Academic staff profiles and use of Internet-based library services and resources at the University of Waikato : the implications for the Library's training and marketing strategies

Abstract

The increase in Internet access on the campus is paralleled by a growing number of internet-based library services and resources available by remote access. Research is necessary on an ongoing basis to monitor who remote users are and the impact remote use has on library services. The university community is made up of a number of different segments, students, academic staff, staff, to successfully market and provide training to these segments it is important to understand their behaviour. This study surveyed academic staff at the University of Waikato. At the beginning of May 2002, a questionnaire was distributed to a randomly selected sample of 37 % of academic staff. Only a third of those questionnaires were returned completed. Unlike previous research, the study found that all academic staff are heavy users of remote access to library services and resources. Also evident was that remote use of library resources and services by academic staff made it more likely that they would promote remote access library services and resources to their students. The results of this survey are limited because of the small sample size and fact that some facets of the academic staff were either not represented, such as professors, or poorly represented in the sample, members of faculty from the School of Computer Science and Maths.