Primary Research Group has published The Survey of Higher Education Faculty: Use of Academic Library Special Collections, ISBN 1-57440-135-1.

The Survey of Higher Education Faculty: Use of Academic Library Special Collections

(ISBN 1-57440-135-1) presents data on how college faculty use special collections for teaching and research.  The report presents data on overall use of special collections and on use of specific special collections such as film & video, photography, rare books and historic documents, scientific history and rare specimens; posters, catalogs and other commercial materials; personal archives and estates, music collections, and art and graphics collections.

The report also presents data on faculty satisfaction with special collections, generally,

and in specific areas such as ease of use, ease of finding them in library catalogs, ease of finding them online, ease of obtaining reproductions and photocopies, and satisfaction with hours of access, among other issues.  The study also presents precise data on how often faculty visit special collections and how often they recommend their use to students and professional colleagues.

The report is based no results of a survey of more than 550 higher education faculty in

the United States and Canada.  Data is presented in the aggregate and for 12 criteria

including academic field, size of college, type of college, academic title and other factors.

Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:

†      8.3% of the faculty in the sample have used a collection of catalogs, posters,

guides or other commercial materials for research purposes with in the past three years.

†      Only 1.12% of Americans were highly dissatisfied with the ease in obtaining

photocopies or reproductions from special collections while 12.5% of Canadians were highly dissatisfied with the same issue.

†      More than 18% of faculty who describe themselves as left of liberal have used a rare books or historic document collection within the past three years but only a little more than 12% of liberals and 10 1/2 percent of those who call themselves middle-of-the-road used a rare book or manuscript special collection in this period; 5.15% of conservatives have done so and no faculty member in the sample self described as right of conservative had used such collection within the past three years. 

†      Satisfaction was great with the terms of borrowing or use offered by special

collections.  Nearly 70% of those sampled were either highly satisfied or satisfied and only a little more than 12% were dissatisfied to some degree. 

†      Only a bit more than 6% were highly satisfied with online access to

supplementary materials offered by these collection.

The 136+ page study is available from Primary Research Group or from major book

distributors; for further information, view our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com or

call us at 212-736-2316. The report is available for $95.00; site licenses are also available.