Catalogue survey results

We recently undertook a survey to find out a bit more about who the users of our catalogue are, why you are coming and the type of thing you are using our catalogue for. We would like to thank all of you who took the time to respond to the survey. In the 10 days the survey ran, we received 5,710 responses. We were blown away by the number of responses as we were expecting around 500 responses!

So who are our users?

  • 27% of you described yourself as a family history researcher
  • 19% are recreational researchers, and
  • 13% are tertiary students

Our catalogue is mostly being used by people aged over 45:

  • 1% are aged under 16
  • 10% are aged between 17-24
  • 10% are aged between 25-34
  • 13% are aged between 35-44
  • 22% are aged between 45-54
  • 28% are aged between 55-64
  • 16% are over 65

Our visitors are generally based on the east coast of Australia – Canberra, Sydney, Regional NSW, Melbourne, and regional Queensland. 10% of respondents are using it from overseas. A massive 68% of respondents accessed the catalogue from home, 18% from work, while only 6% used it from within the reading rooms at the Library.

It was pleasing to see that most people arrived from the Library’s website (52%) or from Google (37%). You came to the catalogue looking for:

  • to find items on a particular subject
  • to find an online resource or
  • to find a specific title

We found that we have a very dedicated group of users that keep coming back to the catalogue on a regular basis:

  • 23% use it less than once a month
  • 19% use it about once a month
  • 16% use it more than once a month
  • 10% use it every week

20% of the survey respondents visited the catalogue for the first time.

These are the initial survey results. We will be analysing these results in more detail. In the meantime we have started some user testing and observations based on what we have found. We’ll be publishing further results as we continue with our research. Thanks again for all your help. We are well on the way to providing a better catalogue for you.

Update 19th May 2009: Congratulations to the winner of the book voucher, Elizabeth B. of Casino, NSW. We will be in contact with you to let you know how you can redeem your voucher.

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19 Responses to “Catalogue survey results”

  1. Jennifer Hand @

    Actually I would like to thank the library staff for providing such excellent service (helpful and friendly)

  2. Thanks for sharing these preliminary results.

    Apart from the high response rate, were there any surprises in the data?

    What is the response (5,710) as a % of survey offers during the 10 day period?

    To what do you ascribe the high response rate?

  3. We certainly appreciate such great feedback; thank you.

  4. Margaret Lovesey @

    I am not surprised by most of the findings (live in east coast etc) but it is interesting to see the large proportion of family history researchers using the NLA catalogue.

    I think it is important that the research we do is collected in some form to show a picture of early Australian lives to future researchers outside the families and to ensure it is not lost. Biographical enclyclopedias of ordinary Australian families would be one way. Something which shows the way transportation and immigration put together families with diverse backgrounds.

  5. Bob – we sent out an email to 20,000 registered users of the catalogue and also put a link to the survey on the catalogue itself. We had 3,714 people respond from the email and 1,996 people respond via the link to the survey. When carrying out this kind of survey you can normally expect around a 4% success rate, we ended up with nearly a 20% success rate. These findings are fantastic to see and it indicates that we have a passionate community of library users.

    We still have some further analysis to carry out, so it’s probably a bit early to be saying if there are any surprises in the data.

  6. Bob McFadden @

    Thanks for the feedback.
    It would be interesting to ponder how to leverage the work of the researchers sharing a common interest (eg Family History).

  7. Anne Pope @

    It is such a good resource I will have to try and promote it more in West Australia.
    Thank you for all the work.

  8. Elspeth Steel @

    Thank you! I was most pleased to come across the Library online.

  9. Trish Brownrigg @

    Great result. I have passed on the wonderful opportunities available for researching your on-line data bases available from home to fellow family history researchers. It’s a ground swell gathering momentum. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the NLA for making possible inter-library loans of books, where applicable.

  10. Dominic Kelly @

    Thank you for the survey and the publication of the initial results. I commend the endeavour. I agree with the comment by Margaret Lovesey about the necessity for collection of family history research results and particularly rare, fragile and historic photographic records to ensure that they are not lost to the nation. There is an apparent need to publicise minimal requirements for formatting and presentation of written material so that it can be utilised in the library’s collections. Or does the Library take an interest only in professionally published material with an ISBN?Is there a person or section in the National Library with whom one can discuss these matters, especially for those living out of Canberra?

  11. Lesley Charlton @

    I would like to see more information on family history on the data base because most of my family histroy is in Queensland, and i have two children with special needs and work 5 days a week, I cannot get into the National Library very often.
    Lesley Charlton

  12. Great job Paul,

    Surveys can show interesting things. Thanks for sharing the findings and posting them publicly so quickly.

    -=Matthew=-

  13. Marie Cameron @

    I’m delighted that you got such a good response, which seems to reflect the fact that the NLA offers an excellent service! You have a mass of excellent information for family historians, and the digitised newspapers are superb – I could lose myself in them for hours! I agree with others that it would be great to have a way of collecting and preserving the work that people are doing in the area of family history.

  14. Dominic – The library is interested in collecting all sorts of material, not just those with an ISBN. Our collection development policy gives a better understanding of the scope of material we are looking to collect.

  15. Greg Kirk @

    A result worth the effort. It will be interesting to see if your results lead to an increase in Government costs to family historians. A little cynical I know, but that is usually the way Governments operate, more people to charge.
    Having said all that, Australia would be the poorer if we did not have so many wonderful libraries around our country, they are all a pleasure to visit, either through the web or in person.

  16. Charles Balnaves @

    Good to see results posted so quickly – thank you for asking the questions.

  17. Lesley Fiedler @

    The NLA is a valuable resource for family history researchers especially the old Newspapers I spend hours going through them and have found many snippets on my old ancestors that would not have been found any other way also its interesting to read how things were way back and the fact that this is available to all Australians on line no matter which state you live in is a real bonus Thank You NLA !

  18. Sharyn Mayne @

    I’d be interested to know how many information professionals responded to this survey and how they use the catalogue. I was surprised that so many used it for family history.

  19. Barbara Aldersea @

    Thank you for your feedback. The National Libary of Australia is a fantastic website for family historians. I have found the digitised newspapers invaluable. Thank you.

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