From the survey The Third Eye conducted about the UoM Library Services we had 241 responses, the vast majority of which frequently visit the library either on a daily, or weekly basis.
Students were mostly bothered by the opening times and remarkably more by the storage space and “No Bags” Policy.
An overwhelming number of students told us that they would like the library to have longer opening hours and they were also greatly in favour of a prospect of a 24/7 open library. The latter would particularly benefit students during exam periods.
Regarding storage, there was an absolute consensus between respondents that there is nowhere near enough space for students’ belongings, that the “No Bags” policy is inefficient, and that the Library blatantly protects its books more than the students’ belongings.
Students are generally insecure about their belongings being subject to theft as they are left unattended. Multiple respondents also recounted that they had their belongings’ stolen. That said many asserted that there is simply not enough security. Many opted for various solutions, with the majority proposing either a complete withdrawal of the “No Bags” Policy, or simply providing bigger and more secure storage spaces, like lockers, as opposed to pigeon holes.
The following is an in depth analysis:
How often do you visit the Library?
The major part of the participants visit the library daily, amounting to 99 out of 241. Weekly visitors amount to 83 which is still a good number. Only 25 students marked monthly and 34 students marked less frequently. Taking the participants from the “Daily” category and from the “Weekly” category there is about 182 students that visit the library often. From this survey, one can see that only 59 students do not attend as regularly.
Purpose of visiting the library?
It is no doubt that the dominating category is “Study” amounting to 200 students out of 241 participants. The second being “Research” with that of a score of 29 while “Relaxing” and “Group Work” got 7 and 5, respectively.
From this survey, it gives the impression that quite a number of students find the library as a space to focus and finish your work rather than a place to relax or to do group work. There might be other places that these students find much more relaxing and comfortable to do these kinds of activities.
How satisfied are you with the library overall?
Several participants feel quite neutral towards the library. The scale leans more to neutral going to very satisfied, amounting to 197 students overall satisfied. Around 44 participants feel quite dissatisfied regarding the library.
How satisfied are you with the library’s opening hours?
It seems that there are many different views regarding this question; 100 participants are quite satisfied with the opening hours; 92 participants are quite dissatisfied with the opening hours and 49 participants are neutral.
Would you be interested in longer opening hours?
Although the responses from the previous question were very close to each other, various participants still feel longer opening hours would be best [212 participants out of 241]. These are the UoM Library’s opening hours:
Is a 24/7 library something you’d be interested in?
203 participants out of 241 said they would be interested in a 24/7 library, 38 disagreed.
Does the library provide enough storage space for your belongings?
It seems that the majority of the participants feel that the library doesn’t provide enough storage space. 36 participants feel neutral regarding this situation and only 19 feel satisfied with the storage space.
Do you agree with how the library handles your belongings?
169 participants do not agree with this statement while 72 agree with this. There were many valid and interesting reasons when the participants were asked to give a reason to those that marked “No”.
Insights
The main point of several students was that if they cannot take their belongings with them, at least provide them with sufficient lockers and much more storage space. The pigeon holes don’t provide enough safety as it is still very accessible and can still be easily stolen by any other student. Not to mention, the lockers are full the majority of the time and many bags are left on the floor.
Taking everything out of your bag and having it to carry everything with you through the library is seen as a major inconvenience to many of the students. They state it would be much easier if they could just take their bag – they feel that the library treats them as criminals (Library fears that they will put books in their bags).
The students are well aware that the library provides them with bags to carry their belongings with them throughout their visit but this is still seen as an inconvenience – having to take your belongings from one bag and into another.
A number of students also mentioned that if a student is planning to spend an entire day at the library, it is very inconvenient for them to leave the bag downstairs especially if you have to go up 2 floors while leaving your bag unattended for a long period of time.
Participants stated that the reason they avoid going to the library is because they fear that their belonging will get stolen – some also said that their own friends were robbed while visiting the library. Students were frustrated and feel the library is taking the easy way out. They feel no one is doing something regarding the theft that happens almost everyday [acc. to a participant] and the library is not provided with enough resources and security to avoid any theft. There is lack of security and proper security systems/cameras should be installed.
Do you agree with the “No Bags” policy?
176 participants do not agree with the “No Bags” policy while 65 participants agree. This is interesting to see as when the participants were asked if they agree with how the library handles their belongings, 169 participants said no. This means, 7 students agree that their belongings are protected but they still do not agree with the “No Bags” policy.
Do you think the library protects the books or your belongings more?
The majority of the participants agreed that the books are much more protected than their belongings. Since there is the “No Bags” policy, the books are much more protected than the belongings as one cannot just simply put a book in the bag but would have to carry it till they arrive next to their bag. Thus, making it hard for someone to steal books from the library.
Do you feel uneasy leaving your belongings in the library’s entrance as they are subject to theft?
Considering the responses that were recorded before in the “If your previous answer is “No”, why?” it’s clear that a good number of students feel uneasy leaving their belongings in the library’s entrance. As already mentioned before, those students that have to go up floors to study feel much more uneasy with this situation.
Student’s suggestions, summarised
Various students gave a lot of suggestions to help resolve the storage issue. The main statement that the students mostly focused on is that there should be more lockers and lockers on every floor. A few stated that they should ditch the pigeon holes and create space for bigger and better lockers. A student suggested that lockers shouldn’t be necessarily in the library, even the student’s house could work. They also added that the entrance should be further extended inwards as there is space to do so, allowing more room for storage. KSU already have lockers which are rented out and can be used for library purposes, as well as other storage.
One participant wrote quite a lengthy suggestion. They stated that the library should invest in padlocks for the bags. The idea is that students should be given a padlock each upon entering the library and lock it with the zippers. The student should be given a key corresponding to his padlock so that, he or she could unlock the padlock and give it back to the receptionist before leaving. There should be one key/padlock and that key should be given to the student for him/her to carry while at the library. The doors of the library should have a security system installed which goes off if someone tries to leave the library with the padlock still attached to the zippers of his/her bag. Consequently, if a thief tries to leave the library with someone else’s bag or belongings, he/she would be caught red-handed straight away.
Another idea by a participant stated was having a bag tag system. This is where you hand over your bag to the librarian, and the bag is tagged with a number which is equivalent to your ticket number. Therefore, when you are ready you can pick up your bag using the ticket.
Many of the students still feel that there should be no “No Bags” policy and the library should let them enter with their bags. A few stated that they are ready to prove their belonging are there [the tagging system might come in handy in this case]
A student stated that alarms on the books should start being installed. Reason being; if someone steals a book it will ring at the metal detector. One expressed that students should be allowed to start working in the library.