The annual library survey is now live and listening:

https://questionpro.com/t/ADooIZ3L5d

Tell us how the library’s collections, services, and spaces mattered to YOU in 2024.  If you’ve ever used our website or stepped foot in the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center, we want to hear what you think about your library.  The survey has been redesigned so you can finish faster and get back to studying for midterms.

Have you ever wanted something different in the library?  More study spaces?  More books?  Less noise? An entirely new floor with a cafeteria and espresso machine?

From now until March 21^st, when the survey closes, is your chance to let us know how we can improve and what we’re doing right.

As a direct result of your feedback on past surveys, we’ve made a lot of changes already:

• You wanted more comfortable seating and more places in the library to study, so last summer, we renovated a part of the first floor, removed or relocated some outdated books, and added booth seating and study cubicles—creating more study spaces with more attractive, private, and comfortable seating.
• Many of you said you wanted audiobooks on Libby, so we now have almost 600 of them through the Libby app. Now you can have more debates with your friends about whether listening to an audiobook counts as “reading.”
• Snacks are now allowed! Just keep Dorito dust off the books.
• We added a water bottle refill station on the first floor, near the restrooms.
• Some of you said we want to stay more informed about the library, so we increased the quality and frequency of our social media presence.
• We added a supply vending machine to get last minute scantrons, charging cables, and playing cards to get through the late-night study sessions.
• Every year, we hear that you want more quality journal access, and every year, we try to deliver. This past year, we expanded JSTOR and added access to local and state newspapers with America’s News.
• You told us some of the computers were getting slower, so we upgraded the Apple computers on the third floor and added docking stations to every floor so you can bring your laptop and plug and play (thanks to our good friends in the Office of Information Systems).
• We can all agree the elevators were sometimes unreliable. Thankfully, they are now getting replaced.
• Finally, many of you wanted a shorter survey to get through. Take it now and time us—we think it’s faster, but you tell us.

We hope you will continue to tell us what we do best and what we can do better on this year’s survey.  If you want a more direct approach, send us a text, email, or chat.  If you prefer the socials, we can be found on Facebook and Instagram.  No matter how you do it, let us know how we can make your library better.

The annual library survey is now live and listening:

https://questionpro.com/t/ADooIZ1sUz

Tell us how the library’s collections, services, and spaces mattered to YOU in 2023.  If you’ve ever used our website or stepped foot in any of the library buildings (Ozark Campus Library or the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center), we want to hear what you think about your library.  The survey is short and completely anonymous because–as always–we value the privacy of our users.

Have you ever wanted something different in the library?  More study spaces?  More books?  Less noise? An entirely new floor with a café, movie theater, and popcorn machine?

From now until April 19th when the survey closes is your chance to let us know!

We hope you will continue to tell us what we do best and what we can do better on this year’s survey.  If you want a more direct approach, send us a text, email, or chat.  If you prefer the socials, we can be found on Facebook and Instagram.  No matter how you do it, let us know how we can make your library better.

The annual library survey is now live and listening:

https://questionpro.com/t/ADooIZwmzQ

Tell us how the library’s collections, services, and spaces mattered to YOU in 2022.  If you’ve ever used our website or stepped foot in any of the library buildings (Ozark Campus Library or the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center), we want to hear what you think about your library.  The survey is short and completely anonymous because–as always–we value the privacy of our users.

Have you ever wanted something different in the library?  More study spaces?  More books?  Less noise? An all-you-can-eat seafood buffet and chocolate fountain?*

*Actual survey comment from 2022

From now until April 10th when the survey closes is your chance to let us know!

Because of your feedback last year, we’ve made a lot of changes already:

• A beverage vending machine has been added to the south foyer.
• Expanded full-text journal coverage with additional 998 journals from Sage Premier, 1724 journals from Taylor & Francis, & 453 journals from JSTOR’s Arts and Sciences V and VI collections.
• Periodic pop-up libraries through-out the year to improve outreach and advertising of our great book collections.
• Reduced noise on the 2nd floor by moving more evening personnel to the quiet floor.
• Added access to printers from the study room computers.
• Revamped freshmen orientation tours to describe more about the services we provide.
• Remained open during inclement weather days.

In some cases, you’ve made some great suggestions for things we ALREADY have, but just not advertised as well as we should.  For example…

• Did you know we have a gender-neutral bathroom?  This frequently asked-for facility is a bit hidden, but you can find it just outside of campus support at the north entrance.
• Want to renew books online?  Yes, you can!  Just go to findit.atu.edu and sign-in to review your checked-out items and renew them online.
• Need computers with webcams for Respondus tests?  We have the next best thing.  You can actually check-out webcams from the Circulation Desk for all your test-taking needs.  We even check-out laptops with webcams included.

Some requests, however, remain just out of reach:

• Expansion of Hours–This is the number one request since the survey began.  Currently, the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology ranks fourth in the amount of open hours offered at a four-year, public academic library in Arkansas.  While we would love to expand hours, we cannot safely do so without additional staff.  But keep telling us what hours you want!  Open later on Fridays?  Earlier on Sundays?  24-Hours/7 Days?  We will do what we can with the resources we have.
• More Study Rooms–With only 10 study rooms, we know it can be difficult to find an empty one when you need it.  We recommend booking a study room as early as possible.  These go fast, particularly in the evening.  We hope we can add additional rooms in the future, but keep asking!  Your feedback and usage protects our existing spaces for student use.
• Food in the Library–Like you, we also enjoy eating ribs and reading, but sometimes the two activities don’t mix.  Food can bring pests and frankly, we’re scared of the ants reading our collection and becoming too powerful with knowledge.
• Digitize the DVD Collection–We would be violating a lot of laws to do this, and our librarians are still on probation for shushing in the second degree.  But you can always check out our (totally legal) streaming video collection through Swank, Kanopy, or Academic Videos Online.

We hope you will continue to tell us what we do best and what we can do better on this year’s survey.  If you want a more direct approach, send us a text, email, or chat.  If you prefer the socials, we can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  No matter how you do it, let us know how we can make your library better (aside from chocolate fountains and seafood buffets).

If you haven’t had a chance to take the Library survey, take three minutes and help us, help you: Take the Library Survey.  Available until Friday, April 16th, the annual library survey is your chance to suggest changes, recommend new services or collections, and/or lodge complaints about the temperature.    

Because of your input, we’ve made the following changes to the library:

• Extended hours, including later hours during the week, on Fridays, and a 24 hour opening period during finals.
• Stayed open during the entire pandemic to provide in-person, masked and socially distant service.
• Increased number of study rooms
• Added computers to the study rooms
• Increased number of computer stations
• Provided laptops, web cameras, and microphone headsets for check-out
• Increased number of journals and databases to support sciences, nursing, and other STEM fields.
• Added multiple platforms for streaming video like Swank, Kanopy, and Academic Video Online.
• Extended check-out times for calculators and DVDs for students
• Replaced all chairs from the late 1990’s (in progress)
• Purchased more board games and graphic novels.
• Changed policy to allow drinks
• Traveled back in time to 1992 and brought back a fax machine for general student use.
• Unlocked the balcony on the 3rd Floor
• Purchased many of the required General Education Textbooks for check-out and/or for viewing online as ebooks.
• Made this annual survey shorter

As you can see, we’re eager to make the same changes, and your comments and input help us advocate for your needs. While we always try to improve what we can, there are always a few requests we get almost every year that we have not been able to make happen:

• Allow Food – Nothing makes students hungrier than late-night studying. Unfortunately, where food happens, pests follow, and the last thing we need are well-educated mice trying to take over the world.
• Maintain the Perfect Temperature for Everyone–While have made great strides in upgrading our central AC/Heat, it is not always going to be optimum for everyone at all times of the year. But let our staff know if you are too cold or too hot–we might be able to make adjustments or at least give you tips on low-price cardigans.
• A Quieter Library--The library used to be a silent refuge from a noisy world, but learning can sometimes make sounds, especially group-learning. That’s why we have designated the 1st floor as low noise and the 2nd floor as a quiet zone. But since we cannot be everywhere all of the time, we have implemented a Text-A-Librarian service you can use to a summon shushing librarian to quiet things down. We do our best, but we need your help.
• Open 24 Hours All The Time–This convenience and procrastination fuel is sorely needed on campus, we agree. However, until the funds, the security, the staffing, and the coffee are available for such a service, it will remain just out of reach.  In the meantime, we will continue to offer 24/7 service during the first part of final exams week.
• More Monster Trucks–This is an actual comment.

Even if there is a limit to what we can do, there is no limit to how hard we will work to help you succeed academically. Tell us how best we can help: https://techlibraries2021.questionpro.com/

In the meantime, stay up to date on all library events and happenings, including our upcoming 24 hour schedule for finals on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

If you haven’t had a chance to take the Library survey, take three minutes and help us, help you: Take the Library Survey.  Available until Wednesday, April 24th, the annual library survey is your chance to suggest changes, recommend new services or collections, and/or lodge complaints about the temperature.

Because of your input, we’ve made the following changes to the library:

• Extended hours, including later hours during the week, on Fridays, and a 24 hour opening period during finals.
• Increased number of study rooms
• Increased number of computer stations
• Increased number of journals and databases to support sciences, nursing, and other STEM fields
• Extended check-out times for calculators and DVDs for students
• Replaced the broken chairs and mid-90’s floral couches
• Purchased more Young Adult and Popular Reading books
• Changed policy to allow drinks
• Subscribed to HeinOnline
• Added an easy-to-use scanning station and fax machine
• Added more movies and television shows
• Invited the tutoring center for evening hours
• Unlocked the balcony on the 3rd Floor
• Purchased required General Education Textbooks for check-out
• Made this annual survey shorter

As you can see, we’re eager to make the same changes, and your comments and input help us advocate for your needs. While we always try to improve what we can, there are always a few requests that are not feasible at this time or cannot be so easily accommodated. Below are some suggestions we simply cannot make happen at this time:

• Allow Food – Nothing makes students hungrier than late-night studying. Unfortunately, where food happens, pests follow, and the last thing we need are well-educated mice trying to take over the world.
• Maintain the Perfect Temperature for Everyone–While have made great strides in upgrading our central AC/Heat, it is not always going to be optimum for everyone at all times of the year. But let our staff know if you are too cold or too hot–we might be able to make adjustments or at least give you tips on low-price cardigans.
• A Quieter Library--The library used to be a silent refuge from a noisy world, but learning can sometimes make sounds, especially group-learning. That’s why we have designated the 1st floor as low noise and the 2nd floor as a quiet zone. But since we cannot be everywhere all of the time, we have implemented a Text-A-Librarian service you can use to a summon shushing librarian to quiet things down. We do our best, but we need your help.
• Open 24 Hours All The Time–This convenience and procrastination fuel is sorely needed on campus, we agree. However, until the funds, the security, the staffing, and the coffee are available for such a service, it will remain just out of reach.
• More Monster Trucks–This is an actual comment.

Even if there is a limit to what we can do, there is no limit to how hard we will work to help you succeed academically. Tell us how best we can help: https://techlibraries2019.questionpro.com/

In the meantime, stay up to date on all library events and happenings, including our 24 hour schedule for finals on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

If you haven’t had a chance to take the Library survey, take six minutes and help us help you: Take the Library Survey.  From now until April 24th, the annual library survey is your chance to suggest changes, recommend new services or collections, and/or lodge complaints about the temperature.

Not convinced it does any good?  Here’s a list of changes the library has made this year based on actual student, staff, and faculty comments on last year’s survey:

“Make it easier to know what rooms are available to be reserved for group study.”

In the past, study room reservations were managed using old-fashioned, quaint methods like telephone reservation.  Last November, the library completely overhauled the reservation system and instituted the “Book It” online system.  Want to reserve a study room?  Click on a green square, log in, and now you’re done.  You receive an email confirmation of the booking, and your green square has now turned red, alerting other users that your room is now reserved.

“EVERY survey EVERY year I ask that the library consider adding the HeinOnline database, which would benefit business, communication, history, and political science.”

We heard you, and now—until October 2017—we are running a trial of HeinOnline’s Government Politics and Law for Academics.  This database the world’s largest government documents and legal research database.  You can learn more about it here.

The library receives requests to add new databases all the time.  Sometimes we can accommodate, but sometimes we cannot (for a variety of reasons, cost being only one of them).  A trial is often an excellent way to gauge the databases that will be used heavily and those that may not meet the needs of the students, faculty, and staff as well as another, competitive database.  For example, we already subscribe to LexisNexis Academic, another large legal, business, and government document resource.  Is it better than HeinOnline?  You be the judge and tell us at Ask A Librarian.

“I would like to see more database access”

Say no more—the library has added several new databases in the past year, including many in STEM fields.  Here’s just a few:

• JSTOR Life Sciences
• Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Database
• Agricultural & Environmental Science Database
• Materials Science & Engineering Database
• Biological Science Database
• Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 : Arkansas
• Math SciNet
• Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture, & Law

“Open up more rooms for private study groups.”

We did it!  Adding more study rooms has been a top issue in just about every survey since we started making surveys.  In the past, the Library’s study rooms were often targeted as swing space for other departments while other buildings were under construction and the campus grew.  This year, with the removal of TRIO offices to the new Brown Building, we were able to reclaim some of our old study rooms, bringing the total number available to nine.  Thanks in part to your survey responses, the Library was able show how important these study rooms were to our students, thus saving them from further repurposing by outside offices.  Finally, the study rooms are back serving their original purpose: study rooms for the students.

“Tutoring available for all majors at the library, not Doc Bryan.”

Done.  The Library has partnered with the office of Student Success to host tutoring on the second floor of the Ross Pendergraft Library, each Thursday and Sunday night from 5-9 p.m.  Read more about it at Tech News or see the complete tutoring schedule from ATU Office of Student Success.

“Updated furniture. The atmosphere has much to do with how I learn, and I get distracted by the old, worn furniture.”

Yes!  We agreed.  That’s why, last January, the Library replaced most of the older computer chairs & floral patterned couches with newer, more functional, more attractive, and more comfortable seating.

“Perhaps add a few more computer stations.”

Coming soon!  The first floor is in the process of adding 12 additional computer stations.  Right now, the computer desks are there, but the computers are on the way.  Stay tuned!

“Make library always 24 hours”

We did this—a little bit.  The library still opens 24 hours during finals, and we’ve extended our hours during the week, until 1:00 AM.

We would love to extend our hours further, but, in order to do this, we need more staff, more safety, and more students taking advantage of the late hours we already offer.

But keep asking!  Let us know that this issue and other issues are important to you.  We may not be able to make the changes you want right now, but each voice helps guide our decisions and strengthen our requests to the campus administration.  Your opinions matters—and we are listening.  This is YOUR library so tell us how to make it better.

Tell Us!

Do you think the library needs more computers? More study rooms? Less big tables, or more? Do you use some technologies and services more than others? Do you need more help getting the most out of your library experience? This is the time to let your voice be heard!

The school year is drawing to a close, and once again the librarian staff of RPL implores patrons to open our minds by taking the annual survey. This is an opportunity for students, faculty, staff, and alumni and community patrons to give us feedback regarding services and materials, as well as provide comments on levels of satisfaction. Feedback from this survey helps us determine what needs are being met, what sources are being used the most or least, and how best we can serve patrons throughout the year.

The survey is available on our website. Estimated time of completion is 6 minutes. The majority of questions issued relate to the relevance of available sources, both physical and electronic; the frequency with which these items are used (such as multimedia, microforms, periodicals, ebooks, etc.); and the satisfaction of service from circulation, reference, and interlibrary loan (ILL). Other services, such as individual instruction and special events, will also be a topic for feedback.

The deadline for taking the survey is Monday, April 11 at 11:59 pm. Please complete it as soon as possible. We really want to know what you think about us and how we can make this the best library for you!

If you haven’t flipped over to the survey, you still have until this Friday, April 4, to let us know what you think of the library, its collections, services, and people.  In 5-10 minutes, you have the power to shape what books we buy, what formats we buy them in, what services we should offer, and what policies we should adopt to improve the library as a place to study, relax, and check Facebook learn important things about the world.

When we hosted the spring survey last year, over 500 students, faculty, and staff took the survey and gave us their suggestions, complaints, and praises for Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center.  We highlighted the most common suggestions earlier last year, and have worked hard ever since to enhance the library in those areas where we could.

Because of your responses, we have made progress in updating our book collection, increasing the number of full-text journals, creating new research guides, and adding new databases (like Mango Languages, Library PressDisplay, and Statistical Abstract of the U.S.).  We even put together a new online course reserve form for faculty, and a new library and research guide specifically for online-only students.

Factors like temperature, study space, and 24 hour service are still out of our control, however.  Additionally, we had to scrap some of the more creative suggestions for how to improve the library, such as:

• A sugar-daddy to leave a million or so to grow the collection.
• Have a nap room.
• Play some classical music throughout the public areas of the building and in the elevators.
• Move it closer to my dorm.
• Get rid of the apple computers.
• Get some more MACs.

While we cannot implement all of your great ideas, we’ll do our best to make sure your research-related needs are met.  Keep the feedback coming by taking the survey or by emailing your strongly agreeable librarians at askalibrarian@atu.edu.  Remember, it is YOUR library–help us make it  a better place for YOU.

http://techlibrarysurvey2014.questionpro.com/

There is STILL time to take the online Tech Library User Survey for the spring 2013:

http://TechLibrary-2013.questionpro.com

The questions are multiple choice, and the entire survey takes roughly 5-10 minutes.  Your opinion helps the library make important decisions from what books we buy, what formats we buy them in, and what policies we should adopt to make the library a better place to study, relax, and explore.  You have until April 5th, so send us your feedback soon!