July2015cooke

What do 21st century readers expect from the British Library?

Ian CookeHead of Contemporary British PublicationsALISS AGM 2015Senate House, University of London 1st July 2015

www.bl.uk 2

Why do we conduct Reading Room surveys?

• To find our who our Readers are and what they are doing

• Information is used in planning: services; content management

• To understand the impact of changes in Library activities and policy on our Readers

• To understand how changing research environment affects our Readers

• Most effective way of contacting our Readers

• We are interested in behaviour on the day of visit

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Methodology and Numbers• In Jan/Feb 2015, 600 interviews

were undertaken withreaders over a 3-week period.

• Interviews undertaken during opening hours, including Saturdays and evenings

• Survey by questionnaire with coded responses, and some open questions.

• Comparison of some responses against 2009 data (380 interviews overall; 134 Social Sciences)

Reading Room NumberSocial Science 232 Science 2 200Science 3 168Total 600

Source: IRN Research. 2015

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Who are our Readers?

Social Science Reading Room 2015

Higher EducationProfessional ResearcherOther work-relatedPersonal/ family researchOther & no answer


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2015 & 2009 compared


Higher Ed-ucationProfessional ResearcherOther work-relatedPersonal/ family researchOther & no answer

Source: IRN Research. 2009 & 2015


Higher Ed-ucationProfessional ResearcherOther work-relatedPersonal/ family researchOther & no answer

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Higher Education readersSocial Science Reading Room 2015

Undergraduate

Taught PG

Research PG

Lecturer/ Reader/ Professor

Research Fellow/ Manager

Other academic



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Why use the Reading Room today?

What is the main purpose of your use of the Read-ing Room today?

Preparing a publication Work for a research degree

Work for a taught course A space to studyProfessional devel-opment/ my work

Personal interest

Other


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Location of Readers

Current residence

• 83% London

• 89% London & South East

Home institution

• 30% London University

• 43% University in London

Next highest responses: Cambridge 4%; Oxford 3%; Kent 2%

(based on 174 replies)Source: IRN Research. 2015

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Key:

30 mins

60 mins

120 mins

Visitor postcode British Library

60mins:16%

30 mins:65%

120 mins:8%

Visitor Mapping (Academic Researchers) - 89% of academics come from within a 2 hour drivetime, 65% within 30 minutes source: bdrc, Annual Visitor Research April 2014- March 2015

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Visitor Mapping (Academic Researchers)source: bdrc Annual Visitor Research April 2014- March 2015

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Subjects studied

Politic

s an

d IR La

w

Accou

nting

& F

inanc

e

Econo

mics

Cultur

al & m

edia

stud

ies

Sociol

ogy

"Hum

anitie

s"STM

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Main subject studied

Main subject studied

Number of responses per subject (or group of subjects for human-ities and STM). Interviewees were each asked to select one option only as their ‘main sub-ject’.


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Reading rooms used

Reading Room Number %

Social Science 232 100

Science 2 23 9.9

Science 3 11 4.7

Business & IP 11 4.7

Humanities 1 35 15.1

Humanities 2 17 7.3

Rare Books & Music 13 5.6

Maps 3 1.3

Manuscripts 6 2.6

Newsroom 7 3

Asian & African Studies 5 2.2


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How important are Reading Rooms dedicated to specific disciplines?

Reasons given:

• Materials relating to a specific discipline should be in one place

• Easier to find material• Staff with subject

knowledge are accessible in one place

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How do Readers use the Reading Room?

• 81% using collections or databases on day of visit

• 7% say they never use collections or databases

• 2011 Focus groups: some researchers do report using British Library as place of study only, BUT tend not to use Reading Rooms


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77

15

34

82 2 2 4 1

53

7 7<1 1 <1 0

8

AcademicResearch

Q6c. Which of the following did you actually do at the British Library today? Base: Academic (n=357)

Academic researcher activity - Academic researchers predominantly study in dedicated study areas. Around 1 in 10 academic researchers conduct a cultural activity. Source: bdrc Annual Visitor Research, April 2014- March 2015

Average dwell time: 4hrs 1 min

STUDYSECONDAR

Y SPEND CULTURE CIRCULATING

86% 38% 9% 59%Net

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PersonalResearch

Q6c. Which of the following did you actually do at the British Library today? Base: Personal Research (n=124)

Personal researchers activity - Personal researcher activity is similar to academic researchers - shorter average dwell time. Source: bdrc Annual Visitor Research, April 2014- March 2015

64

20

30

13

1 2 2 1 3

55

9

1 1 1 0 0

12

Average dwell time: 3hrs 15 mins

STUDYSECONDAR

Y SPEND CULTURE CIRCULATING

80% 35% 8% 59%Net

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How do Readers use the Reading Room?

• Frequent visitors:54% at least once per week; 76% stay at least 3 hours; 48% stay 5- 6 hours

• Planning ahead:59% use website in advance; 50% use catalogue in advanceBUT numbers ordering in advance has declined: 27% in 2015 vs >50% in 2009

• 2011 Focus Groups: A “British Library” way of working – using the Library requires planning and a different sort of discipline to using other libraries.

Source: IRN Research. 2009, 2011 & 2015

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Certain activities in declineActivity 2015 2009

Using printed indexes 10% 24%

Browsing shelves 22% 40%

Using open-shelf material*

56% 67%

Consulting Library staff 53% 61%

* But, higher proportions are using more items from the shelves: 15% using 7+ items in 2015 (5% in 2009)


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What are Readers using?Material type 2015 use on

day2015 ‘use regularly’

2009 2007

Printed books 54% 44% 63%* 68%*

E-books 14% 6% n/a n/a

Printed journals

25% 28% 18% 22%

E-journals 25% 31% 24% 17%

Databases 10% 18% 12% 13%

General internet

12% 12% 7% 9%

Remote resources used:9% Ethos; 7% remote access databases; 5% MBS Portal

* No option given for ‘e-books’ in 2009 and 2007

Source: IRN Research. 2009 & 2015; Ipsos MORI. 2007

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Why do Readers use the British Library?Reasons for choosing the British Library

Over half of interviewees – 53% -mentioned the goodworking environmentas a reason for using the library. This falls tojust 43% of SocialScience readers.

Breadth of coverageappears to be muchless important to Science readers thanSocial Science readers .


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Where else do Readers go?2015 2009

University/ school/ college library

55% 30%

Other ‘home’ library 10% 1%

Internet 40% 22%

Public library 11% 6%

Specialist/ membership library

12% 1%


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Most popular improvement would be remote access to electronic content.

Improvements Readers Would Like to See

%

Able to use electronic content from my home or office 43% Able to use my own laptop/device to access electronic content in reading rooms

35%

Access BL services using one username and password 22%Able to discover digital content available online from other organisations alongside BL content

18%

Able to use electronic content in public café and other public areas of the British Library building

15%

More tools to manipulate and analyse datasets 9%Able to add reviews/comments to records on BL catalogues

5%

Other 13%None of the above 19%


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How do Readers compare with BL use generally?Source: bdrc Annual Visitor Research April 2014- March 2015

370,982 visits

347,796 visits

115,932 visits

81,152 visits

Primary stated purpose for visiting The British Library

243,457 visits

320,021 visitors

189,033 visitors

84,359 visitors

25,605 visitors42,417

visitors

No. of visits No. of unique visitors

Visit Intention groups Culture (n=359) Personal Escape (n=278); Academic (n=357); Personal (n=124); Work (n=76)Q2a. How would you best describe the primary purpose of your visit here today?

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Consulted books, journals and other items ordered

Searched the online catalogues

Accessed electronic material

Didn't access BL material

Asked for help from information specialists

Accessed material on open shelves

Used copying and printing services

70

48

22

16

16

12

8

41

1911

9

9

7

75

1

Humanities

How do Social Science and Science Researchers compare with users of other Reading Rooms?Source: bdrc Annual Visitor Research March 2014- April 2015

%

Base: All who used the reading room (n=394)

.

Rare books & music

Social sciences

African & Asian studies

Science

Manuscripts

Newsroom

Business & IP Centre

Maps

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So what?

• HE research remains largest user group, but later-career researchers, and researchers outside HE, are getting harder to reach

• Distance is a barrier to use. How does the Library support researchers outside London and South East?

• For those who do use the Library, it occupies a significant role in research: many are using the Library 0.5- 1 days per week or more

• Access to content (books and journals) is most important for Social Sciences, but working environment also significant

• Subject specialism is important to a significant proportion

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Sources used

IRN Research. 2015. British Library Social Science and Science Readers Survey 2015.

IRN Research. 2011. British Library Social Science and Science Focus Groups.

IRN Research. 2009. British Library Social Science and Science Readers Survey.

Ipsos MORI. 2007. British Library Social Sciences and STM Reading Rooms survey February to March 2007.

bdrc continental. 2015. Annual Visitor Research Presentation.

Documents

July2015cooke