Thanks to all who responded to my request for help regarding a proposed
survey of non-users of our service. A few record offices have undertaken
such a survey, all of them local authority services.

The following general problems were identified:

1) The user community of a record office is not limited to the local area –
how can you obtain a comprehensive sample of non-users?
2) You need to define what you mean by a non-user, and make sure that
respondents understand as well (in one case, users were filling in the
survey forms quite happily).

Some tips:

1) Decide how you will do the survey: questionnaires, focus groups,
telephone surveys etc. Local libraries were also used for distributing
survey forms. Or you may be able to fit into existing corporate
consultation. Use a Citizen’s Panel if there is one already set up in your
authority.
2) Target your sample. Apparently market researchers tend to classify
non-users as intenders, indifferents and hostiles, and ideally the sample
should be made of made up of intenders. If you cast your net too wide, you
will get a high number of ‘never heard of you’ responses. Better to do your
survey e.g. at an event with a connection to local history, or by
distributing questionnaires to the local history society or similar groups.
However, this may not be appropriate if you are trying to find out why
people have never heard of you. So you need to tailor your survey to the
type of information you are seeking. Two or three people recommended using
professional market research companies, but of course they cost money!

Some results:

1) One record office found that people would rather read newspaper articles
about the office and its holdings than go to talks or exhibitions, also that
there was little that would get people into the office unless they
specifically needed to visit. They therefore decided to spend more time
researching and writing press articles.

2) Another R.O. surveyed people in local history libraries in their county.
Despite the fact that they were already using allied historical sources, the
majority of those who had not visited the R.O. did not realise the range and
content of the resources in the R.O. They would prefer to use the R.O.’s
resources in their local library, citing the expense of travel to the R.O.
as their main reason.

3) A R.O. that put questions to a Citizen’s Panel used the results to assess
quite precisely which type of people (socio-economic group, ethnicity, place
of residence etc.) are using or might use their service. Among their
conclusions were that family history is still the most important reason for
using their record office, that looking up the website was the most likely
way that potential service users would access the service initially, and
that knowledge of and intention to use the depositor service was low.

I hope this summary is of use. I certainly feel encouraged to attempt some
kind of market research into non-users, although regrettably our budget
doesn’t run to the hiring of professional companies to do it for us.

Jane Kimber
Borough Archivist
Hammersmith and Fulham Archives and Local History Centre









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