UNE Libraries Assessment Report
Results of the 2004-2005 Freshman Survey
At the beginning of the Fall 2004 semester, the UNE Libraries Public Services staff re-administered the Freshman Survey that was used in 2000 and in 2002. There are a number of clearly identifiable trends:
* The number of papers students report doing in their senior year of high school is decreasing.
* Web surfing, instead of going to the library, is students' primary form of information research.
* The majority of students are now familiar with using online library catalogs.
* More than half of 2004 incoming freshmen report never using an index or database, in either paper or electronic form, to look up articles by subject (20 percent increase over 2000).
* More than 90 percent of students are aware that Internet sources can be out-of-date, inaccurate or biased.
* More than 85 percent of incoming undergraduates have had some library instruction, and most have found it helpful.
* 2004 student respondents report having fewer concerns about doing library research in college than students in 2000 and 2002.
When responses are analyzed by comparing students who have had positive library instruction experiences, negative library instructions experience, or no library instruction, these patterns emerge:
* Students who have had library instruction wrote more papers in high school.
* Students who have had library instruction used more diverse sources in their information research for these papers.
* Students who report no library instruction or negative library instruction experience are only 50 percent likely to have used an online library catalog, and may not know how to use a call number to find a book;
* 84 percent of students who have not had library instruction have never used an index or database to look up an article by subject.
* Students are wary of the credibility of Internet sources, whether they have had library instruction or not.
* Those who reported a negative library instruction experience are 25 percent more likely to report being concerned about finding the right kind or most appropriate kind of information.
* Those with no library instruction are twice as likely to be afraid of feeling lost and overwhelmed than the population at large.
* Those with a positive library instruction experience are 5 percent more likely to have no concerns than the population at large.
It seems that students are growing less prepared for academic work as the years progress. Though capable and cautious Web users, they are inexperienced with and unaware of traditional and online published information sources. Students are using libraries less, and writing fewer papers. (Anecdotally, students in the Masters in Education program complain about decreased funding for technology and libraries, and pressure to "teach to the test" for standards.) Those students who have used diverse library resources have also had a positive library instruction experience, according to our survey, but this is not the majority of students who are being admitted to UNE. The Libraries staff needs to continue to communicate and co-operate with the faculty to address this problem, and to continue to be diligent in reaching incoming freshmen students. The addition of a sixteen-computer training area in the UC campus library in 2004 has been a great help.