Results from March Survey about Online Content

Our questions in March asked about your familiarity with the library's online content. We expected that people who rarely use their computers would not fill out the survey (exactly one respondent indicated no online content accessed), but we were somewhat surpised that our many computer and wireless users also failed to fill out the survey. Only 15 people answered our questions, and 4 of those responses were submitted online. We are listening. Our next survey will not deal with technology in any way.


Not surprisingly, 80% of our respondents have seen or used our library website. To help you remember, the address of our website http://www.whplibrary.org/ is printed on your library card. 66% have accessed the Online Catalog either directly from our website or from its own unique address www.alisweb.org. 40% of respondents have tried our Research Databases, either for homework or genealogy research, or just to catch up on newspaper or magazine articles from many national and international sources.

33% have checked our Events Calendar or Newsletter online, and 33% have read one or both of our Blogs. One of our blogs, "West Hempstead Wants to Know!" is dedicated to these surveys and the other, called "New & Noteworthy" is our general library blog covering the latest information from our reference librarians regarding books, events, new media, or resources on the Internet, in the library, or in our local community, that interest and delight us.

26% of our respondents have viewed our Facebook pages. We have established 3 pages to cater to the Children's Room, Teens and the general Adult population. Even if you aren't interested in registering and interacting with us as a Facebook fan, you can still view our status updates just by viewing our library webpages.

Only one person was familiar with our Flickr and Picasaweb pages, but if you've seen our website, you may have clicked on the albums on the Teen pages, or seen the Photo Archives which are hosted by Flickr. These free sites are great places for presenting, sharing, and storing memories. Check them out! You may want to try them for yourself.

The question was: Which of the following online content have you seen or used? (Mark all that apply.) Here are the results in rank order:

12 = Library Website
10 = Online Catalog
06 = Research Databases
05 = Event Calendar or Online Newsletter
05 = Either of our 2 Library Blogs
04 = Any of our 3 Facebook pages
01 = Our photos on Flickr or Picasaweb