Science – 10 • Science/Math – 8 • Education – 7 • Music/Arts – 2 • Business – 2

  16. Findings from the faculty interviews • Nearly everyone says the library is meeting their minimum level for journals • But many respondents say the library is not meeting their desired level • Comments are overwhelmingly positive, but many suggestions for improvement are made • Faculty are sympathetic, and often blame the shortfalls on budget problems

  17. Specific shortfalls • Access to journals is confusing • Improve interfaces, increase education • Need more foreign titles • Need more backfiles and older content • Location (storage, branches) is a problem • Electronic remote access does not work well • Facilities for browsing need improvement • Need print instead of online, or vice versa

  18. In summary • No single issue producing the low scores • Searching and access are major problems …but not the only problems

  19. How is the Library responding? • Continuing efforts to improve the search interfaces • Greater effort to inform and instruct faculty and grad students • More receptivity to requests for journals • Within the library, an increased awareness of the importance of journals to faculty

  20. Other possibilities to consider… • More visibility and marketing of journals? • More reliance on delivery services for faculty? • Eliminate the need for searching • More one on one contact with faculty and graduate students? • Less public talk of journal problems, costs, and cancellations?

  21. The last word… • At North American research institutions… How faculty feel about the library is greatly influenced by how they feel about the journal collections.

  22. Thank you! • Jim Self • self@virginia.edu • http://www.lib.virginia.edu/mis/

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