News Archive

Results from two national student surveys released last month indicate increased student satisfaction with Library services. This positively reflects the investment and improvements to UWA libraries over a number of years, and underpins the significant increase in visits to the physical libraries and expansion of digital resources during this time.

The 2018 Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) Student Experience Survey indicates that UWA has improved on the ‘Library Resources and Facilities’ dimension in comparison with 2017, performs above the national average, and ranks highly within the Go8.

The Library also recently participated in a national survey endorsed by the Council of Australian University Librarians.  During the survey period (1 – 12 April, 2019) 4,009 student responses were received. This is the highest response rate received for this survey at UWA and a significant increase in comparison to 2017 (1079 responses).  It is fantastic to see students so engaged in providing the Library with a rich source of feedback which will be used to make a range of improvements to services, facilities and information resources.

Like the QILT SES data, students are more satisfied with the Library than in previous years, with the Library receiving an overall performance score of 80%, a 2.6% increase from 2017. Performance improved across all of the survey dimensions, as the table figures indicate:

The survey asks students to rank a series of statements in terms their importance and performance.  Students rated wireless access, finding a quiet place to study, OneSearch, online resources and opening hours as the most important factors for the Library. The availability and quality of help from Library staff, opening hours, online resources, and self-service/off campus options are the areas where students said the Library is performing best.

The top areas for improvement identified included finding places to work in the Library for group and quiet study, support for mobile devices (eg. desks, power), wireless access and OneSearch.  These areas will be targeted for improvement by the Library, especially through the Library Learning Spaces Refurbishment Program which is being enacted through the University’s Campus Master Plan. This program aims to enhance the quality of the student experience, and significant enhancements are planned in the Barry J Marshall, Beasley, Wigmore and Reid libraries over the next five years.

Additional analysis on these two data sources will now be undertaken to create a detailed action plan to further improve Library services which will then be shared with students.