In the Fall term of 2024, Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries launched a survey asking the TMU community to provide their feedback on what is important to them and how we are performing across four categories: communication, service delivery, facilities & equipment, and information resources.
Thank you to all who completed our survey, we very much appreciate the feedback, and congratulations to our ten winners of the $50 Best Buy gift cards: Cristen A (undergraduate student), Caitlin C (graduate student), Khadijah H (undergraduate student), Liaba M (undergraduate student), Shivani J (JD student), Onyinyechi D (graduate student), Amara L (JD student), Mya I (undergraduate student), Siam C (undergraduate student), Sarah B (faculty).
Since receiving the survey results, we have been analyzing the data including comments received. Below is an overview of the key findings and how we are responding.
Where We are Performing Well
The TMU community identified many areas where the Libraries are performing well, here are the top five:
- Wireless access
- Off-campus access to Library resources and services
- Library hours of operation
- Users feel comfortable asking for help in the Library
- The Library provides a safe environment
Further, faculty rated the Library’s Course Reserves service (eReserves and Print Reserves) very highly — demonstrating that our investment in this service translates into excellence for faculty teaching and student learning support.
Top Priorities for Improvement
Students’ top two priorities for the Libraries demonstrate clear opportunities to provide more and quieter study spaces in addition to more spaces for group study and collaborative work. These are:
- Finding a quiet place in the Library to study
- Finding a place in the Library to work in a group
Other Areas for Improvement
The survey results identified a few other areas where the Libraries can make improvements:
- Faculty, contract lecturers, and PhD students: Information resources (e.g. books, articles, databases, streaming media, datasets) that meet teaching, learning and/or research needs
- Faculty and contract lecturers: The Library search box
- Cleanliness and maintenance of the Library
How We are Responding
In certain cases, the survey results confirmed our current course of action, as areas needing improvement had already been targeted for enhancement prior to receiving the survey results:
- Quiet study in the Main and Law Libraries: Survey data reinforced anecdotal and staff observations about elevated noise levels in our library spaces. Through their survey participation, students demonstrated a clear need for more quiet space that is better enforced. Improvements such as clearer signage, furniture layouts supporting more options for individual and quiet study, installation of sound masking systems, and collaboration between library staff and key stakeholders, have been undertaken to support students and ensure quieter study environments in the Libraries. In addition, changes to the Law Library have been implemented to ensure a quiet study environment for Law students.
- Collections and information resources: we continue to work with University Administration on budget planning for Library acquisitions, with the goal of ensuring sustainability. Despite budget cuts and inflationary pressures, our Collection Services team continuously works to enable access to information resources of all types that our community needs to be successful.
- Library search box: In June 2024, the TMU Libraries migrated to the Omni platform that is shared by most universities in Ontario. This shared catalogue has significantly enhanced access to over 25 million physical books across 19 Ontario university libraries. With this enhancement comes a learning curve with using the new Omni academic search tool. TMU Librarians are dedicated to teaching students, faculty, contract lecturers, and other members of our community on how to use Omni through workshops and other research help services. Learn how to use Omni here or feel free to reach out to your subject librarian.
Further Action
For certain areas of concern, further investigation and exploration are needed to identify and develop successful solutions. For example, TMU Libraries has embarked on a new strategic planning process; additionally, we identify annual assessment projects that represent the needs of the TMU community. Going forward, the survey results will help us prioritize projects and implement solutions that will improve the overall experience for all members of our community. We will be sharing these projects and outcomes with the TMU community as we move forward.
We are thankful for the survey feedback and we look forward to making enhancements to improve the research, learning, and teaching experience of our users in order to ensure the overall success of the TMU community. We are grateful for the messages of support from our users:
“I have only taught here for 3 terms so far, but I have reached out to librarians to help me teach and give presentations to students each term since I figured out what a fantastic resource they are and what the students have access to for their research. I wish that every first year class in every school could get such a presentation. I have had 3rd year students ask me why did they not learn about this at the beginning of their studies as they could have saved themselves a lot of struggle. I love our librarians!”
“Excellent resource. I would never have been able to get through my graduate work without the library at TMU”
“Our library staff is wonderful – kudos for professionalism and being supportive”
“Honestly, for me, the Library is at the best it could be. Thank you for all the helpful resources readily available!”
For any questions or comments about the survey results and how we are responding, please feel free to contact Nazia Sheikh, Assessment Librarian (n3sheikh@torontomu.ca).