The 2015 survey of academics, jointly commissioned by Jisc and RLUK and conducted by research organisation Ithaka S+R, has revealed a substantial increase in the way academics use and value online libraries.
According to the report, 88% of researchers now see their university library's collections and subscription as a very important source of data and information. Furthermore, 18% use this resource as a starting point in their research – a trend which has seen a 28% increase between 2012 and 2015.
Nearly 7,000 academics responded to the survey, which examines the attitudes of researchers and practitioners working within higher education. The powerful evidence provided will help universities, policy makers, funders, and librarians to successfully plan for the future.
Key findings of the report note that academics are more eager to share their research with academics outside of their discipline, undergraduates and the general public. 46% of researchers see it as important to share their findings with the general public, representing a 48% increase since 2012. Additionally, since 2012, there has been a 53% increase in the amount of academics that preserve their research data in an online repository. 43% of researchers also said they prefer to save their materials on platforms made available by their institutions. Further, the findings show that 46% more academics have received assistance from their university library or elsewhere in making a version of their research outputs freely available online.
According to Paul Feldman, chief executive of Jisc, as online capabilities become an essential part of academic practice, these survey findings confirm that research practice is evolving and academics are embracing this change and using research tools differently.
The population for this survey is academic staff at UK higher education institutions. In total, 64,259 academics were included in this population and received invitations to participate in this survey in autumn 2015. Invitations and reminder messages were sent by Jisc/RLUK and a number of universities. Jisc received a total of 6,679 completed responses, for a response rate of 10.4%.
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