Survey 2009 results

•  21 people responded that their membership of UCR London was neither important or unimportant to them (38%)
• 20 people responded that their membership of UCR London was important to them (36%)
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• 28 people responded that they never look at the UCR regional or national web pages on the CILIP website (51%)
• 6 people responded that they look regularly at the UCR regional or national web pages on the CILIP website (11%)
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• 17 people provided an answer to the question "The UCR website has both national and regional sections.  How do you think it could be improved?": -
  - O.K. by me – 2 respondees
  - I wasn’t previously aware of it, but the e-mail alert containing the link to this survey is a good way to reach me
  - No views – 2 respondees
  - Just had a look now.  Navigation requires a lot of clicks, pictures would be nice and the pages are quite long.
  - By putting the upcoming events in a more prominent place, i.e. as a bar down one side
  - Regional events could be better publicised on the national site, as well as the regional sections.  More pictures to add visual appeal.
  - Will have to reflect on it
  - Yes – events don’t seem to be kept up to date
  - Very narrow central panel involves a lot of scrolling and could be more attractive
  - Through better promotion
  - Regional sections still look different and some have more details on past events, etc, than others.  I would like to see them more uniform and to be a place to celebrate the section's achievements
  - Never looked
  - The regional section is quite hard to navigate – would be good to have a menu rather than just having to scroll down the page (unless I have missed something!)
  - More useful content – reports, opinion pieces, etc
  - I would prefer groupings by type of organisation as well.  I work in a research organisation and that network is more important to me than the geographic one.
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• 25 people responded that they never read Relay and the Newsletter (46%)
• 10 people responded that they always read Relay and the Newsletter (19%)
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• 16 people provided an answer to the question "Which parts of the publication do you like in particular?":-
  - Have only just joined so cannot comment
  - Professional updates and meeting reports
  - Events and reports – 3 respondees
  - Articles – 2 respondees
  - Items about cataloguing
  - Reports from conferences by bursary attendees; articles exchanging good practice
  - No views – 4 respondees
  - I never think to look at them
  - The newsletter is useful.  Relay was better as a print publication in some ways.
  - In-depth articles about practice
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• 39 people responded that they had not attended any UCR London events or visits during the last 12 months (71%)
• 2 people responded that they had attended several UCR London events or visits during the last 12 months (4%)
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• 6 people responded that they attended one or more events or visits because of networking (60%)
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• 5 people responded that they were satisfied that the events or visits met their expectations (50%)
• 4 people responded that they were very satisfied that the events or visits met their expectations (40%)
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• 17 people provided an answer to the question "Do you have any further comments and ideas on UCR London events / visits?":-
  - Evening meetings in Central London seemed very suitable for me to get in (from Kent) after work
  - No views – 3 respondees
  - I particularly enjoy visits to specialist libraries, such as the London Library, Bishopsgate…
  - More evening visits would make it possible for me to take part
  - Joint events with other Special Interest Groups are good, to broaden the potential for networking
  - More information about events would be useful
  - I was unaware of any UCR visits etc. in 2009
  - I haven’t attended yet, because I was busy job searching
  - In the past (when I had more free time) I used to enjoy talks from professionals doing interesting things in the field, or debates – I remember a lively debate about academic publishing many years ago.  The opportunity to meet and hear people at the top of the ladder is a great experience for young professionals – especially if there is some networking time afterwards.
  - I haven't been able to go to many events of any kind recently as they often start very early in Central London and I can't get there in time after work.
  - Difficult to fit everything in but hope to be at St George's Hospital in November
  - I'd like to see more training based days rather than visits.  Something relevant to the whole sector.
  - It would be good to do some more "active" things which include discussion and debate as well as the more "passive" visits.
  - Would prefer to have a talk followed by a visit rather than just a visit.
  - In the past I have enjoyed London Group visits, but recently it has been difficult to find the time to go up to London.  I also used to find Relay useful when it was in hard copy.  I tend not to look at it online.
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• 19 people responded to the question "In your opinion, what could the UCR London Section do to improve its service to members?":-
  - I did not know I was a member – I think I am on a mailing list only – I would like to attend more of this type of event but there is not enough time
  - Keep up numbers of the group
  - It's difficult to take advantage of events in the early evening, especially when working full time and having school age children.  Could be worth trying to think of a way round that?
  - More in work time events – early evening – say 4.00 p.m. onwards
  - My work is on the fringe of UC&R so I do not have a contribution
  - My impression is that you are already doing good things
  - I haven't been a member for long enough to comment
  - A very active section, offering much.  No real comment!
  - More information about events
  - Ensure information is sent to members
  - There will always be a majority who aren't interested and don't want to be involved.  I think that organising events / visits and publicising widely is enough – people will choose whether they want to come or not (poor attendance does not mean the event wasn't good).  I am frustrated that I no longer find time to support such events, but they were invaluable at the early stages of my career – thank you.
  - Start an ongoing conversation with them via CILIP Communities, Twitter, whatever!
  - Thank you to the Committee.
  - Better surveys
  - Publish a newsletter – online would be fine if it was well publicised to the UC&R London jiscmail list.  I don’t remember being alerted to the new issues of the national newsletters either, so perhaps could be done more there too.  I think the website could do with being publicised a bit more too as I never look at it.
  - I pay little attention to UC&R London, but the fault is more mine than the section's.  I don’t find a lot of time for professional reading, but do receive the email list and do occasionally participate in visits that might offer some insight into peer organisations.  Any group can be more ambitious: I'd suggest though that the section pretty much does what it should at a base level, facilitating communication and professional awareness in the sector locally.
  - More talks / roundtable events – I would find it helpful to have a forum where people could raise particular topics – the law librarians have an information leaders in law group (ILL) based along these lines.  It used to meet 6 times a year and people could submit questions / topics and we would discuss them for 10-15 minutes.
  - Perhaps being more conscious of the members who are actually outside London in terms of timing of events and visits and also having the occasional visit in the hinterland.
  - More events focussing on issues relevant to middle and senior managers

The issues that tend to be highlighted from this survey is that the UC&R National group and its regional sections need to make their members more aware of the activities that are run by publicising more widely, and that also the UCR London Section needs to think about the timing and location of their events / visits when planning them.

Vicky Robertson
January 2010