Helsinki University Library conducted a customer survey in November 2020. The effects of the coronavirus situation on the library services were taken into account.
The answer rate was good despite the exceptional circumstances
The survey received 586 responses, almost as many as in 2018. By far the largest group of respondents were University of Helsinki bachelor's and master's students (70.4%). More than half of the responses came from customers studying or working at the City Centre Campus (59.7%). Students were asked questions about learning facilities and information seeking guidance, researchers about different services for researchers.
”Knowledgeable staff, very good service”
The respondents were able to rate the importance and functionality of different library services on a scale of 1-5. A gap analysis was performed by comparing these figures, leading to an assessment of how well the Library has managed to meet the users’ expectations.
The library services were considered to be successful on average: on a scale of 0 to 10, the average probability of recommendation was 8.6. The corresponding average in 2018 was 8.7.
During the spring of 2020, the most popular library service was the remote use of e-materials (79%). Almost 28% of the respondents had also used the pick-up service for printed materials.
A lot of freeform feedback was given about library services during the exceptional situation, a total of 114. Most customers were happy with the services, although there had been some inconvenience with the remote use of e-resources (VPN connection).
Article series details the survey results and consequent actions
During April the library will publish a series of articles about the results of the customer survey. The series will detail the survey results through different themes and describe the measures the library is taking to improve its services.