2009 Benchmarks: Student Frequency of Use, Importance, and Satisfaction
November 5, 2009 by Kevin Creamer · Leave a Comment
Students: Frequency of Use
Most frequently used resources by students 2007-2009. A mean score of 3 represents one to three times a month, a score of 4 represents one to three times a week, and a score of 5 represents more than 3 times a week.
Less frequently used services and resources by students 2007-2009. A mean score of 2 represents once or twice a semester, while a score of 3 represents one to three times a month.
Infrequently used services and resources by faculty 2007-2009. A mean score of 1 means the item is never used, while a score of 2 represents one or two times a semester.
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:
- Never
- Once or twice a semester
- One to three times a month
- One to three times a week
- More than three times a week
Students: Importance
More Important services and resources for students, 2007-2009. A mean score of 3 means Important, while a score of 4 represents Very Important.
Somewhat important services and resources for students, 2007-2009. A mean score of 2 means Somewhat Important, while a score of 3 represents Important.
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:
- Not important
- Somewhat important
- Important
- Very important
Students: Satisfaction
High Satisfaction with services and resources, 2007-2009. Mean responses above 3.5 are considered to be highly satisfied.
Moderately High Satisfaction with services and resources, 2007-2009. A mean response of 3.0 means Somewhat Satisfied, while a response of 4.0 means Satisfied.
Somewhat dissatisfied services and resources for students, 2007-2009. A mean response of 2.0 means Somewhat Dissatisfied, while a response of 3.0 means Somewhat Satisfied.
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:
- Dissatisfied
- Somewhat dissatisfied
- Somewhat satisfied
- Satisfied
