The retiring Director of the Dartmouth College Library requested a survey of current users to determine how they used the library, their satisfaction with resources, and what might be done to improve the library's contribution to the research and teaching of faculty and the students' academic work. The project was assigned to two senior librarians. The Office of Institutional Research aided in the design of the survey and the analysis; the Registrar's Office assisted with the drawing of the student samples; and Computing Services assisted with the drawing of the faculty sample and the design and administration of the Web-based survey form. Details on the production of the questionnaires, the samples, and the administration of the surveys are in the Appendix.
Surveys were sent during the first two weeks in May (the 6th and 7th weeks of spring term) to a sample of undergraduates, all graduate and professional students, and all faculty who have addresses within commuting distance of the College. The response rates and numbers of respondents for the three groups were:
Undergraduates: 369 responded for a 31% response rate. Graduate/professional students: 292 responded for a 24% response rate, ranging from a 47% response rate among medical students to 11% among Arts and Sciences graduate students.
Faculty: 253 responded for a 25% response rate.
Details on the numbers of respondents and response rates for each school, and by class for undergraduates, are shown in the appendix.
In the faculty graphs that follow, data are shown for faculty groups that contained at least 40 individuals (Arts and Sciences: Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences; Dartmouth Medical School).