2009 Benchmarks: Faculty Frequency of Use, Importance, and Satisfaction

Faculty: Frequency of Use

Faculty report less than weekly use of library and technology services and resources.  No area in the survey scored in the 4.0 or higher range.  The most frequently used services and resources had means in the 3.0 to 3.9 range, meaning use was one to three times a month or so.  Of the areas in this most frequently used range, there are no library or technology services – all seven areas are resources.

Technology in meeting spaces / classrooms is the resource with most frequent use, followed by the course management system, off-campus access to online resources, and four other web resources.  Of the seven most frequently used resources, all but technology in meeting spaces / classrooms come from the ability to research and learn anytime, anywhere.

Services emerge among the less frequently used areas: library circulation services, help desk, ILL, library reference services, and support for technology in meeting spaces / classrooms are all used once or twice a semester.  It is worth noting that while higher frequency of use is desirable for some services, like library reference services, it may not be desirable for others like help desk, support for technology in meeting spaces / classroom, or even ILL.  Use alone is not a sufficient gauge of a resource or service’s value to faculty.

Infrequently used areas fall into two categories: niche services and resources, like digital image collections and borrowing technology equipment, and location-based resources like public computers in the library or quiet work space in the library, that are perhaps less relevant to faculty who have computing resources and quiet space in other locations.

Frequency of use in the MISO Survey is set on a five-point scale:

1. Never
2. Once or twice a semester
3. One to three times a month
4. One to three times a week
5. More than three times a week

Faculty: Importance

Every most frequently used resource is considered to be more important, in the 3.0-4.0 range.  In addition, all of the services mentioned previously in the less frequent use range are considered to be more important by faculty.  In contrast, only one of the three less frequently used resources – wireless access to the internet – is considered to be more important.  Even though faculty do not use these services more than a couple of times a semester, they consider these services vital to their research and teaching.

Almost every other service or resource is considered somewhat important by the faculty.  Only two resources, borrowing laptops and video conferencing, are considered less important by faculty.  Both resources were reported to be least used by the faculty as well.

Importance in the MISO Survey is reported on a four-point scale:

1. Not important
2. Somewhat important
3. Important
4. Very important

Faculty: Satisfaction

Faculty report high satisfaction overall. No service or resource received a mean response of anything less than somewhat satisfied (3.0).  Faculty report high satisfaction (3.5 or higher) with 15 services and resources.  Of these 15, 12 are library services and resources, with library circulation services and ILL at the top of the list.

Satisfaction for all other services and resources is in the moderately high (3.0-3.49) range, with many computing services and resources close to the high satisfaction (3.5) mark.  Infrastructure items, such as networking and e-mail, as well as communication and engagement items, such as input into computing decisions and support for specialized computing needs, are found toward the bottom, but even in these cases, faculty are somewhat satisfied.

Satisfaction in the MISO Survey is reported on a four-point scale:

1. Dissatisfied
2. Somewhat dissatisfied
3. Somewhat satisfied
4. Satisfied

2009 Benchmarks: Student Frequency of Use, Importance, and Satisfaction

Students: Frequency of Use

Students report use of the course management system more than one to three times a week, with a mean of 4.24 on a five-point scale.  This is the only resource reported to be used with this level of frequency by any of the three populations surveyed (students, faculty, and staff).

All of the most frequently used areas are resources, not services.  Circulation and Reference services are used more than twice in a semester, while the Help Desk and ILL are used less than once or twice a semester.

Digital image collections, and borrowing technology equipment and laptops are the least frequently used areas.

Frequency of use in the MISO Survey is set on a five-point scale:

1. Never
2. Once or twice a semester
3. One to three times a month
4. One to three times a week
5. More than three times a week

Students: Importance

For students, the technology infrastructure leads importance: students value wireless access above all, with computer access in the library and in computing labs next.  The course management system, used more frequently than other resources, follows in the more important tier.

Every item in the more important tier is a resource, not a service.  Services are bunched together in the less important (2.0-3.0) tier.  Only one area, residence hall telephone service, is of low importance (below 2.0) to students.

Importance in the MISO Survey is reported on a four-point scale:

1. Not important
2. Somewhat important
3. Important
4. Very important

Students: Satisfaction

Students are highly satisfied with 17 items, 13 of which are library-related.  Services are mixed in with resources in the top tier.  Some items with low frequency of use and lesser importance are reported to have high or moderately high satisfaction.  This includes digital image collections, borrowing laptops, and borrowing technology equipment.  CIOs may want to explore shifting resources away from these areas, which appear to be of less value to students despite being highly satisfactory.

Among the areas considered more important, all but one are found to have high satisfaction.  The exceptions are wireless availability and wireless performance, which join network speed and stability in the Somewhat Dissatisfied tier.  This disparity between value and satisfaction is the largest found across the three constituencies.  CIOs should explore wireless and networking perceptions at their institutions to determine whether network infrastructure should be a priority either for investment of resources or for communications and outreach.

Satisfaction in the MISO Survey is reported on a four-point scale:

1. Dissatisfied
2. Somewhat dissatisfied
3. Somewhat satisfied
4. Satisfied

2009 Benchmarks: Staff Frequency of Use, Importance, and Satisfaction

Staff: Frequency of Use

Staff do not use library and technology services and resources frequently.  With the exception of ERP self service (used monthly), staff report use of services and resources no more than once or twice a semester.  In contrast, students report use of some resources several times a week, and faculty report use of resources as frequently as several times a month.

With the exception of the Help Desk, all items in the Less Frequently Used tier are resources.  Help Desk ranks far above other services, with support for technology in meeting spaces and classrooms (the next most frequently used service) more than seven tenths of a point lower.

Library services and resources tend to be infrequently used.  The most frequently used of these is the library café and the library web site.  Circulation and Reference services, as well as ILL, are found toward the bottom of the Infrequently Used tier.

Frequency of use in the MISO Survey is set on a five-point scale:

1. Never
2. Once or twice a semester
3. One to three times a month
4. One to three times a week
5. More than three times a week

Staff: Importance

Staff consider the Help Desk to be the most important of all the services and resources, and staff are the only population to consider a human-mediated service to be that important.   For faculty, the top ranking service was Circulation, which came in sixth.  No human mediated services were considered to be more important by students.

Absent in the top tier of importance for staff is wireless.  Staff are again unique in not consider wireless to be a more important resource.  Wireless is #1 for students and toward the bottom of the more important rankings for faculty.

Library items begin in the middle of somewhat important items, with the library web site, catalog, Circulation services, public computers in the library and library databases bunched together.

Less important to staff are academic resources including quiet space in the library, the course management system, and digital image collections.  Videoconferencing remains a niche service of less importance to most staff.

Importance in the MISO Survey is reported on a four-point scale:

1. Not important
2. Somewhat important
3. Important
4. Very important

Staff: Satisfaction

Staff are highly satisfied with library and IT, as 24 items are rated in the high satisfaction range of 3.5 or higher on the four-point satisfaction scale.  Staff seem happiest with services they rarely use and consider less important: Circulation and Reference services are at the top of overall staff satisfaction.  Eight library areas are at the top of satisfaction despite having relatively low importance for staff.

Of the items with higher importance, staff report high satisfaction with three of the four – Help Desk, ERP self service, and access to online resources from off campus – only ERP data administration comes in with a moderately high satisfaction rating from staff.

Items with moderately high satisfaction are largely computing related.  Infrastructure resources including network speed and stability, as well as availability of wireless and spam protection, are slightly less satisfactory to staff.  Input items, including support for specialized computing needs and  input into library and computing decisions also score lower than other library and IT services.

Satisfaction in the MISO Survey is reported on a four-point scale:

1. Dissatisfied
2. Somewhat dissatisfied
3. Somewhat satisfied
4. Satisfied