In 2023, the University of Michigan Library conducted a survey of all members of the Ann Arbor campus community. Our aim was to assess the needs of current and potential library users and to gain a better understanding of how the campus community experiences the library.
After the survey results were shared, the library immediately started to make small changes in our day-to-day work. Over the next 3-5 years, the Library is committed to taking what we heard from the campus community and using it to inform decision-making around our collections, services, and spaces. In particular, we will use the feedback gathered to inform the following activities:
Identifying resources and services that are effectively meeting the needs of library users
Identifying areas where our offerings can be improved
Advocating effectively for the resources and services library users need to do their work
Continuing our efforts to cultivate a welcoming, inclusive, and just environment for library users
Acting on data related to the needs and experiences of people in underrepresented groups
Connecting more intentionally with people who do not currently use the library
Increasing awareness about the library’s services, people (expertise), collections, and spaces
We received over 15,000 responses! See the About This Survey section to learn more about our response rate and planning activities, including our methodology.
How this site is organized
The survey spanned many topics with different paths through the questions based on respondents’ campus roles: Undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows and faculty. To read highlights from the campus survey results, please see our Executive Summary.
If you want to dive deeper into our survey, we have organized the results by focus areas, listed below: