Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda Planning and conducting a serials survey: lessons learned Madeleine Bombeld, Eileen Brown and Lynn Shay University of North Carolina at Wilmington North Carolina Serials Conference 2004

Who we are: Top rated regional university Nationally recognized for our Marine Science program Enrollment undergrads, 1000 graduate students Full time faculty 445 Randall Library Approximately 900,000 volumes 2950 subscriptions, 479 electronic only Access to 160 databases and/or aggregators Serials budget $1,300,000

Collaboration Madeleine Bombeld - Access Services Librarian Elieen Brown - Government Documents Librarian Lynn Shay - Serials Coordinator All members of the Task Force on Serials Management and Access

Getting Started Goal Do our users have a preference? Prefer electronic? Prefer print? How will knowing this be of benefit? Literature Review Are there similar studies? Consistent findings? Can we build upon the literature? Subjects for Study Who? Measurement What are key variables? Measurement devise new or developed by others?

Data- Collection Methods Survey? Experiment? Field research? Analysis Descriptive? Inferential? Schedule Budget Babbie, Earl. The Practice of social research. 5 th ed.

Format Preference What is your preferred mode of access to journal literature? Please check one. O print/library copy O electronic via the web

Coulda Survey goal We may have been too optimistic gs_ pdf Questionnaire Be careful Open-ended or closed-ended questions Ask questions in a way that makes sense to respondents Avoid bias Is the respondent able to answer reliably?

What does this mean? To remain current in your field of research you need journal access to: o most recent o current calendar year o within 1-2 years o 3 to 5 years o 5 years

Faculty Core Journals - preferred electronic List core journal that you use to keep current in your field and indicate the format you use 1._________________________ o electronic o print

Coulda Data collection Facilitate clear recording of answers Collect in a form that is efficient for later processing Delivery Involve others

Data

Woulda Content problems Survey administration Results analysis

Shoulda Response numbers Survey content Analysis

Web addresses UNCW Survey Questionnaire rvey.html rvey.html Literature Review/Works Cited bliography.html bliography.html