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Library use surveys were sent in May 1995 to all faculty, and a random sample of 1000 graduate and 2000 undergraduate students (and a sample of 100 undergraduates each from Bothell and Tacoma). Nearly 1400 faculty returned the surveys (31%) as well as about 400 graduate students (41%) and almost 500 undergraduates (25%). Survey results revealed that users are very satisfied with library services and are ready for the transition to the electronic library.
It is possible to compare the results of the 1995 surveys with those reported in the 1992 surveys for similar questions. However, there were differences between the 1992 and 1995 surveys that need to be considered when making comparisons. The most important is the composition of the respondent group in the faculty group. The composition of faculty respondents changed significantly from 1992 as the proportion from Health Sciences increased from 33.5% to 47.6%. The 1995 figure is a more accurate representationof the Health Sciences percentage than in 1992. The composition of the graduate and undergraduate respondents were not significantly different from 1992 surveys, but the smaller sample size makes subgroup results less reliable than the larger faculty one.
A number of questions were changed - the 1992 survey focused on who our users were, how often they used library services and collections, and how satisfied they were with them. The 1995 survey tried to obtain information on what library services and collections were most useful for users as well as to get a better sense of priorities that would best support their work.