Primary Research Group has published The Survey of Higher Education
Faculty: Use of Academic Library Special Collections, ISBN 1-57440-135-1.
The Survey of Higher Education Faculty: Use of Academic Library Special
Collections (ISBN 1-57440-135-1) presents data on how college faculty use
special collections for teaching and research. The report presents data
on overall use of special collections and on use of specific special
collections such as film & video, photography, rare books and historic
documents, scientific history and rare specimens; posters, catalogs and
other commercial materials; personal archives and estates, music
collections, and art and graphics collections.
The report also presents data on faculty satisfaction with special
collections, generally, and in specific areas such as ease of use, ease of
finding them in library catalogs, ease of finding them online, ease of
obtaining reproductions and photocopies, and satisfaction with hours of
access, among other issues. The study also presents precise data on how
often faculty visit special collections and how often they recommend their
use to students and professional colleagues.
The report is based no results of a survey of more than 550 higher
education faculty in
the United States and Canada. Data is presented in the aggregate and for
12 criteria including academic field, size of college, type of college,
academic title and other factors.
Just a few of the report¡¦s many findings are that:
ƒö 8.3% of the faculty in the sample have used a collection of
catalogs, posters, guides or other commercial materials for research
purposes with in the past three years.
ƒö Only 1.12% of Americans were highly dissatisfied with the ease in
obtaining photocopies or reproductions from special collections while
12.5% of Canadians were highly dissatisfied with the same issue.
ƒö More than 18% of faculty who describe themselves as left of
liberal have used a rare books or historic document collection within the
past three years but only a little more than 12% of liberals and 10 1/2
percent of those who call themselves middle-of-the-road used a rare book
or manuscript special collection in this period; 5.15% of conservatives
have done so and no faculty member in the sample self described as right
of conservative had used such collection within the past three years.
ƒö Satisfaction was great with the terms of borrowing or use offered
by special collections. Nearly 70% of those sampled were either highly
satisfied or satisfied and only a little more than 12% were dissatisfied
to some degree.
ƒö Only a bit more than 6% were highly satisfied with online access
to supplementary materials offered by these collection.
For further information, view our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com or
call us at 212-736-2316.
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