Primary Research Group has published: The Survey of American College
Students: Student Evaluation of the College Library, ISBN 1-57440-118-
1
This report presents approximately 175 tables of data exploring how full time
college students in the United States evaluate their college library. The data
in the report is based on a representative sample of more than 400 full time
college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria
including gender, grade point average, major field of study, income level of
students, type and size of college, and mean SAT acceptance score of
colleges, among other variables.
The report includes data on student satisfaction with electronic reserves, the
range of databases and periodicals supplied, library supplied database use
training, similar training on library workstations and software, reference
services, photocopiers and printing services and other college library services.
Just a few of the report’s many conclusions are that:
Satisfaction with library electronic reserve was much greater among students
from the higher income groups: more to 80% of students from homes with
annual incomes of more than $150,000 per year said that they were either
satisfied or greatly satisfied.
Students in the fine and performing arts seem the least satisfied with the
provision of items on electronic reserve. Less than 40% of them expressed
either satisfaction or great satisfaction.
In general, students seemed happy with the range of databases provided by
their college library. Only 1.54% said that they would greatly dissatisfied and
only 2.83% said that they were dissatisfied. Students who attend private
college were someone more satisfied than students who attended public
college. More than 73% of students attending private college said that they
were either satisfied or greatly satisfied, while this was the case for a little
more than 60% of public college students.
Students in the hard sciences, the social sciences, and in business and
economics also seemed happier that were other students with their ease of
using the library catalog.
We asked the students in the sample how satisfied were they with the
availability of reference staff at their library. 1.54% said that they were
greatly dissatisfied, while 5.8% termed themselves a dissatisfied; another 30%
said that the situation was acceptable. 43.33% said that they were satisfied,
while 19.74% said that they were greatly satisfied
Students who grew up in the West of the United States seemed the most
skeptical of the help that they were receiving from their college library in using
computers and software. Less than half of these students described
themselves as satisfied or greatly satisfied.
Business and economic students were relatively happy, with more than 63%
deeming themselves either satisfied or greatly satisfied while only about 52%
of fine and performing arts students said the same. There is not a big
difference between public and private college students in this area.
Overall more than 65% of students were either satisfied or greatly satisfied
with their library’s printing facilities. Students in the fine or performing arts
were the happiest overall with library printing facilities, and more than 75%
were either satisfied or greatly satisfied and none were greatly dissatisfied,
This 88-page report is available from Primary Research Group for $75.00. For
a table of contents and further information, or to order, visit our website at
www.PrimaryResearch.com, or call 212-736-2316.
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