Ask a Librarian User Survey Results: They Like Us! They really like us!

I spent yesterday looking at user survey responses collected in January for both the collaborative and academic desks. While the number of users taking the study is down, the overall percentage of satisfaction is up.

Highlights include:

• 95% of users reported they plan to use Ask a Librarian again. This is up from 88% last year.
• For the first time ever, we had more returning users than new users taking the User Survey. (76% on the collaborative and 66% on the academic desk were return users.)
• 63% of sessions’ users were shown web-based resources. (62% on the collaborative desk and slightly higher with 71% on the academic desk)
• 96% of users shown resources thought they would be able to use those same resources on their own later. 93% felt they would be more comfortable doing online research in the future.

As with other user studies, the highest percentage of users found Ask a Librarian from links on their libraries’ web sites. This is the single most effective form of marketing because even if users are aware of our service, they won’t be able to use it if they can’t find it. So if the Ask a Librarian link is not easily found on your site, consider moving it to a more visible spot. Alarmingly, only 4% of users were told about Ask a Librarian from their librarian, and we think this number should be higher. This is why we are kicking off our ‘Word of Mouth’ Marketing Campaign with Ask a Librarian Day on Friday. Every person in your library should know about the service and let users know about it.

We also ask our survey respondents for comments and suggestions on how to approve. 81% of users had only positive comments. The following librarians were mentioned specifically in the survey as being helpful, great, fabulous, excellent and very informative.

Collaborative Desk: WarrenF, Phil, Renee, kellib, Juan, Larry C, CarloB, Angeleen, Jennifer (FSU), Margaret W Goldstein FSU, JaimeG, BrianJ from Tampa, Marni, Kalli or Kerri, Justin and Pam
Academic Desk: Ely, Meredith, and Lena

As one user said, “I am completely satisfied with the help I received from Ask A Librarian. I thank you. No improvements needed.” Another user said, “Thank you for providing this important resource.”

Great work everyone! As one customer said, “You guys are doing wonderful so keep up the good work!”