What library services and resources are important to our community, and how successfully do the libraries deliver them?

Many library users will soon receive an email invitation from Louis Becker, Assessment Programs Librarian for UT Libraries, to participate in an online survey designed to answer those questions. On February 15th, invitations will go out to random samples of faculty, undergraduates, graduate students, and staff. If you receive an email, please accept our invitation. This is your opportunity to tell us how we’re doing and how we can improve.

This will be the fourth time that the UT Libraries has participated in the MISO (Measuring Information Services Outcomes) Survey. Here are a few things we learned from surveying our users in 2022:

• Of the targeted populations, faculty expressed the greatest level of satisfaction with library services overall (81%).  72% of graduate students and 71% of undergraduates also reported satisfaction with library services overall that year.
• More than half of undergraduates visit Hodges Library at least once a week; most undergrads take advantage of the library’s quiet study spaces (85%) and group study spaces (78%). 60% of undergraduates reported using our reference services.
• 84% of graduate student respondents reported using online resources from off campus, and just under half indicated doing so weekly.

We asked our users about the level of importance they assign to various library resources as well as their level of satisfaction. “Access to online resources from off campus” has consistently been among our most important services, ranked “Very Important” by 59% of our respondents, including 77% of faculty and of graduate students.  We have continually invested in our online offerings and have upgraded systems to ensure that our resources are available when and where needed.  At the same time, we noticed that study spaces and physical comfort in the Libraries were indicated as important but less than satisfactory by a sizeable group of graduate students. This information and associated comments have helped to inform our expansion of the Graduate Commons on the first floor of Hodges Library.

Help us stay informed about your information needs. Let us know what you think of our current services and resources. Your survey responses can make a difference. 

The MISO Survey will be open from February 15th through 26th, 2024.