CCE Theses and Dissertations

A Study of Perceptions and Use of A Small college consortium Library By Faculty and Students

Date of Award

1988

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Arts (DA)

Department

Center for Computer-Based Learning

Advisor

John A. Scigliano

Committee Member

Marlyn Kemper Littman

Committee Member

Mientje Levin

Committee Member

Thomas MacFarland

Abstract

This study focuses on an examination of students and faculty perceptions or library use and seeks to determine if faculty consider library use for class activities a requirement. In order to accomplish this objective, this query was designed to assess library use and perceptions by the clientele of two diverse educational institutions in Sitka, Alaska. The clientele studied included students and full-time teaching faculty at Islands Community College and Sheldon Jackson College. Both institutions are served by a common library facility. The population was defined as the students and full-time teaching faculty who were enrolled or employed by the colleges during the spring of 1988. The sample included 100 students and 31 faculty from the two institutions who responded to surveys.

A review of related literature showed much concern and interest in library user studies, but no evaluation of the nonuser.

This report describes the results of the spring 1988 survey of student and faculty users and nonusers of collections and services at Stratton Library. User frequency, composition of user clienteles, preferred media format, and users’ perceptions of services offered are described. A brief history of the consortium setting is also provided. Since this investigation dealt with the response of clientele of two institutions using a joint facility and employed a strategy for gaining perceptions from nonusers, new knowledge concerning evaluation of library use and perceptions studies was obtained.

Because no control of the population was possible, survey format was used and students in English classes from both institutions were given a 34-item self-reporting questionnaire. Similar instruments were mailed to full-time teaching faculty.

Because data in this descriptive study can only describe the subjects and institutions involved in the study, no inferential statistics were reported. However, appropriate descriptive statistics, frequency counts, percentages and cross-tabulations were obtained for the respondents of each institution and tables were developed to allow a search for similarities and difference in the respondents were similar in their perceptions of library use and their perceptions of the helpfulness of the library staff; similar in their preference of materials format. They were dissimilar in their perception of the adequacy of library services for their expressed needs.

The responses on the written survey indicated that students and faculty do, to some extent, use Stratton Library. However, based on the results of the recent study, more emphasis is needed on making users and potential users more aware of the services.

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