Library support for research conducted by academic staff at selected New Zealand polytechnics

Abstract

Overseas research has established that the academic staff employed at polytechnics (or similar institutions) were not satisfied with the quality or quantity of research level resources at their Polytechnic Library. A recent literature search revealed that no similar study had been conducted in New Zealand polytechnics. This study sought to address this lack of important information. The data for this study was obtained from staff involved in work-related research at four New Zealand polytechnics. Both the staff members and the polytechnics have remained anonymous in this report. The staff responded to a questionnaire that requested feedback on their research related library use, the variety of resources they used and whether or not their expectations of resources and services were being met at their polytechnic library. The respondents in this study considered that the polytechnic library held up-to-date information in their research discipline. At the same time, however, a large number of respondents also felt more resources would be desirable. The overall finding of this study was that about half of the respondents were generally happy with the resources and services of their polytechnic library. This was similar to the satisfaction rate of 52% for how well the libraries at the new universities were meeting the research needs of the academic staff (Erens, 1996). Just over half of the respondents rated their polytechnic library as the library they used most for their research and a similar number indicated that their library use had increased since 1998. The respondents make most use of books, journals and electronic publications and least use of newspapers, magazines and non-English publications. This report provides a detailed discussion of the study.