Federal Science eLibrary Pilot Project Final Report

Appendix A - Needs Assessment Survey

Objective

To evaluate the state of access of the pilot sites at the start of the project.

An extensive study on the "current state of access" was conducted only two years earlier as part of the September 2003 Federal Science eLibrary feasibility study, and the Needs Assessment Survey was based on that study.

Methodology

A survey was created with six questions, all of which had also been asked in the 2003 feasibility study. The questions focused on users' current habits and expectations with regard to e-journals.

The pilot site librarians distributed information about the survey Web site and provided access particulars to each of their user groups. The survey was available online to the three pilot sites for four weeks, from November 9, 2005, to December 9, 2005.

The user population totalled 505, including 300 at the Institute of Ocean Sciences/Pacific Geoscience Centre, 55 at the CANMET Energy Technology Centre-Devon, and 150 at the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre Library.

Results

A total of 90 researchers returned the Needs Assessment survey, an 18% response rate. Of the 90 responses from the two participating departments, 66 were from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and 24 were from Natural Resources Canada. All three pilot sites were well represented with 33 responses from the Institute of Ocean Sciences/Pacific Geoscience Centre, 16 from the CANMET Energy Technology Centre-Devon, and 41 from the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre Library. There were no significant differences in the responses at the three sites.

The following summarizes the results for each of the six survey questions:

1. Do you think increased access to e-journals has affected or would affect your research activities or productivity?

Response Options	Total for option	Percentage
Yes	83	92%
No	7	8%

Total answered: 90

92% of the users surveyed indicated that access to e-journals affects their research activities and productivity.

2. Please rate this impact, from very positive to very negative.

Response Options	Total for option	Percentage
Very Positive	48	64%
Positive	35	36%
Negative	0
Very Negative	0
Not Answered	0

Total answered: 83

100% of the users who answered yes to Question 1 indicated the impact of increased access on their research activities and productivity was positive or very positive.

3. Access to e-journals shortens time spent searching and retrieving articles.

Response Options	Total for option	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	5	6%
Disagree	1	1%
Agree	23	28%
Strongly Agree	54	65%
Not Answered	0

Total answered: 83

93% of the users who answered yes to Question 1 agreed or strongly agreed that access to e-journals shortens the time spent searching and retrieving articles. This compares well to the feasibility study, where 94% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed.

4. Access to e-journals shortens the time spent visiting the library.

Response Options	Total for option	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	2	2%
Disagree	5	6%
Agree	25	30%
Strongly Agree	51	62%
Not Answered	7

Total answered: 83

92% of the users who answered yes to Question 1 agreed or strongly agreed that access to e-journals shortens the time spent visiting the library. This compares well to the feasibility study, where 93% of respondents either strongly agreed or agreed.

5. I publish more articles because e-journals make accessing good quality articles faster and easier.

Response Options	Total for option	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	3	5%
Disagree	14	26%
Agree	29	54%
Strongly Agree	8	15%
Not Applicable	29
Not Answered	7

Total answered: 83
Total Applicable: 54

69% of the users who answered yes to Question 1 and who publish their research agreed or strongly agreed that they publish more work as a result of having better access to e-journals. This compares favourably to the feasibility study, where 58% of respondents who published agreed or strongly agreed e-journals allow them to publish more.

6. Do you have any comments on this issue that you would like to share? Specific examples of how desktop access to e-journals has affected your productivity or research would be of particular interest.

There were 36 surveys returned with comments. Pilot users identified potential e-journal impacts in the following areas:

Difficulties Keeping Up With Professional Reading - Users Indicated Increased Access To E-Journals Might Help

• At IOS we need to widen our access to e-journals. At the moment, access is too limited. Do more searching on Internet with Google at the moment to find relevant publications.
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Sidney - Survey I
• I do not spend enough time researching literature, because of the time involved in searching through the library entries, some of which are not available when I need them.
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Sidney - Survey
• I tend to read more online journals, by browsing at lunchtime.
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada - St. John's - Survey I
• At the outset, I can state that access to the scientific literature is a pre-requisite to doing my research. With the high volume of literature to search and with the demands on my time, I must find gaps in my workload to use scanning the literature. The only way this works for me is by e-literature. Further, I am totally dependent on my desktop and I must have my literature in e-format so that I can use it on my computer.
  Natural Resources Canada - Devon - Survey I
• E-journals have helped me in two specific aspects:
  1. It allowed me to access old papers which otherwise would have been impossible or highly difficult to get (e.g. JSTOR site, I love this site.). This means that by using e-journals we not only get easier and faster access to recent publications, we get a much better access to old publications which allows to explore deeper the historical development of any research topic.
  2. It allowed me to improve my ability for working when I am on the go. Typically there is a maximum amount of actual paper that you can carry when traveling. Being able of storing in my laptop the pdfs of many more articles makes much easier to carry with you all you might need to work far from the office (i.e. not only traveling, but working from home during weekends or snow days).
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada - St. John's - Survey I

Meeting Tight Deadlines When Long Waits For Information (E.G., Waiting For Interlibrary Loans Or Commuting To Non-Departmental Libraries) Are A Factor - Desktop Access To The Same Content Would Help The Situation

• Since scientists like myself are peer reviewers in our field quick access to references are very useful for turnaround time.
  Natural Resources Canada - Devon - Survey I

Unequal Access To Journals - Delivering The Same Core Set Of Journals To All Users In All Departments Would Help

• I am a seabird biologist (employed by Environment Canada) but located within a DFO facility. Because of network issues, I am on DFO's network - this unfortunately has prevented me gaining access to certain e-journals (available if I was on the EC network). If the goal of the Federal Science eLibrary is to serve ALL scientists employed within the Federal family, I am hoping that we will be able to access all journals - not just those that are selected 'in house' by scientists within a particular department.
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Sidney - Survey I

Government Access To E-Journals Lags Behind Academia And Private Industry - Delivering Increased Access To All Users Would Help

• I have worked in US government laboratories and in universities in both the US and Canada. Electronic library resources in the GOC are not as good as enjoyed by our foreign and academic peers. The only reason appears to be money. GOC needs a coordinated strategy to negotiate with publishers so that government scientists across all disciplines have access comparable to our academic peers.
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Sidney - Survey I

Higher Quality Reproduction In Full-Text Pdf Or Html Documents Than In Scanned Or Photocopied Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery Copies

• Printed copies of e-journal articles have far better reproduction than photocopied paper journal articles.
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Sidney - Survey I

Pilot users identified the following areas of concern:

How Will Older Content Will Be Handled In An E-Journal World

• E-journals have become indispensable in reviewing newly published research. It is unfortunate that the timelines of availability of e-journals for some publications is so short.
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada - St. John's - Survey I
• While access to e-journals certainly has potential to increase productivity, this will depend on the number of journals available on-line (i.e. do they represent the journals I normally target). One drawback to e-journals is that usually there is a limited time-line. For instance, in my area of ecological research I frequently have to refer to earlier articles (20-30 yrs. old) which are not available on-line. Certainly, it is a great resource for recent literature but will never entirely replace visits to the library.
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Sidney - Survey I

Usability/Readability Of Online Content

• I believe that e-journals are grossly over-rated. I do spend time downloading papers now that I then print on a local printer so that I can read them. I do not find it at all effective to read journals on-line, I must print them first. I would say that the impact is small and negative. I will continue to visit the library to read print copies. This is likely more effective and cheaper than printing them on a local network printer and then reading them.
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Sidney - Survey I