UK teaching hospital
02 with the merger of two existing trusts. The library services unified to create
a new expanded service with 11 staff.
Objectives
: The librarians wanted to test out users’ opinions of the service, as
a basis for a developmental strategy. They also wanted to find out to what
extent they were offering a multi-disciplinary service, available to all staff.
Therefore it was decided to include both users and non-users in the survey.
Methods
: A twenty-question questionnaire was sent out to a 10% sample of
registered users in all staff categories. The same questionnaire was sent out
to a 10% sample of non-users, with the help of the Human Resources
Department.
Results
: The library staff and facilities were generally well regarded. The stock
needed expansion in various areas, especially allied health and biomedical
science. Non-users were in fact often occasional or remote users. Other
non-users needed informing that they were entitled to use the service.
Conclusions
: Further research is required, especially concerning the information
needs of allied health and scientific staff. There is a need for stock expansion.
A marketing strategy is required to capture the interest of potential users.