Survey Data on Your Desktop; The Future for Library
Managers
Renata G. Coates
Social Sciences Librarian
University of California, San Diego
Marsha Fanshier
Programmer/Analyst
University of California, San Diego
The UCSD Libraries User Survey was designed to have its results in
machine-readable form. Library management, anticipating the need for
detailed statistics for future decision making, required that the survey
results be manipulatable by library managers. To accomplish this goal,
the survey had to be designed in a particular way and subsequently,
programming skills were needed to create an interactive website. The
results allow individual responses to be considered against a number of
variables including but not limited to gender, year in school and major
for students; department and years at the university for faculty. Branch
managers can review answers dealing specifically with their services or
operations. More importantly, for the first time ever, this type of data
is available on the individual's desktop allowing universal access for
anyone interested in the information. Plans call for a repeat of t his
survey in the future, but the 1996 UCSD Libraries User Survey solicited
responses from three categories of primary users: undergraduates,
graduate students, and faculty.
