Winner of Library Survey Prize Draw & snapshot of responses

The prize draw associated with returning completed November 2007 NEL Library Survey forms was won by Patience Rusinga, Homerton University Hospital. We were pleased to present her with a £10.00 book token.

A big thank you to all who responded – over 150 staff and students from Homerton, City & Hackney Teaching PCT and the East London NHS Foundation Trust completed forms. Your views are important to us. A report will be published and individuals contacted to discuss their viewpoints or to provide more information if you ticked the “Tell me more” boxes.

A snapshot of responses from Homerton staff reveal:

Overall opinion of the library
Very good 38.0% - Good 51.9%
Helpfulness of library staff
Very good 70.4% - Good 24.7%
Support for answering questions / finding information
Very good 64.3% - Good 26.2%

The majority of comments received, as expected, related to requests for more book and journal stock, both print and electronic. We continue to work on improving our book stock. Most key texts are purchased in either print or electronic format. Just because a book is not on the shelf this does not mean that it is not available. It could be on loan! The introduction of a 7 day loan period for some titles has assisted circulation of those we have but we also need you to recommend titles. Do you know which e-books are available to you? See a list of some of them at www.homerton.nhs.uk/education/1166624526852.html and when logged into Athens if you select ebooks (MyiLibrary) from the My Resources list you can access a further 470+. New journal titles were requested. Rationalization of our journal subscriptions now takes place annually. No new titles are subscribed to unless there is a deletion of another title to the same value and regrettably, increases in the price of subscriptions mean we are able to subscribe to fewer paper journals each year. However, we have better access to electronic journals and new titles should be made available to us later this year.

Selection of Electronic books
Very Good 18.7% - Good 29.3% - Fair 14.7% – Not applicable 20.0%
Selection of Electronic journals
Very good 15.2% - Good 29.1% - Fair 22.8% – Not applicable 17.7%
Selection of paper books
Very good 22.1% - Good 39.0% - Fair 18.2% – Not applicable 14.3%
Selection of paper journals
Very good 23.4% - Good 39.0% - Fair 19.5%– Not applicable 14.3%

A few requests were for extended opening. With current staffing levels this is extremely unlikely but are you aware we are usually open Monday 11.00-20.00, Tuesday-Friday 09.00-20.00 ie 53 hours per week or that three computers are available for use in the Education Centre café area when the Library is closed/Computer Room full (a Homerton logon is required)? Additionally, key textbooks and journals are accessible electronically with an Athens username and it is possible to borrow most reference texts on overnight loan. You only have to ask!

Opening hours
Very good 38.0% - Good 45.6%

Additional comments included requests to provide services for free, increase numbers of library staff, overhaul the Computer Room, improve lighting, noise levels and study spaces and expand the library. We hope to have a full complement of staff in the new financial year and for all of those of you who were eager for a Computer Room overhaul and improved lighting I have good news for you. These should be implemented shortly. High noise levels, regrettably, are inherent in the building design but we will continue to look at ways to reduce sound. And, completely free services would severely affect our ability to purchase new books etc.

Quality of library environment
Very good 26.3% - Good 45.0% - Fair 21.3%