College and Research Libraries - - - ~ - - - -------- - -------- JOHN LUBANS, JR. Nonuse of an Acade~nic Library "What is a noncustomer? These definitions may be clues to turning a noncustomer into a customer: (1) He doesn't know· about your prod- uct; (2) he can't find your product; (3) he doesn't need your product; (4) he doesn't understand what your product can do for him; (5) he doesn't expect good servioe; (6) he has had trouble with your product; (7) he doesn't know your brand; (8) he doesn't trust your brand; (9) he thinks the product's value is uncompetitive; or (10) he simply prefers a competitive product."-News from the Darnell Institute of Business Research. wHILE THERE HAVE BEEN literally hun- dreds of studies about the characteris- tics of library users conducted either by consulting agencies or individual li- braries, little has been said or done about the library nonuser. He is a crea- ture that exists on every campus, from the freshman to the faculty emeritus level, popping up usually at disconcert- ing times with ingenious comments to deans and presidents about how he got or is getting through college without ever using the library. Also, there are the ubiquitous master's or doctoral de- gree candidates who stumble into a con- versation with a librarian and who are overjoyed to hear about Dissertation Ab- stracts or Engineering Index. As to the extent of nonuse, the truth is that for every one of the self-de- clared (even proud) nonusers, there are probably dozens that silently manage to get by without the library. At the time this article was written Mr. Lubans was head of reader services divi- sion at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Li- brary, Troy, N ew York. He is now assistant director for public services at the University of Colorado Library, Boulder, Colorado. 362 / Non use to any degree is a serious problem. It is a dilemma for the librari- an in that the nonuser does attain his degree and oftentimes does it quite hand- ily but without the library. There are certain obvious explanations, such as the stereotyped mass education encountered at the freshman and sophomore levels at most universities, or the many "lab" courses in the sciences. But these do not fully explain library nonuse in colleges that profess such things as the procrea- tion of well-rounded graduates, the lib- eral arts, independent study, honors pro- grams, sen1inars, and the annual spend- ing of millions of dollars on library re- sources. The study described in this paper grew out of the above concerns and is based on a campus-wide census of li- brary use taken during 1968 at Rens- selaer Polytechnic Institute. 1 The census, involving nearly 3,000 students, identi- fied 239 who termed themselves as non- users and some 1,100 who had used the library "a few times." Some of the "few times" users showed, through a lack of opinion on library services and facilities , that possibly a number of nonusers were also to be found in this group. (Presumably "few times" use carries less of a stigma with it than does nonuse.) The following table frmn the 1968 census illustrates the incidence of non- use and the finding that as the student advances in his college career he is more apt to use the library. PATTERN OF LIBRARY USE- UNDERGRADUATES- PERCENTAGES Pattern of Library Use Freshmen Sophomores Juniors Seniors More than once a week 6.8 12.7 21.5 27.0 More than 8 times a semester 26.9 27.4 31.5 33.1 A few times 51.1 50.0 40.6 37.9 None 15.0 9.6 6.3 1.8 This latter conclusion is supported by the 6.8 p ercent figure for fr eshmen who claim to use the library more than once a week, while 27 p ercent of the seniors use it at that frequency. In early 1970, 116 undergraduates who had indicated nonuse in the 1968 survey were still enrolled. Fron1 these 116, a sample of thirty was randomly drawn. It was found that of the thirty, two had withdrawn in the last semester and one failed to b e interviewed. Twen- ty-seven interviews were conducted dur- ing a two-week period, using a struc- tured interview questionnaire. (Results and comments to selected questions are appended.) One of the major findings of this study is that the us e of the library, es- pecially in the eyes of the nonuser, is strictly course-related, and unless he is "guided" in this manner, the inspiration or the inclination or the time are not there for the student to extend himself. A subjective conclusion is that the use or nonuse of the library is not based on intellectual capacity or the quality point average. (The nonuser is not an anti-in- tellectual; rather, he would appear to be as intellectually well-equipped as his library-user classmates.) The students interviewed were intelligent, concerned, Non use of an Academic Library I 363 and able to converse on topics not r e- lated to their academic pursuits. They state that they simply do not have the time to go very far beyond course r e- quirements. The unfortunate side of all this (apart from the effect it has on a li- brarian's ego) is that once the student leaves academia and enters a profession, his knowing how to use the literature could be very important. What may happen is that through nonuse or very likely misuse, the tyro-user will now as- sume that he is doing a fairly good job of finding possible solutions or applica- tions to particular problems by scanning the current journals in his field or by some other inadequate method. Un- doubtedly this accounts for some of the r edundancy in res earch which has been estimated in the February 1964 issue ( p. 377) of the New Scientist in the area of 10 percent to 20 percent. Millions of dollars in grants and man-hours are in- volved. Further, it is worth noting that in Great Britain's Advisory Council on Sci- entific Policy Survey, 22 percent of the r esearch and d evelopment Ph.D. r espon- dents stated that they had carried out r esearch which they subsequently dis- covered had already b een done by some- one else. Twenty-six percent of the nearly 3,000 scientists surveyed went on the record as having met an obstacle or delay in their r esearch which they could have avoided if the r elevant results of current or past research had b een known to them. 2 Personal case histories of duplicated research or of the misuse and nonuse of the literature are well known to most li- brarians. For that matter, how often is it that what we in librarianship consider .at first glance as innovative frequently has been done before, as is revealed through a careful perusal of library lit- erature? Although somewhat justifiable in the humanities for the varying quali- ties of research, it has been stated that ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ 364 I College & Research Libraries • SeP'tember 1971 "approximately 1 out of 20 doctoral candidates in English and American lit- erature is preparing a dissertation which duplicates a previous study .... "3 When he leaves the university, the student should have justified confidence in his ability to use the literature. It has certainly been called for before-for example, the recent National Academy of Sciences report recommends, "the training of all students as well as facul- ty (throughout their college careers if feasible) in the use of the increasingly complex array of existing library and information services."4 Also, the unpublished results of the "Survey of Opinion of Practicing En- gineers" show that the practicing engi- neer is concerned with the effective use of literature. 5 To quote the report: He (the practicing engineer) apparently feels that library and literature use facility is an asset and an essential requirement for fully effective practice by any engineer. In school he didn't learn much of what he feels he should know about getting at en- gineering results reported in the literature, and since then has had to do some digging in unfamiliar ground applying uncertain, uneasy methods. In school, also, he was given no inkling of the importance of en- gineering literature, and how to use it, how to get at it as a needed tool in engineering practice. If he had the decision he would recom- mend that his school give emphasis to the teaching of techniques in library and liter- ature use, and in the basic literature re- sources of specific engineering fields result- ing in easy familiarity with such resources on the job. These conclusions are over fifteen years old and only strengthen the critical need for educating the university library user in the effective use of the literature in the 1970s. As a solution for limiting nonuse (which emphasizes what has already been called for in many user studies) it is recommended that faculty involve the use of the literature by students in research or problem-solving assign- ments whenever possible. In other words, it is hoped that improvements continue to be made over the time of Abelard when: . . . successive generations of laborious and studious men ... consented for centuries to grow pale over a small number of texts, always the same, re-read ( outloud to classes by the faculty) and commented on to satie- ty, gnawing, as it were, the same bone for- ever.6 (parentheses mine) In acknowledgment of the likely chance the above recommendation will be m et with little enthusiasm frmn some faculty, an alternate recommenda- tion is the preparation and presentation, on either a free or credit basis, of imag- inative lectures by librarians (ideally in collaboration with the faculty or, if necessary, alone) on the use of the vari- ous literature sources. Librarians n eed to take the offensive to show at the mini- mum that the economics of duplicated research is a serious matter and that the reduction of this is only to be accom- plished by researchers who appreciate through the literature what has been done and what is being done in the par- ticular area in which they are working. Furthermore, librarians should study the library requirements of the student and concern themselves with the stu- dent's prepare dness at present and in the future to interact with the library. For example, to ask and answer such questions as what can be done to im- prove the student's plight in not fully utilizing library resources?; what are the library needs of the student which are now unsatisfied?; and what are the neces- sary steps to arrive at student library use satisfaction? APPENDIX Selected Tabulation and Commentary of Non user Interviews The mathematical mean cumulative Quality Point Average (QPA) for the twen- ty-seven respondents, spread out over a normal appearing distribution of high, av- erage, or low academic achievement, is 2.5. This is slightly higher than the overall QP A for the "average" Rensselaer student, which is 2.4. It is worth noting that had the total sample of thirty been available for in- terviewing, the QP A would have been 2.4 for the sample. The QP A distribution for the twenty-seven ranged from 1.6 to 3.4 out of a possible 4.0. QUESTION: If you are not a graduate stu- dent, do you intend to do graduate study? No 22% Yes 78% The implication here should be evident. If anywhere, certainly in graduate school it is requisite that the student become fa- miliar with the current and past advances in his field at least. The library will very likely have to be used. QUESTION: Did your high school have a li- brary? No 0% Yes 100% If Yes, did you use the high school li- brary more than you use the RPI library? No 37% Yes 63% Comments: "More need to use the high school li- brary . . . at Rensselaer, through first three years at least, no need." "Had to use it to get good grades." "I was more library-oriented then." "In high school it was a requirement . . . I had more free time . . . could read more on my own time .... " QUESTION: Did you use the public library in your community? No 22% Yes 78% If Yes, did you use the public library more than you use the RPI library? No 24% Yes· 76% Comments: "I did more reading for enjoyment." "I used the public library mainly to get books for pleasure . . . something I haven't done since I've been at RPI." "I needed to use the library . . . or sometimes went there to kill time by going in and browsing." Non use of an Academic Library I 365 "Used it for high school assignments, for example, in senior year for two weeks every day was spent in public library on research." "Would go to public library . . . read odds and ends about science and other things of interest." Quite clearly from the foregoing answers and ~omment~; it can be said that the pres- ent nonusers were users and often fre- quent users of either the public or second- ary school libraries. QUESTION: Should the RPI Library offer in- struction in the use of the library? No 52% Yes 48% Comrn.ents: "No, not necessary-most have ah·eady had it . . . they can always ask at the desk . . . no sense of bringing everyone in." "No, not worth it because not needed (only for graduate work) ... often freshmen realize they don't need to use the library . . . then they have no desire to learn library use." "Yes, and I would take it ... probably be an easy course." "The library pamphlet is as effective as anything ... if you press for li- brar;, use insb·uction, you'll find apa- thy. QUESTION: Do you know a.p.y librarians? Very briefly, what is your general opinion of them? Helpful but not capable 14% Helpful and effective 57% Professionals doing a professional job 17% Do not know any librarians 12% Comments: "Most librarians I knew from high school were former teachers of mine that assumed a less demanding job, but were still involved in educa- tion." "Helpful, but not professionals ... just women who came in to help out in the library." "In high school just monitors, disci- pline enforcers . . . more helpful in public library." 366 I College & Research Libraries • September 1971 QUESTION: If you were assigned the job of developing a new process or a new proce- dure, would you be apt to consult the liter- ature as to what had already been done? No 0% Yes 100% Would you know how to go about this? No 56% Yes 44% Whom would you ask for guidance to find already available information? Faculty 39% 12 times first to be consulted Classmates 12% 3 times first to be consulted Librarian 31% never first; 9 times Researchers in that field 18% second to be consulted The respondents who answered yes to knowing how to go about consulting the literature were not always fully confident they would know just how to go about it. For example: Comments: "Yes, I have a vague idea of how to." "Yes, basically, I think I could." "I would ask either faculty or librarian . . . if general, librarian, if technical, faculty." QUESTION: What do you think your profes- sors, in general, think about using the li- brary? 14% recommend it 11% have reserve books there 8% make assignments to use it 5% are opposed to it 46% are neutral or noncommital 16% do not place much value on it Comments: "In general, if you go on the times it is mentioned, the faculty are not too hot on it." "They don't say anything about the use of the libra1y." "Professors will make reference to books, but few students will go to look these up." "From time to time a professor will mention a reference, but generally understands. that it will not be looked up. It's a matter of time . they do it to be cool." "May be opposed to it because they want us to do work independently, i.e., not from a book in the library. For example, the 7-page solution to an assigned problem was found by students in a library book. The pro- fessor had used it as a 'source' for the problem." QUESTION: Please give me your opinion of this quote, "The library is the heart of the university." Do you regard it as: 2% true 4% false 46% not applicable to RPI 40% true on some campuses 8% a nice ideal, but unrealistic Comments: "Almost all assignments at RPI can be done without outside references. The library is not essential. More outside assignments should be given in every course to make the library more important." "Certainly not here . . . the professors are the hea1t of the university." "Would be true of a library on a lib- eral arts campus . . . there they need various sources for comparison . . . we buy all ours at the bookstore." QUESTION: How would you term your pat- tern of use of the Rensselaer Library? (Note that two years ago all the respon- dents had indicated nonuse of the library. This again bears out the claim that as the student progresses in his academic life he is apt to make use of the library.) 22% more than once a week 11% more than 8 times a semester 22% few times a semester 45% very seldom, or never If you checked either of the last two above, what in your opinion is the reason? 89% no need 11% poor collection Comments: "Now I use it frequently . . in previ- ous semesters almost never . . . have found it a good place to study and get books that help explain material covered in class." "Nothing brings you to the librmy . . . no habit ... no assignments made . .. no pressure on part of faculty." "Very seldom or never in first two years . . . now I come in for journals and .~ewspapers and technical works. "Most courses have texts with all the information in them. Once you know Ohm's law, you don't need to Nonuse of an Academic Library I 367 look it up. The main difference be- tween liberal arts and the sciences == no differences to Ohm's law, while crit~cism o~ topics in liberal arts is vaned .... "Go to frat brothers for information on courses . . . no need for library." REFERENCES 1. John Lubans, Jr., "Student Use of a Techno- logical University Library," IATUL Proceed- ings 4:7-13 (July 1969). 2. Correspondence from Dr. Wood of the De- partment of Education and Science, Nation- al Lending Library of Science and Technolo- gy, Great Britain, 17 June 1970. 3. The Bowker Bulletin (Sept. 1968), p.4. 4. Scientific and Technical Communication: A Pressing National Problem and Recommen- dations for Its Solution. A Report by the Committee on Scientific and Technical Com- munication of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., 1969, p.62. 5. Sponsored by the American Society for En- gineering Education, Engineering School Li- braries Committee, as reported by Edward A. Chapman, in his Report on ASEE Engi- neering Literature Project (June 1953) (unpublished). 6. Gabriel Compayre, Abelard and the Origin and Early History of Universities (New York: AMS Press, 1969), p.187.