Collections

In this section, we share findings on respondents’ use of our collections, as well as their perceptions of usefulness and collection diversity, format preferences, and collection-related services Interlibrary Loan (I.L.L.) and Document Delivery.

These respondents who indicated some use of the library’s physical or electronic collections were asked which subject areas they have used within the past 2 years.  The table below shows the percentage of use by campus role.

To examine use of subject areas in the collection by those in related disciplines, we also calculated the percentage of respondents in each area who indicated use. Results appear in the table below. 

Perceptions about Collections

Roughly 93% of collection users feel that the collections — and their content — usually or always meet their needs with no significant differences by campus roles, race, gender identity, or disability status.

Overall percentages of those who use collections:

• Do not meet my needs at all 0.3%

• Rarely meet my needs 0.4%

• Sometimes meet my needs 6.0%

• Usually meet my needs 49.8%

• Always or almost always meet my needs 43.4%

Participants were also asked to give their experience on whether our collection materials represent a diverse array of authors and creators. 

While nearly 50% didn’t feel they had enough information to answer, approximately 11% indicated that the library needs to add more diversity to the collection or to improve discoverability of materials in the collection. Compared to those in historically advantaged groups, trans, gender-fluid, genderqueer, and non-binary folks were less likely to find the array of authors and creators they are looking for in the collection. The same was true for people in the global majority compared to white people, and for international students and scholars compared to those from the U.S.