Survey Says: Findings from Our Recent Library User Survey

Here in the Libraries, we are always trying to up our game. To help us serve our students and faculty better, we conduct periodic surveys to understand how they view our services, spaces, and materials, and how satisfied they are with their overall library experience.

Earlier this semester, we sent out a brief survey to approximately 6,000 Duke students. Slightly more than half of them responded, almost evenly split between undergraduates and graduate students. Their answers were both candid (“The librarians are always extremely helpful and eager to assist”) and imaginative (“Official napping areas would be a huge bonus”).

What follows are a few of the more interesting highlights. Over the next few months, we will be analyzing the survey data and ultimately use it to make service enhancements, expenditures, and other library improvements. The more feedback we get, the better equipped we are to improve the services we already offer and develop new ones to meet students’ emerging needs.


survey respondents


library most frequent


most frequent comments


which important to you


satisfied overall


services expanded