Tag Archives: Survey results

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Quick overview of the Needs Assessment survey

results
Information is great!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our needs assessment survey! The winners of the $25 Amazon gift cards have been notified.

As with all surveys, we wanted to learn more about the needs of our community. In our case, our community is our member libraries; and our need is figuring out what you guys need so we can better serve you. In any organization with a new director, it is valuable to spend this time asking around about things people want so we can keep building on successful partnerships from the past, as well as helping with the new needs a rapidly-changing profession like ours creates. Combining the information we learned here with the information learned in visiting our member libraries gives us a better picture of the things we can do to help support our libraries!

This will be a quick overview of the highlights of the results from the information received. We will be working on this for a while, and using this information to build services and materials we can offer to you. In any sort of partnership, things will keep changing and the work we do today will change too. We will be sending out another needs assessment survey in about a year and a half, to see where we are then, and what other kinds of things we can be doing.

The results here are not necessarily representative of all members, but they are giving us a basis to start thinking about things. People who are really interested in statistical testing and analysis should contact me, because I love to talk about that stuff! But this is designed as an overview, a place to start, and to have other information filled in from visits, discussions, and other sources around the system. So it may not be perfect, but every plan needs a starting point!

Continue reading Quick overview of the Needs Assessment survey →

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E-book Usage in K-12's is Rising

Image by nic519. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by nic519. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

The data is in! Download School Library Journal’s 4th annual survey of eBook Usage in U.S. K-12 Libraries. Usage of eBooks in school libraries, especially at the high school level, is expected to continue to rise incrementally.

The survey extrapolates that an estimated $73 million was spent on eBooks in U.S. schools is 2012-2013. And since last years survey, the percentage of LMC’s materials budgets spent on eBooks has nearly doubled, with that percentage expected to more than triple by 2018.

Download at 2013 Survey of Ebook Usage in U.S. School (K–12) Libraries.

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Students Talk About Their Digital Lives

Image Cuddling with multiple devices. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image Cuddling with multiple devices. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Common Sense Media released an interesting information graphic of students’ opinions about their digital lives. Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives is based on a survey of a little more than 1,000 U.S. students between the ages of 13 and 17. The survey addresses the following questions;

  • Intervals in which students text and use Facebook or Twitter
  • The preferred medium to communicate with friends and family
  • How communication tools are affecting friendships and family relations
  • How networking make students feel, reflective in their self concept
  • And so on…

Although the sample size is somewhat small,  it suggests that there is a love, hate relationship building between “digital natives” and social media.  Indicating that increased face time with devices does not necessarily equate to enjoyment or better relationships. Click here to download the full report.

Note: Teachers look for ways to engage students using social media in an effort to meet students where they are at, when they are there. However, this report emphasizes the importance of also maintaining face-to-face interactions. At a time when some students are on digital overload, educators can induce reflective time, “unplugged” into a student’s day; being mindful of how and when to incorporate social media in programming and/or curriculum development.