Longitudinally Observing Resource Usage Barriers Expected and Encountered by School of Public Health Affiliates at a Health Sciences Center Library
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) John Bourgeois, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans
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Project Citation:
Bourgeois, John. Longitudinally Observing Resource Usage Barriers Expected and Encountered by School of Public Health Affiliates at a Health Sciences Center Library. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2020-02-13. https://doi.org/10.3886/E117624V1
Project Description
Summary:
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OBJECTIVE:
Over a semester, this longitudinal observational study explored the
relationship between actual and expected usage of library resources as well as
anticipated and encountered barriers to that usage among public health
affiliates.
METHODS: School of Public Health affiliates were sent questionnaires
monthly throughout a semester. These questionnaires asked about library usage
and library barriers in order to examine changes. Participants were compensated
$5 for each questionnaire completed.
RESULTS: These questionnaires examined why patrons registered with the
library, what resources they used, and what difficulties they encountered. Most
patrons used resources less often that they predicted at the beginning of the
semester, mainly because of time constraints but also due to problems
navigating the library’s website and databases. Registrants did not have
accurate expectations about how often they will use the library's resources as
well as what resources they will use. At the beginning of the semester,
participants expected barriers to usage but were not sure what. Although most
respondents encountered no difficulties using library resources, those who did
often had multiple problems and seldom sought library assistance.
CONCLUSION:
These affiliates have high expectations of library usage. The library needs to
manage expectations as well as assist in difficulties. Study across an entire
health sciences center is needed to determine differences across schools.
Funding Sources:
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South Central Academic Medical Libraries Consortium (SCAMeL)
Scope of Project
Subject Terms:
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library;
health sciences;
library outreach;
questionnaires;
surveys;
public health;
health information needs
Geographic Coverage:
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New Orleans, LA, USA
Time Period(s):
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8/2017 – 12/2017 (Fall 2017)
Collection Notes:
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The study was conducted throughout the course of the fall
2017 semester. In order for university affiliates to use most library
resources, they must first register with the library. This process involves
completing an application, receiving a barcode on the back of their
identification card, and setting a PIN for off-campus access. While the
majority of library registrations occur in-person, registrations via email do
occur, and these patrons have full access to library resources. Because
registration is required for library access, most School of Public Health (SPH)
affiliates complete it at the beginning of their tenure at the school, making
this step ideal for recruitment at a time when the individual has probably not
used local library resources already.
After SPH patrons registered with the library, a librarian recruited
them to participate in this research with the assurance that a refusal to
participate would not impact their access to library services or resources. If
informed consent was attained, a questionnaire was administered electronically
via SurveyMonkey. This baseline questionnaire asked why they registered and how
they learned to register. The respondents also marked which library resources
they believe they will use most often. Furthermore, the questionnaire sought
information on whether the participants expected difficulties and what
difficulties they may encounter. Participants were also asked their year of
birth and which program they were in for demographic purposes. Following
completion of this questionnaire, the research subjects were compensated with a
$5 gift card which had to be collected in-person at the library circulation
desk.
Within a few weeks of the fall semester’s commencement, most
registrations have occurred. If SPH affiliates are recruited during this time,
they were eligible to participate for the full duration of the study. However,
recruitment occurred throughout the entire semester.
One month after they answer the baseline questionnaire,
participants were electronically sent a follow-up questionnaire to gather
information on personal resource usage in the past month: what library
resources did they use, how often, for how long. This questionnaire also
explored participants’ articulated barriers to access and how they overcame
these challenges, if they had. The second half of follow-up survey asked respondents
to predict resource usage for the coming month as well as any difficulties
expected. Upon completion, the participants each received a $5 gift card as
compensation for their time. Two follow-up questionnaires maximum were
administered prior to the administration of the final questionnaire. These
subsequent research questionnaires continued monthly from the date that the
previous questionnaire was completed.
At the end of the semester, subjects completed a final
questionnaire to gather their perceptions about the library’s resources. This
last questionnaire had three parts. The first asked respondents to recall their
past month, similar to the follow-up questionnaire. The second part was for
respondents to reflect on the whole semester. The last component of the final
questionnaire asked for predictions about usage and barriers in the spring
semester. Compensation of a $5 gift card was given upon completion. This
concluded the subjects’ involvement in the project. Following Fall
Commencement, all identifiers were stripped from the dataset, leaving only the
last four digits of the patron’s barcode as a unique identifier.
A major consideration was patrons
who registered later in the semester. Regardless of when in the fall semester
an SPH patron registered, the individual was offered the opportunity to
participate in the study. The rationale was that those registering later in the
semester may have different experiences and motivations than those registering
at the beginning of the semester. Therefore their inclusion was beneficial to
enrich the data’s representation. In fact, patrons were eligible to be
recruited until the end of the semester. If this occurred, the subjects were
only administered the baseline survey with $5 gift card compensation. No final questionnaire
was administered in these cases.
Because of the research’s
longitudinality, loss to follow-up was a major factor. In order to mitigate
this, SPH registrants received up to two reminder emails to participate in the
baseline questionnaire. If no response was received, then the patron was no
longer contacted regarding this baseline instrument. Similarly, if respondents
had completed a baseline questionnaire but had not completed follow-up
questionnaires, they would receive two reminders to complete it. Each reminder
was sent a week after the previous contact if the questionnaire had not been
completed.
Because three questionnaires could be completed before the
administration of final questionnaire, loss to follow-up had the potential to
be elevated, despite incentives and reminders. To minimize this loss, another
instrument – the final-baseline questionnaire – was administered. If an SPH
registrant did not respond to the baseline questionnaire or if a prior
respondent was lost to follow-up, then during the last month of the fall
semester the patron was electronically sent the informed consent form and the
final-baseline questionnaire. This final-baseline questionnaire asked about
library resource usage in the past semester, difficulties encountered during
that time, and attempts to overcome those difficulties. Then the final-baseline
questionnaire inquired about planned usage and difficulties for the spring
semester. Essentially, the final-baseline questionnaire was comprised of the
second and third parts of the final questionnaire. Both the final and
final-baseline questionnaires were sent to SPH patrons at the same time, though
no patron received both instruments. This was due to the nature of the
inclusion factors. All SPH fall semester registrants did receive an invitation
to complete one of these questionnaires, with two reminder messages sent as
appropriate.
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