« Will power | main | nit picking, blip edition »
The Absent User
27 Feb 09
Martell, Charles. “The Absent User: Physical Use of Academic Library Collections and Services Continues to Decline 1995–2006.” Journal of Academic Librarianship 34.5: 400-407.
Long story short: circulation counts, way down; reference transactions, way WAY down. Same here. Conclusions?
Clearly today’s users have substituted virtual use for in-person use. While they may be absent, they are not inactive. Networked electronic resources via library portals and the Internet have provided users with benefits that go far beyond anything available when physical use was the only alternative.
Librarians have coped successfully with the transition, as reported in several major user satisfaction surveys.* This is an extremely positive sign. It demonstrates that librarians have done that which was in their power to achieve. Keeping users tethered to the physical library was never a realistic option. Instead users engage in whatever strategy works best for them. This has resulted in fewer visits to the library and more use of networked resources for research, study, and teaching.
Trying to bring students back to the library in order to use the print collections may fail as a strategy if instructors do not require such use from their students or if online alternatives are available. Adding a café, art gallery, computer labs, classrooms, and other non-library services may increase gate counts but they are unlikely to influence circulation rates.
There is no end in sight to the declines in circulation and reference that many libraries are experiencing. This presents considerable difficulties for anyone who is attempting to justify a new building or an improved materials budget. In these situations it becomes necessary to demonstrate how monumental increases in the usage of electronic collections and services balanced with sound investments in the print collections will provide optimum benefits to students and faculty.
I wish this last point were better elaborated. Around here we’ve been talking about one justification for capital expenditures being in reconfiguring space precisely to meet changing patron behaviours and expanding service needs.
—————
* – Martell cites: Carol Tenopir, Use and Users of Electronic Library Resources: An Overview and Analysis of Recent Research Studies (Washington, D.C.: Council on Library and Information Resources, Aug. 2003). 72 pp. Available: http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub120abst.html (Dec. 26, 2007); Amy Friedlander, Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment: Introduction to a Data Set Assembled by the Digital Library Federation and Outsell, Inc. (Washington, D.C.: Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and Information Resources, November 2002): 1–20. Available: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub110/contents.html (Dec. 24, 2007); College Students’ Perceptions of Library and Information Resources 2005: A Report to the OCLC Membership. Available: http://www.oclc.org/reports/pdfs/studentperceptions_ part4.pdf (Dec. 26, 2007).
Posted by pzed on February 27, 2009 at 1.34pm
Categories: libraries
