The Library is a significant part of studies and work

In the survey conducted in November 2022, the library received good feedback across the board, and the experience ratings were mostly above four out of five. The highest scores (4.46) were given to the question " Library services are a significant part of my studies/work."

When analyzing the survey responses, the following issues deserved to be highlighted. The quotes in the text are freely translated from the Finnish survey answers.

Library premises and opening hours

Premises receive by far the most open responses in every survey. Library facilities, and especially self-service use of them, are important to members of the Tampere Universities community. Diversity of facilities is desired; spaces are needed for both individual and group studying. The changes to the Linna library space were mostly seen as a good thing, but they were still ongoing at the time of the survey, which was reflected in the responses. Since the survey, we have completed the furnishing and added more power sockets to the workstations, which was highly wished for in open comments.

"It's great that self-service is smooth, so you can use the library when it suits you. The rules for silent study areas should be followed, but this depends more on the users."

With the remodeling of the spaces, the respondents also expressed a need for better guidance on their use. We have already updated the floor plans for the Linna and Hervanta units. After the renovations at Linna are completed, Linna will also have a sound landscape indicating which areas are intended for quieter studying and where group work is allowed. The floor plan for the TAMK unit will be updated when the relocated materials from other campuses are in place.

Last year, we significantly extended the self-service hours for library users with key cards, with the Linna and TAMK units open until 22.00 on weekdays and from 10.00 to 15.00 on Saturdays. We received many thanks for this in the survey comments, but several people also wished for even longer self-service hours, especially on weekends. In collaboration with the facilities management, we are considering the possibility of further extending the self-service hours this year.

Library self-service was seen as easy, and the current service hours were mostly suitable.

Library materials and search service

Library needs to invest in information resources also in the future. The currency of collections and the functionality of e-resources were considered important. Electronic resources were seen as particularly important, and the emphasis on acquiring new materials is on them. The use of e-resources was seen as difficult, and we are communicating this to the service providers to improve the ease of use of their systems.

"The introduction of materials often requires switching to third-party programs, which makes Andor like a middleman when transferring to different resources. In itself, it is handy that Andor can be used for many things but jumping between different services is not very straightforward."

Andor was mainly experienced as easy to use and comprehensive. One feature desired on the open comments has just been implemented: a link to the acquisition proposal form will appear alongside the search result if the material is not yet part of the library's collections. We received a lot of positive feedback on the implementation of acquisition proposals.

Guidance and information searching trainings

According to the respondents, the development needs of training and guidance services mainly lie in their marketing. Information searching trainings were considered necessary and were also requested by staff. Information searching workshops were praised for providing more individualized and in-depth guidance than general trainings. Live teaching was considered better than online teaching. Activating methods of online teaching, such as quizzes, received special thanks.

"The library's service and guidance are naturally top-notch."

Support for open science and research

We also asked staff respondents about the library's support for open science and research services. The respondent group was small, but we still received many good concrete development suggestions. Open science trainings were considered good, but there was also a desire for more visible promotion of them so that more people, including students, could find them.

 

Thanks again to all respondents. We received valuable feedback from you to support the improvement of our services. And once again, congratulations to all the winners of the survey prize draw. The prizes were drawn right after the survey closed and the winners have been notified.