College and Research Libraries Who Uses University Libraries? B Y N A T A L I E N . N I C H O L S O N a n d E L E A N O R B A R T L E T T T N R E P O R T S from universities and col- leges all over the country runs a re- curring theme—the increasing, almost explosive, use of libraries. T h e magni- tude of this increase cannot be explained by the larger number of students alone. In fact, no satisfactory explanation is yet forthcoming. Undoubtedly, contrib- uting factors are a greater emphasis on research, changes in teaching methods, and the accelerating output of literature, especially in the scientific and technical fields. Whatever the causes, this heavy use is accentuating the problems of pro- curing the materials needed for study and research, providing a competent staff to process and service them, and acquiring sufficient space for books and readers. Adding to the pressures are the demands for longer library hours and speedier services. It was felt at the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology that some factual data would be helpful in analyzing these problems. In 1954 the Institute's Opera- tions Research Center and members of the library staff inaugurated a series of studies on library operations.1-2 T h e most recent of these was a one-week sur- vey conducted from May 11 through may 19, 1959, revalidated by a one-day check in 1960, to obtain statistics on sig- nificant patterns of reader use. W h o uses the M I T libraries, at what hours, for what purposes? Aid in formulating the questionnaires and sampling techniques was given by members of the Operations Research Center, who also worked out a coding system for analysis of the ques- 1 M. L . E r n s t , " P r e l i m i n a r y Notes on M . I . T . Library Operations, May 10, 1 9 5 4 . " Mimeographed. 2 G. C. Bush, H. P . Galliher, and P. M. Morse, "Attendance and Use of the Science Library at M . I . T . , " American Documentation, V I I ( 1 9 5 6 ) , 87-109. Miss Nicholson is Associate Director of Libraries and Miss Bartlett is Special Collec- tions and Gifts Librarian at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. tionnaires by means of punched cards. T h e various tabulations used in this pa- per were prepared from print-out sheets produced by running the cards through the 704 computer.3 T h e four largest of M I T ' s libraries were surveyed, namely the General and Humanities, Science, Engineering, and Dewey (Economics and Industrial Management). Forty-seven per cent of the total hours these four librar- ies were open was surveyed. Certain hours during the week were picked ac- cording to a sampling pattern, but on Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday there was a 100 per cent sampling. Every person entering the libraries during the hours selected received a questionnaire. A total of 8660 were dis- tributed, 603 of them to non-M.I.T. users. Different forms (Exhibits A and B) were given to the two categories. T h e questionnaires were numbered consecu- tively. From the number distributed at each hour, it was possible to obtain a pattern of the traffic load at various times of day. T h e forms used for those affiliated with M I T were designed so that checkmarks only were required of the participant. N o n - M I T users were asked to write in the name and address of their company, government agency, or educational institution. 3 A research assistant, Rakhal D. Saha, compiled some of the tables. Others, computed directly from the questionnaires, were prepared by the authors. M A Y 1 9 6 2 217 Exhibit A LIBRARY USE SURVEY: For those presently affiliated with MIT No. 8840 Your help is needed to plan better library service. Please check or fill in ALL pertinent answers. Give more than one answer in each category if appropriate. I am: I | a member of the faculty or staff |~1 a DSR* staff member I | a graduate student I | an undergraduate student [~| other My use of the library was in connection with: I I class preparation I I government sponsored research ] industry sponsored research I | personal research (including consulting) • other I have just come from: I | class ]] dining hall I | my living quarters I | laboratory I I office I | other When I leave the library I am going to: |~~| class I | dining hall I | my living quarters [~1 office • other May 1959 * Division of Sponsored R e s e a r c h 218 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S Exhibit B LIBRARY USE SURVEY: General No. 662 Your help is needed to plan better library service. Please check or fill in ALL pertinent answers. I am from: I | Industry Name of company Address of company Your position ] Government Name of agency Address of agency Your position ] Educational Institution Name of institution Address of institution Your position If student, check • • Other Name & address Your position . . Are you an alumnus of MIT? Do you have a library card? Did you come to the library to: ] Consult library materials? If so: Yes • No • Yes • No • • Books ] Journals • Other . . | | Borrow books? • Other May 1959 M A Y 1 9 6 2 219 In evaluating the results, it is impor- tant to bear in mind that the final exam- ination period was approaching when the survey was conducted, and that at such times use of the libraries by stu- dents, particularly undergraduates, is heavier than normal. T a b l e I shows totals and percentages for all of the li- braries surveyed. Undergraduates, 46 per cent, predominate; 71.9 per cent of their use was for class preparation, i.e. studying as opposed to research. T h e y may have come for study hall purposes, bringing their own materials, or they may have come to read assignments on reserve in the library. An examination of the sheets on which undergraduates checked " O t h e r " revealed that the pur- pose was "study" in a majority of cases. T h e next largest category of M I T users was graduate students, 35.4 per cent. Of these, 52.4 per cent used the libraries for class preparation, presumably a higher percentage than normal because of the pre-examination period. As expected, the research staff's use of the library for research purposes was high, 74.6 per cent. T h a t 24.5 per cent of use in this category was for personal research prob- ably is explained by the fact that many are both graduate students and members of the research staff. T h e r e was no way of distinguishing in which capacity they were using the library. T h e right-hand column in T a b l e I, showing research use percentages, may give some indication of the total portion of the libraries' activity devoted to the re- search-reference function versus a study- ing-circulation function. However, this survey omitted any indication of the length of stay in the library, an important factor in evaluating the relative research activity. T h e 1955 Science Library Survey4 showed that 40 per cent of those enter- ing the library intended to use it only as a study hall; the rest intended to use it as a library to some extent. T h i s latter 60 per cent had a mean stay of one hundred minutes; those using it as a study hall had a mean stay of half as long. Thus, a weighting by length of stay shows that there is twice as much research use as the proportion of individual users indicates. In our 1959 survey, those from outside the Institute ( T a b l e I I ) constituted 6.9 per cent of the total. Of these, only 11.5 per cent indicated that they had library privilege cards. M I T regulations state that library facilities are available to au- thorized users only. Authorized users are connected with the Institute or must hold library privilege cards. However, the sur- vey confirmed the impression that many come to the reading rooms and consult materials without cards. Of all n o n - M I T users, 20.5 per cent came from industry, 4 See footnote 2. TABLE 1: MIT USERS MAY, 11-17 1959 L I B R A R I E S S U R V E Y E D : GENERAL & HUMANITIES, SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND DEWEY Total Research Use Count Percentage Percentage A. Total of: Faculty or Staff 949 11.8 DSR 281 3.5 Graduate Students 2850 35.4 Undergraduates 3706 46.0 Others 271 3.3 8057 100.0 220 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S B. Use for: Class preparation Gov't Sponsored Research Industry Sponsored Research Personal Research Other C. Use by Faculty for: Class Preparation Gov't Sponsored Research Industry Sponsored Research Personal Research Other D. Use by DSRfor: Class preparation Gov't Sponsored Research Industry Sponsored Research Personal Research Other E . Use by Grad. Students for: Class preparation Gov't Sponsored Research Industry Sponsored Research Personal Research Other F . Use by Undergraduates for: Class preparation Gov't Sponsored Research Industry Sponsored Research Personal Research Other G. Use by Others for: Class preparation Gov't Sponsored Research Industry Sponsored Research Personal Research Other 5 2 4 9 5 6 . 0 5 9 6 6 . 4 ] 3 0 3 3 . 2 2 0 4 5 2 1 . 8 J 1 1 7 6 1 2 . 6 9 3 6 9 1 0 0 . 0 3 8 0 3 1 . 1 1 8 3 1 4 . 9 ] 1 0 0 8 . 2 4 0 6 3 3 . 2J 1 5 4 1 2 . 6 1 2 2 3 1 0 0 . 0 6 2 1 7 . 1 137 3 7 . 7 ] 4 5 1 2 . 4 } 8 9 2 4 . 5 j 3 0 8 . 3 3 6 3 1 0 0 . 0 1 7 2 9 5 2 . 4 2 1 9 6 . 6 ] 1 1 2 3 . 4 | 9 0 0 2 7 . 2 j 3 4 3 1 0 . 4 3 3 0 3 1 0 0 . 0 2 9 9 5 7 1 . 9 19 0 . 4 ] 2 6 0 . 6 5 7 4 1 3 . 8 j 5 5 4 1 3 . 3 4 1 6 8 1 0 0 . 0 8 3 2 6 . 6 3 8 1 2 . 2 ] 2 0 6 . 4 !> 7 6 2 4 . 4 j 9 5 3 0 . 4 3 1 2 1 0 0 . 0 M A Y 1 9 6 2 221 TABLE 2: OUTSIDE USERS MAY 11-17, 1959 Total Count Percentage A. Total number from: Industry 124 20.5 Government 23 3 . 8 *Educational Institutions 376 62.4 Other 80 13.3 603 100.0 B. Use for: Consultation of library materials 300 50.0 Borrow Books 46 7.7 Other, or did not answer 257 42.3 603 100.0 C. Number of Alumni 55 9.2 D. Number who had Library cards 69 11.5 E. Time: Monday-Friday 328 54 Saturday and Sunday 275 46 F. Libraries used: General & Humanities 245 41 Science 265 44 Engineering 55 9 Dewey 38 6 April 1960 *Of which 350 were students 3.8 per cent from government organi- zations, and 62.4 per cent from other educational institutions. Sixty-three indi- vidual companies and ten different gov- ernment agencies were represented in the sampling. Industry used the Science Li- brary most heavily, General 8c Humani- ties next, and the Engineering Library third. (These figures by no means indi- cate total use of the library facilities by outsiders. About 40 per cent of the activities of the central reference depart- ment in 1959/60 were on behalf of non- M I T users. In a recent six months' pe- riod, reference statistics kept by the four libraries indicated that 21 per cent of such service was for outside users.) It is significant that 46 per cent of the n o n - M I T users came on week ends. Most week-end users (57 per cent) were from other universities, and only a few were faculty. In fact, 93 per cent were stu- dents, coming from a total of fifty-six different educational institutions, but 61 per cent were from five universities in Greater Boston, and 34 per cent were from a single one. T a b l e I I I summarizes the traffic pat- tern of the four libraries. More people (37.5 per cent) came from and went to living quarters than any other category. Those coming from or going to class- rooms accounted for 20.5 per cent; office (Continued on page 257) 222 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S Who Uses . . . (Continued from page 222) and dining halls ranked somewhat lower, with still fewer coming from or going to laboratories. As would be expected, there was relatively little traffic between labo- ratories and the Dewey Library or the General and Humanities Library, a much higher percentage between laboratories and the Science Library. Laboratories ranked surprisingly low in Engineering Library traffic, classrooms high. A composite picture of hourly use in the libraries is shown in T a b l e IV. It is interesting that early evening use on week ends slightly exceeded that on week days. On all days the heaviest use was between 1 and 2 P.M. A brief description of each library surveyed and some comments on statis- tics for each one may add to the mean- ingfulness of this analysis. The General and Humanities Library includes the central reference depart- ment and the union catalog. In addition to reference materials, the collections serviced consist of books and journals in the various fields of the humani- ties and those of non-specialized science and technology. Reserve books for hu- manities courses required of all under- graduates are housed in another loca- tion. Nevertheless, the General and Hu- manities Library had the highest per- centage of undergraduate use—56 per cent. Other categories of M I T users were more or less in the same ratio as the av- erage for all the libraries ( T a b l e I). Since the union catalog and the reference de- partment, which handles interlibrary loans, are located here, one would ex- pect the 41 per cent of n o n - M I T users shown in T a b l e I I . T h e Science Library contains the col- lections in the mathematical, physical, earth and life sciences. T h e most acces- sible of all the reading rooms, it had heavy use—60 per cent of the total M I T users and 44 per cent of the total non- M I T users. T h e proportionate use of M I T faculty, research staff, graduate stu- dents, undergraduates, and others was in nearly the same ratio as the average for all libraries (Table I). T h e use pattern was rechecked by a two-hour survey held in the Science Li- TABLE 3: WHERE MIT USERS CAME FROM AND W E R E GOING MAY 11-17, 1959 (Figures are percentages) Dining Living Library Class Hall Quarters Laboratory Office Other All Libraries 20.5 9.9 37.5 7.3 10.9 13.9 General & Humanities 17.4 10.5 40.9 6.2 10.3 14.7 Science 17.3 9 . 4 39.6 9 . 9 10.4 13.4 Dewey 23.5 11.8 34.7 2.2 11.3 16.5 Engineering 31.8 8.5 28.5 7.0 12.9 11.3 All Libraries (By Class of User) Faculty and DSR Graduates Undergraduates Apiil 1960 4 . 5 6.7 18.7 18.5 9 . 8 33.7 26.7 11.1 46.0 17.4 45.9 6.8 9.2 16.6 12.2 4 . 1 . . . . 12.1 MAY 1 9 6 2 257 H O U R L Y A V E R A G E O F P E O P L E E N T E R I N G T H E L I B R A R I E S , M a y 1 1 - 1 9 , 1 9 5 9 8 an 9 10 1 1 1 2 lpm 2 3 b $ 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 brary on October 25, 1960, using the same questionnaires and the same method of distribution. T h e day and hours chosen were those in which the percentages of types of users most nearly matched the average percentages of types of users in all the libraries surveyed in May 1959. T h e results were nearly the same as the previous ones in all categories of users and uses, the chief change being an in- crease in use for class preparation—from 56 per cent to 61.6 per cent. T h i s is a reflection chiefly of the research staff who increased their class preparation use by 11.5 per cent. Use of the library for re- search purposes was slightly greater, too. What the new brief survey seemed to show was that the pattern of use of our libraries remained relatively unchanged over an eighteen-month period. T h e Engineering Library houses col- lections for the civil and sanitary, elec- trical, mechanical, navel architecture and marine engineering departments. T h e fact that it is less accessible than Science may account for the fact that only 9 per cent of the total outside users found their way there, and the week-end use was low. T h i s is explained in part by shorter week-end hours than in the General and Humanities or Science libraries. T h e Engineering Library shows the only sig- nificant difference in traffic pattern from the average; a considerably higher pro- portion of users were coming from or going to class. Though the number of undergraduates using this library was in nearly the same proportion as for all li- braries surveyed, it is significant that the undergraduate dormitories are located at some distance away. T h e Dewey Library is situated about one-quarter of a mile from the rest of the M I T campus. It serves the School of Industrial Management, including the department of economics. T h i s library maintains a large corporation file, and a special collection of industrial relations pamphlets and documents as well as other materials within its fields of in- terest. Here students form 86 per cent of the users, with graduate students in the majority. T h e latter used Dewey heavily for class preparation—67.5 per cent. Only 6 per cent of the total out- siders used this library. T h e statistics on outside users (Table I I ) were of considerable help in formu- lating the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries Membership Plan for Industry, established in 1960. Also, these figures will continue to be useful in deliberations with other educational institutions in the urban area on the problems of cross-use of libraries by fac- ulties and students. Information drawn from the survey has been helpful, too, in planning the hours during which the li- braries are open, and the types and num- ber of personnel needed. T h e traffic pat- tern and the heavy use by undergraduates are being carefully studied by the plan- ners in their considerations of future building needs at M I T . Herbert Lang & Cie Agents for Libraries BERNE — S W I T Z E R L A N D Cable address: Herbertbooks. Careful Service Swiss and European Continental Books and Periodicals We are prepared to accept not only your current orders but also your "special cases" on new and second hand publications. Farmington Plan Agents for Switzerland HERBERT LANG M A Y 1 9 6 2 2 5 9