How recent developments in university libraries affect research

Summarizes the results of a 1995 survey of over 2,000 UK academics. The main objective was to look at how well university libraries meet research needs and at the possible consequences for research of recent library developments. The results suggest that library collections are perceived by their users to be deteriorating, gaining access to important journals is becoming increasingly difficult and, as a result, satisfaction with libraries is declining. Academics are relying more now on inter-library loan and on purchasing their own materials. The growing use of electronic services has, to some extent, mitigated the potentially detrimental effects for research of deteriorating collections. Electronic services permit easier access to a wide range of information, a view which has led to increasing satisfaction with library services over time. However, views vary by university and by discipline, and it appears that a significant minority of academics (perhaps as many as one in four) believe that recent research has suffered.