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This page provides an overview of the main results, including a comparison with our 2011 survey where possible, and our replies to comments and suggestions.
Please see our full data report and comments report for further details.
- Q1: How often do you use library services?
- Q2: For what purpose(s) do you use library services?
- Q3: How satisfied are you with the services and resources currently offered?
- Q4. Which of the following should the library focus on as a priority?
- Q5 Are there any additional services that you would like to see?
- Q6. How do you rate the library service overall?
- Q7. Please give an example where the library service has had an impact on your work or has helped to improve patient care.
- Q8. Are there any other comments you would like to make about the library?
[Return to the survey homepage]
Question 1. How often do you use library services?
The top 5 most frequently used resources from a pre-defined list were :
- Online databases - 46% of respondents use them 'more than weekly'
- Remote access to ejournals - 28% use them 'more than weekly'
- UCL wifi - 26% use this 'more than weekly'
- Ejournals via Library PCs -21% use these 'more than weekly'
- UCL networked PCs - 19% use these 'more than weekly'
Online databases and remote access to ejournals were the top two responses in our 2011 survey. UCL wifi and UCL networked PC access were new options in this 2014 survey.
Despite this being a Queen Square Library survey it is possible that respondents were referring to their overall use of these, rather than just in the Library, but it does reflect the increasing use of laptops and mobile devices within the Library, as well as the continued need for fixed computers.
Question 2. For what purpose(s) do you use library services?
The top 5 cited purposes from a pre-defined list were:
- Research Projects - 68% of respondents
- Preparing for teaching/training - 32%
- Exam preparation - 28%
- Supporting patient care - 24%
- Career development - 18%
This was a new question in the 2014 survey. It is pleasing to see the range of purposes for which the Library is used, which reflect Queen Square's role in teaching, training, research and clinical practice.
Please see Question 7 for some specific examples of how using the Library has impacted upon work and patient care.
Question 3. How satisfied are you with the services and resources currently offered?
Over half of respondents ranked Helpfulness of staff, Knowledge of staff and Support for information as 'Excellent' (64%, 62% and 52% respectively). These were also rated highly in the 2011 survey.
50% of the total rankings overall were Excellent or Good.
Individual services and resources ranked as either 'Excellent' or 'Good' by 50% or more respondents were:
- Library environment (70%)
- Databases (68%)
- Training (65%)
- Library website (58%)
- Remote ejournals (57%)
- Print Journals (56%)
- Books (53%),
- Opening hours (50%)
This is similar to the 2011 survey, although it is pleasing to see that books, opening hours and training are new entries in the above list.
Half of the services and resources listed had either no or one respondent ranking them as "needing improvement". Only 2% of the total rankings overall were "needs improvement". This is a similar pattern to the 2011 survey.
Services which received most rankings of "Needs improvement" were
- Ebooks - 6 respondents (7%)
- Remote ejournals - 5 respondents (6%)
- Computers - 4 respondents (5%)
- Printing and photocopying - 4 respondents (5%)
- Opening hours - 5 respondents (6%)
This is a similar pattern to the 2011 survey, though opening hours received fewer "needs improvement" rankings in 2014.
Suggestions for improvement
Respondents who said that a services needs improvement were prompted for further details. We received 20 responses and have grouped them into similar topics below, including our replies:
1) Range of and access to print and eresources
Two respondents comments referred to ebooks, two mentioned remote access for UCLH staff and one respondent mentioned a lack of cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology books.
Our replies:
Requests
for more, or specific titles - we encourage users to let us know if there is a print, ebook or ejournal that the
library does not currently offer, giving
details of the specific title(s).
Unfortunately, the high cost of online content and our limited library
budget mean that it is not always possible for us to purchase access.
However, a 'wishlist' is maintained of all requests received and, if
additional funds become available, priority is given to wishlist items.
In terms of print resources, registered Library members have access to books across UCL Libraries, including the LASS and Science Libraries, which also hold resources on related subject areas. Many of these can be requested on inter-site loan for collection at Queen Square Library. We can also obtain items on Inter-Library loan from the British Library.
Extended access from home - It is
always possible for users to access content from home if it has been
purchased by their own institution - e.g. NHS staff can access
NHS-purchased content at home while UCL staff and students can access
UCL-purchased content at home. Additionally, NHS users are also able to
access most of the UCL-purchased ejournals from within the library.
However, only those who work for or study at UCL can gain access from outside the UCL network because the publishers (who own the online content) have licenses in place to prevent this.
2) Opening hours
There was no consensus about which extra hours would be of most use: one respondent asked for earlier opening; four for later opening and three for weekend opening. One respondent asked for 24 hour access.
Our reply:
It is good to hear that access to our physical space is still important to our users. Unfortunately, extending library opening hours is not
currently feasible due to the absence of a security
presence at no.23 Queen Square (the building therefore needs to be
locked and secured overnight and at weekends). It would also not be possible to cover extended opening hours with our current library staffing levels (as we are a very small library team).
Satisfaction with opening hours is higher in this 2014 survey than in 2011. We will however continue to monitor and review the situation. Registered members of our Library also have access across UCL Libraries, many of which have longer evening and weekend opening - http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/opening.shtml
3) Computing facilities
Three respondents commented that the Library needed more computers.
Our reply:
We have tried to achieve a balance between
provision of PC spaces and study spaces, which are also in demand. While this is a difficult
balance to achieve all the PCs are only occasionally in use at the same time. Our refurbishment allowed us to increase the number of NHS computers available by doubling up each work station.
Each computer has a sign requesting that Library users only use the library PCs to access Library resources, rather than for email or social activities, which helps us to increase the availability of computers. All study spaces have power sockets for laptops, and Eduroam is now available in all parts of the Library.
IoN students also have access to a Cluster room at no. 7 Queen Square, whose computers have full access to software.
4) Access to software
6 respondents commented that the Library computers should have access to more software, e.g. Microsoft Office access.
Our reply:
The library PCs are provided for access to library resources and are not
intended to offer Office facilities (please also see reply above re: availability of computers). In addition, we are not able to
offer MS Word on the IoN PCs because UCL's license does not cover use by our non-UCL users, including NHS staff.
5) Printing
2 respondents commented on printing facilities not being part of the central UCL system - and thus being less convenient/more expensive - students are unable to use their central printing credit.
Our reply:
We investigated the possibility of installing ISD multi-functional devices when they were rolled out in 2013, however, this is not currently possible, as our IoN networked computers would not be able to print to them. We charge 5p per A4 page, which is in line with other UCL libraries.
6) Eduroam access within the Library
4 people commented on the lack of ability to connect to Eduroam throughout the Library.
Our reply:
We were aware of this issue, and requested IT to investigate, which resulted in installation of new Eduroam equipment. We are pleased to report that Eduroam is now available throughout the Library. We are also able to issue UCL Guest accounts locally (previously users had to visit Cruciform Library).
7) Other suggestions
One respondent mentioned a lack of awareness of Library Services at NHNN
Our reply:
We try to use every opportunity to promote our services to NHNN staff, and are currently reviewing Library Services content at the wider UCLH inductions and on Insight, in co-ordination with our colleagues in other Library Services supporting the Trust. We present at the monthly Queen Square inductions, and also at junior doctor inductions at NHNN.
We also have a Queen Square Library page on Insight and regularly promote our Training sessions via the National Cascade list.
We welcome suggestions for improving staff awareness, including invitations to attend NHNN departmental meetings, and encourage any staff who are interested to contact us.
One respondent suggested adding Explore to the Queen Square Library home page
Our reply:
Explore has been added to the home page tabs.
Question 4. Which of the following should the library focus on as a priority?
Respondents were asked to select priorities from a list, choosing at least one and up to three priority areas. The three most popular choices were:
- Ejournals - 32% of respondents
- Wireless access - 27%
- Quiet study space - 27%
The top 3 in the 2011 survey were ejournals, opening hours and ebooks, so it's interesting to see the change here (wireless access was a new addition in the 2014 survey). Opening hours is now joint 4th, along with computers, and ebooks is in 6th place.
Please see Question 3 and Question 5 for suggestions for improvement to eresources, Eduroam and quiet study space.
Question 5. Are there any additional services that you would like to see?
This was an optional question. We received 8 suggestions and have included below the additional ones which have not already been mentioned above:
One respondent mentioned the need to increase awareness of Queen Square Library social networking
Our reply:
Our Twitter and Facebook accounts are relatively new and we would encourage users to sign up to them, and comment/re-tweet as appropriate! We ensure regular activity on both accounts, including the "On this Day" feature on Twitter, highlighting events in Queen Square's History and associated items in the Queen Square Archives. We are pleased to say that an increasing number and range of people are signing up and we now have over 180 followers.
We include links to our Facebook and Twitter accounts on the footer of all our Queen Square Library web pages, and there is a Twitter feed on our News page. We also include them on our leaflets. We will be adding them to our induction slides, email signatures and add to our Library page on Insight.
We welcome any additional suggestions for promoting our social media channels.
One respondent suggesting creating an area in the Library showing and telling the History of the National Hospital.
Our reply:
Queen Square Library houses the National Hospital archive from 1860-1948, and hosts regular exhibitions which showcase documents and artefacts from Queen Square's history, utilising the museum display wall which was created as part of the refurbishment. All are welcome to visit. Please see our Archives website for details of current and previous displays.
One respondent mentioned that it would be nice if there was something a little more private in terms of study/computer space, maybe cubicles or dividers between spaces
Our reply:
Space is at a premium in Queen Square, and as part of our refurbishment, we
tried to fit in as many multi-purpose facilities as possible. We were able to
incorporate some smaller study rooms but,
unfortunately, there is not enough room to cater for individual study
spaces. The library operates a 'quiet', rather than a 'silent' policy,
but please do let library staff know if anyone is causing a disturbance
as we are happy to police the quiet policy.
One respondent asked if inter-library loans could be supplied as pdf scans
Our reply:
We are able to offer this on request, and have promoted this to regular users of the service. However, it only applies to British Library inter-library loans, requires installation of specific software and payment in advance. Please contact us for further details.
Question 6. How do you rate the Library overall?
Respondents were asked to choose a rating from 1 ('needs improvement') to 6 ('excellent'). We were very pleased that no survey respondents gave the library service
an overall rating of 1. Most people rated
the library service within the positive end of the scale (95%
of respondents), with 38% giving an overall rating of 6
(‘excellent’).
Just 4 people (or 5%) gave negative ratings of either 2 (n=2) or 3 (n=2). These respondents are dissatisfied with the number of, and software on computers, and remote access to ejournals, which has been raised above, and would like lunchtime sessions, which is raised under Question 8 below
Question 7. Please give an example where the library service has had an impact on your work or has helped to improve patient care.
This was an optional question. We received 33 examples of impact which included:
- "It helped me plan how to work with a patient who had a very rare disease that I was not familiar with". AHP at NHNN
- "With books and articles I have been organizing an appropriate group of measures to test my patients". IoN research postgraduate
- "Has enabled fairly fast access to very old rare papers and books - or those not available online. This has saved our lab money/enabled us to view text that would be very expensive to buy from source". IoN non-academic staff
- "Delivering better prognostic information to patients with progressive neurodegenerative disease" IoN academic staff
- "I have prepared 2 sets of clinical guidelines for patients with ataxia based on material from the library". UCL research postgraduate
- "I recently saw a cancer patient who wanted advice on taking a curcumin supplement after researching literature at the library which i couldn't access elsewhere i was able to give her evidence based advice". AHP at RLHIM
- "I was able to quickly and easily consult several statistical textbooks to clarify my understanding of an advanced modelling technique needed for a research article I was working on". IoN academic staff
Question 8. Are there any other comments you would like to make about the Library?
This was an optional question and not everyone gave a response. However,
we did receive comments from 25 people.
The comments included two further suggestions as below:
'Refresher' days where library staff run through the services available and tours and lunchtime training sessions
Our reply:
We will be piloting lunchtime sessions, including refresher courses, from March onwards.
More Physics and medical engineering books
Our reply:
We encourage users to let us know if there is a resource which the library does not currently hold, giving
details of the specific title(s). However, the focus of our collection as a small, specialist Library is on neurology, neurosurgery and neurosciences.
Our collection is complimented by collections across UCL Libraries, which registered Library users have access to, including the Science Library. Many of these can be
requested on inter-site loan for collection at Queen Square Library. We
can also obtain items on Inter-Library loan from the British Library.
Examples of other comments received:
- "We are very lucky to have such an excellent library and library staff at NHNN". Nurse at NHNN.
- "Thank you very much to Jackie for her kind, fast and efficient help with ILLs and in enabling us to quickly access papers that are not readily available elsewhere - even in various languages". IoN non-academic staff.
- "The library is an excellent resource that we are so lucky to have here at NHNN. The knowledge of the staff is also a huge positive". NHNN AHP
- "I like the atmosphere, it is quiet, light, there are study spaces behind closed doors, the staff is very friendly". IoN taught postgraduate.
- The library makes an outstanding contribution and the staff is beyond excellent in every way. UCL academic staff
- "I just enjoy the fact that the library is always super quiet, and that the study space is really nice, modern, fresh and clean. ... So it's a really nice environment to work in and revise in. Helps me to concentrate". IoN taught postgraduate.
- "The personnel in the Library is extremely efficient, competent and listens to our requests and needs". IoN academic staff
- "The library, especially Kate, has been very helpful providing information which helps me to more efficiently research topics and write papers. I've gotten a lot of Endnote advice and the PubMed course was great". IoN academic staff
- "The library staff have helped in literature searches and any queries on how best to do this. they have also responded to requests for purchasing updated versions of books, the library overall is an excellent resource". AHP at NHNN
- "The library staff are excellent and very helpful with searches and getting back to you promptly if you have a query about whether a certain journal is held, and how access can be made if not. The library environment is very pleasant as well!" NHNN Other