Skip Navigation
Falvey Library
Advanced
You are exploring: Home > Blogs

The Results Are In! Falvey Library Community Survey Report

Think back to a time when we were dashing across campus, dodging snow flurries and picking up a coffee at Holy Grounds before catching a game at the Pavilion. Given how much our daily routines have changed so dramatically and so quickly, it’s hard to believe that it was also only 3 months ago that Falvey Library was circulating surveys to our faculty and a random sampling of students to gain feedback and insights about how Falvey can better serve the Villanova community. We asked questions about study spaces, events, physical collections, in-person research consultations, and your interactions with the library building. Oh, how things have changed!

Though we’re still in the midst of adjusting to our remote work, remote research, and remote learning realities, all of us at Falvey wanted to take a moment to thank the Villanova community for completing our survey in February and March. We were thrilled to learn that you were extremely satisfied with our services overall, that the survey revealed library services you may not have been aware of, and that you were able to provide helpful feedback on potential new services. Most importantly, during our time away from campus, so many of us have been able to take advantage of the extensive electronic resources that Falvey offers, from eBooks to eJournals to Databases, ILL requests, and online research consultations with our librarians. Though our building is currently closed, Falvey has continued to provide Villanova with high-quality electronic resources and virtual research support that our community needs to continue to thrive as a leading research institution.

Highlights

Among the highlights of the survey results, we found that more than 40% of undergraduates were not aware that Falvey procures seamless electronic access to scholarly journal articles for the Villanova community. While on Villanova’s network on campus, clicking on a journal article from a Google search result will likely deliver you to that article on the publisher’s platform. However, with more of us working and studying off-campus, that same click might present you with a paywall and ask you to log in or purchase pay-per-view access. To avoid this dead end, you can perform the same search from the library homepage and then log in with your Villanova credentials when prompted, or for faculty and staff, log in to Villanova’s VPN for IP authentication via the publisher.

Pie Chart

2020 Undergraduate Community Survey

 

Electronic resource subscriptions account for the largest piece of Falvey’s collections budget, but this investment is well-founded as usage of these resources (articles/chapters/video views) is extremely high:

2020 Usage

Comments (we do have books!)

When we asked about what you did when you visited the library building, we received a lot of comments about checking out books as well as questions about why we didn’t ask about books. In order to keep the survey as brief as possible, we had grouped this in a single option about using our collections: “Use/borrow the general print, A/V, or electronic collections”. Rest assured, we have lots of books, we value books, and we will continue cultivating our print book collection for years to come.

At the same time, we are also thinking about library space needs, a potential renovation, and future planning for operating in times of coronavirus and beyond. When access to our physical collection becomes limited, we’re especially grateful to have electronic versions of many of the same print books available via remote access.

Service Highlights

Among our many service offerings, some of the most popular and valued library services included Interlibrary Loan/EZ-Borrow and the Affordable Materials Project.

2020 Faculty Importance

2020 Graduate Student Importance

 

Undergrad Importance

Coming Soon

We also asked our faculty and graduate students about their research, publication, and digital scholarship needs, which will inform the offerings of Falvey’s brand new Digital Scholarship Lab (construction nearly complete) to be led by our Digital Scholarship Librarian, Erica Hayes. Faculty with copyright or publication questions can also utilize the expertise of our new Scholarly Communications Librarian, Sarah Wipperman. Additionally, we asked faculty about their familiarity with Open Educational Resources, which aligns with the new OER Grant sponsored by the Office of the Provost.

Next Steps

I’ll be providing another update as the Fall Semester approaches on some of the changes Falvey will have implemented as a result of this survey. If you have any additional feedback for the library, or if you would be interested in participating in future focus groups, please let us know!


John Banionis

John Banionis is the Metrics & Assessment Librarian at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 


 


Like

The Curious ‘Cat: What brings you to the Library on this beautiful summer day? Do you have a favorite place to study?

Curious 'Cat - image

Jonathan Fabriziani resizeJonathan Fabriziani:  To study for the  OAT [Optometry Admission Test], organic chemistry. … All over, this is one of my favorites [second floor lounge].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kristian Richardson:  To print out pictures for my bulletin board.  … Speakers’ Corner – the chairs are very comfortable.

Luke LaBarge resizeLuke LaBarge:  Homework. … Usually third floor. Today I didn’t feel like going upstairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caitlin Beggs resizeCaitlin Beggs:  I’m a PhD nursing student in the middle of a summer intensive and working on papers. … Speakers’ Corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serah Nthenge resizeSerah Nthenge:  It’s nice, it’s quiet, I can concentrate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chase Young resizeChase Young:  I’m doing my calculus homework; that’s why I’m here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photographs by Alice Bampton, Communication and  Service Promotion team.


Like

The Curious ‘Cat: The first thing for fun?

Curious Cat

This week, the Curious ‘Cat asks Villanova students, “After your final final, what’s the first thing you want to do for fun?

Nina Rossiello—“Nap!” 

RS10942_DSC_0556-scrGracie Kim—“Probably go out after finals to eat with some friends”

 

RS10946_DSC_0560-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timothy Chobot—“Watch Monday Night Football”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RS10949_DSC_0563-scr

 

Taylor Wright—“I’ll probably watch about six hours of Netflix in a row.” 

RS10951_DSC_0565-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah DeAngelis—“I’ll probably go out to dinner with my roommates as a little celebration, and eat good off-campus food. Then probably pack up because I’m going abroad next semester so I’ll say goodbye to all my friends. I’m going to Dublin; I’m super excited.”

 

RS10956_DSC_0570-scr

 

 

 


Robert Hurlbut
—“play NHL with my roommate—it’s an Xbox game.”


Like

The Curious ‘Cat: Which Star Wars character would make an ideal study partner?

Curious 'Cat - Star Wars

This week, the Curious ‘Cat asks Villanova students, “Which Star Wars character would make an ideal study partner?

RS10903_DSC_4334-scrGianna Perez—“I would say Yoda. I think Yoda would be very supportive and wise when studying.”

 

RS10905_DSC_4336-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christine Graziano—“I’d say Yoda.”

 

RS10908_DSC_4339-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dillon McCourt—“C3PO ‘cause he’s a droid”

 

RS10911_DSC_4342-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel Glazewski—“I’d say Yoda ‘cause he’s wise and would give good advice.”

 


Like

The Curious ‘Cat: Strategies to prepare for finals?

Curious Cat

This week, the Curious ‘Cat asks Villanova students, “With about two weeks of classes left, what strategy would you recommend to prepare for finals?

RS10842_DSC_4247-scrKelsey Hanson—“Since I’m in the middle of that right now, I think spacing your work out so that you’re not doing everything all at once is really important and also taking a big project every day. So I have a paper that I’m working on today and then tomorrow I’m working on my statistics homework and then the day after I’m doing another thing—so one big project per day.”

 

RS10843_DSC_4248-scr

 

 

Kate Dolan—“Organization: planning ahead and making a structured schedule to get all the work done ahead of time.”

 

RS10848_DSC_4254-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tope Abu—“Make a list. That’s the thing that helps me.”

 

RS10850_DSC_4256-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Lynch—“I try to get as much sleep as I can ‘cause I work every hour that I’m awake … spending no downtime at all.”

 

RS10853_DSC_4260-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 


Hayden Vines
—“During the day I go up to the third floor of the Library and study till 7:00 or dinner and then not study at night that much until it’s finals week. Then I’ll study a lot. But I’m going to try to get as much sleep as possible.”

RS10854_DSC_4261-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timothy Signorile—“At this point just prioritize: figure out which classes you need to study the most for. Structure your time as best as you can. And make it to the Library as often as you can.”


Like

The Curious ‘Cat: “What are you thankful for?”

Curious Cat

This week the Curious ‘Cat asks Villanova students, “With Thanksgiving coming up, what are you thankful for?

RS10815_DSC_4229-scrAlexandra Golia—“I’m thankful for being here ‘cause I love this school and the community. And I’m obviously thankful to go home; I haven’t seen my family in a while. So I’m really excited for that and that they sent me here to such a good school. That’s what I’m thankful for.”

 

RS10817_DSC_4231-scr

 

 

 

 

Alexandra Linn—“I’m thankful for the opportunity to go to college, to be at Villanova, and for my family supporting me through it.”

RS10828_DSC_4242-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicodemo Bruzzese—“I’m always thankful for my family, my extended family, blessing me every day with paying for me to come to Villanova University—such a great campus, such great people—and for instilling such hard work and dedication in me. I thank them every day even though I can be a little bit of a pain towards them, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I thank them for pushing me to be the best.”

RS10820_DSC_4234-scr

 

Mary Rugolo—“My family, definitely”

 

RS10825_DSC_4239-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jarrid Thelen—“Family and friends.”

 

RS10824_DSC_4238-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brendan Weston—“I’m really thankful for my education—being able to see the world from an expanded point of view and to come to a better understanding of the world around me.”

 

 


Like

The Curious ‘Cat: “What’s the most surprising thing you carry … ?”

Curious Cat

This week the Curious ‘Cat asks Villanova students, “What’s the most surprising thing you carry in your backpack?

Christian Cullen LopezChristian Cullen Lopez—“My CE notebook. It’s for business: Competitive Effectiveness.”

 

RS10625_DSC_4172-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marie Griffin—“I have some applesauce.”

 

RS10629_DSC_4176-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xiaomeng Zhong—“fruit: an apple and an orange.”

 

RS10631_DSC_4178-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kylie Frankowski—“I always have tissues and wipes. My friends tease me because I’m like a mom.

 

RS10635_DSC_4182-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel Craft—“A bottle of Dayquil.”

 

RS10639_DSC_4186-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Deyjah Foster
—“Piano sheet music: I have 30 pieces of piano sheet music I carry to play at cyber lounge whenever I have free time … Every now and then I carry a Japanese dictionary.”


Like

The Curious ‘Cat: “What could you not live without?”

Curious Cat

This week the Curious ‘Cat asks Villanova students, “Name one thing that you, as a Villanova student, could not live without.

Sam Vitale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sam Vitale—“Whether in the Library or the individual places inside of each of the buildings, just a quiet place to study. That would be tough to live without.”

Joseph Un

 

Joseph Un—“That’s really simple: a cell phone.”

Gene Alpin

 

Gene Alpin—“My family, the support of my family”

Evangelia Makrygiannis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evangelia Makrygiannis—“Just seeing everyone’s smiling faces around campus … if everyone was sad all the time and no one said ‘Hi’ to each other, it wouldn’t be happy.”

Joseph Splendido

 

Joseph Splendido—“The late-night hours at the Spit [Donahue Court]. It’s really nice to study late there … around 11:00 p.m. or 12:00. It’s a good quiet place.”


Like

The Curious ‘Cat: “What’s the most unexpected thing … ?”

Curious Cat

This week the Curious ‘Cat asks Villanova students, “What’s the most unexpected thing that’s happened to you or that you’ve seen at the Library?

Angel WolfAngel Wolf—“Most of the time I just come and do my work. Nothing too eventful has happened.”

 

Carter Young

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Carter Young
—“They were serving oranges in a bowl at the Learning Support Services. It’s pretty surprising to me that they’d serve fruit instead of candy.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sterling Williams

 

Sterling Williams—“I was here around 11:00 last night, and that second-floor room—the common area where you can just come in and do whatever work you want—I didn’t expect that room to be almost completely full of students at 11:00 p.m. That’s something I did not expect to see. So I went all the way to the back [of the second floor] to where the couches are to just finish my work.”

 

Joe Ryan

 

Joe Ryan—“I was working on the third floor, it was pretty quiet and some kid got a phone call. And he answered it. And he was talking pretty loud, like ‘Oh yeah, I’ll be there in a second …’ The other people were like, ‘Shh. Shh!’ So he got up and left with his phone. ”

 

 

 

Nicole Buckley
Nicole Buckley
—“It was the third week of the semester, and I saw a little, cozy, quiet spot upstairs kind of hidden by that staircase over there. And you had these little tables that you could bring close to yourself while you sit on a nice, comfy couch. It was really nice for studying … like a little secret spot.”

 

Ellinore Folkesson

 

 

 

Ellinore Folkesson—“I went to a religious diversity talk … the most surprising thing was just how intrigued I was and how interesting it was. And I didn’t expect that. I’ve been to one of the brown-bag discussions as well, about race. I think it’s amazing that they do these things.

And all the different events that you have going on are really easy to see ‘cause you advertise a lot, which is good.”

 


Like
1 People Like This Post

The Curious ‘Cat: “What’s the best thing … ?”

Curious Cat

This week is fall break, so the Curious ‘Cat is asking Falvey Memorial Library staff, “What’s the best thing about working at the Library?

RS10574_DSC_3985-scrJackie Smith—“The best thing about working at the Library is the people, the other employees. I’ve met some terrific people here, and I enjoy working with them. I also appreciate the ability to flex my schedule, if necessary. And I like having the half days on Fridays during the summer.”

 

RS10577_DSC_3988-scr

 

 

 


Gina Duffy
—“That’s easy: the people that work here. The people that work here are fabulous—always friendly, always helpful. I think that’s number one.”

 

RS10578_DSC_3989-scr

 

 

 

 

 

 


Laura Matthews
—“I enjoy being surrounded by books—so much knowledge, opportunity to learn. And I enjoy the young liveliness of the students, lots of new faces every day. I also enjoy the people who work here. It’s an interesting mix of different personalities, and that makes it enjoyable.”

 

 

 

RS10581_DSC_3992-scr
Laura Hutelmyer
—“Am I the first one you’re asking? Have other people said “the people”? For me, it’s the people I work with. Another thing I really like is that I have access to so many resources—because I’m an employee and because I work here in a library with so many databases, books, journals and things like that. I love having access to all those resources. I also love being on such a beautiful campus. It’s really a treat to be able to leave and go outside and just spend a little bit of time outside in the middle of the day. Those are three things I really like about working here.”

RS10586_DSC_3997-scrWard Barnes—“I’d say working with young people. For me that’s crucial. I was a teacher for many years, and I have loved working with young people. When I retired I was miserable because I was never around young people. So when I got the job here, that was wonderful. And it’s been wonderful ever since.”

 

 

 

 

Tricia Kemp—“The best thing is the students, both the students who come to the desk and the ones we work with. They’re just a lot of fun—keep us on our toes. Among the student employees, I have not met one who I did not enjoy working with and getting to know. They are going through a very Interesting time in their lives: they’re making a lot of decisions; there’s a lot of things they’re going through. They are the best, the best thing about working here. ”


Like

Next Page »

 


Last Modified: October 14, 2015

Ask Us: Live Chat
Back to Top