marketing research project - the university of new...

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Marketing Research Project

The Earl K. Long Library

Marshall Cusey ○ Kady Collier ○ David Sequeira

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary ………………………………………………………………... Page 3

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………… Page 4

Background

Objectives

Methodology ……………………………………………………………………….. Page 6

Questionnaire Design

Sampling Procedure

Sample Size

Data Analysis Approach

Results …………………………………………………………………………… Page 8

Limitations ………………………………………………………………………. Page 10

Conclusions and Recommendations …………………………………………… Page 10

Appendix A ……………………………………………………………………..... Page 12

Survey

Appendix B ……………………………………………………………………..... Page 18

Figure 1 – Gender

Figure 2 – Faculty or Student

Figure 3 – Library Resources Student vs Faculty

Figure 4 – On-line Library Resources Student vs Faculty

Tables 1-6 - Crosstabulations

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Students and faculty do not know the amount or extent of resources currently available to

them from the library, both physically and on-line. We feel that due to this lack of knowledge of

resources and amenities offered by the Earl K. Long Library, by both students and faculty, is one of

the underlying reasons of lower than expected utilization. The library has been through some

extensive renovations over the past few years, and the Associate Dean of the Library, Mrs.

Amsberryaugier wants to maximize the exposure of the updates and resources available from the

library to increase the utilization of these assets by the students and faculty of the university.

The purpose of our study is to determine what knowledge students and faculty currently

possess regarding the resources available to them from The Earl K. Long Library. We believe that

current students and faculty are unaware of most of the resources that are available to them at The

Earl K. Long Library, and that this lack of knowledge is one of the main reasons for the lower than

expected traffic from students and faculty. The goal of our research is to find out what knowledge

students and faculty have of The Earl K. Long Library and what will help library staff effectively

formulate a plan to grow this knowledge throughout students and faculty. This will then increase the

traffic through the physical and on-line library. The objective of our survey was to answer the

question Mrs. Amsberryaugier presented, “Do students/faculty know what library resources and

services are available to them”. We will find out what students and faculty know about The Earl K.

Long Library, as well as what is unknown to them so that we can formulate ways to overcome this

unawareness.

Our results indicate that faculty members utilize the on-line library more than students, and

students use the physical library more than faculty. Faculty members were knowledgeable of the

research resources available to them. Both faculty and students had similar knowledge of the

resources available through the on-line library. The resources that both students and faculty were not

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as aware of are laptop check out, media equipment availability, classrooms, and ask-a-librarian. The

results also indicate a relationship between how students rate their knowledge of the library and the

number of years they have attended UNO.

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INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

Students and faculty do not know the amount or extent of resources currently available to

them from the library, both physically and on-line. We feel that due to this lack of knowledge of

resources and amenities offered by the Earl K. Long Library, by both students and faculty is one of

the underlying reasons of lower than expected utilization. We conducted research to see what

information University of New Orleans (UNO) students and faculty have about the resources

available to them, both physically and on-line, through The Earl K. Long Library. We worked

directly with Mrs. Lora Amsberryaugier, the Interim Associate Dean of Library Services, to address

some of the questions that she would like to have answered about the library’s ability to meet the

needs and expectations of the students and faculty at UNO. The library has been through some

extensive renovations over the past few years and Mrs. Amsberryaugier wants to maximize the

exposure of the updates and resources available from the library to increase the utilization of these

assets by the students and faculty of the University.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of our study is to determine what knowledge students and faculty currently

possess regarding the resources available to them from both the Earl K. Long Library and on-line

library. Our hypothesis is that current students and faculty are unaware of all of the resources

available to them through The Earl K. Long Library and on-line library. The goal of our research was

to determine the level of knowledge students and faculty have about the resources available through

The Earl K. Long Library; these findings can then be used by the library staff to formulate a plan to

grow this, both at the physical library and the library’s web site. Our group surveyed both students

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and faculty from UNO to determine what they know and do not know about The Earl K. Long Library

and what is available to them.

METHODOLOGY

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

To gather data we used an on-line survey created using Qualtrics. The survey consisted of

items focusing on the usage of resources at the Earl K. Long Library. A copy of the survey can be

found in Appendix A. The survey was constructed using 21 questions that were a mixture of nominal

and ordinal question types. Respondents were asked if they have visited The Earl K. Long Library in

person or on-line, when their last visit was, and how often they visit. Questions also asked

respondents about physical and on-line library resources and to rank their knowledge regarding these

resources. Respondents were asked if they were a student or faculty member, depending on the

response they were then asked different questions. Students were asked a series of questions

pertaining to classification, college of study, and GPA. If the respondent answered faculty, they were

asked position, and years worked at the University.

SAMPLING PROCEDURE

After constructing our survey, it was then sent to the Dean and the Associate Dean of the

library for their review and approval. It was sent out through the UNO email system to all current

undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members at UNO. The email was sent on

November 8, 2013 by the dean of The Earl K. Long Library. Potential respondents were sent an

email 12 days later on November 20 as a reminder to complete the survey if they had not done so

already. A convenience sample was used to collect data for our study, therefore we were reliant on

recipients to respond.

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SAMPLE SIZE

Our sample size consisted of 512 individuals, of which 199 were males representing 38.9

percent of the sample size, and 312 females representing 61.1 percent of the sample size (Figure 1).

The mean age of the sample size is 32.1 years. The sample included 430 students representing 83.8

percent of the sample size (Figure 2), of which 225 were undergraduate students representing 52.3

percent of the student sample size, 195 graduate students representing 45.3 percent of the student

sample size, and 10 continuing education students representing 2.3 percent of the student sample size.

The undergraduate students were further broken down into their classification at the University.

Within the undergraduate student sample we had the following: 38 freshman students representing

16.9 percent of the undergraduate sample size, 34 sophomore students representing 15.1 percent of

the undergraduate student sample size, 50 junior students representing 22.2 percent of the

undergraduate student sample size, and 103 senior students representing 45.8 percent of the

undergraduate student sample size. The mean age of the student respondents is 28.7 years. Finally,

we had a total of 82 faculty respondents representing 16 percent of the sample size (Figure 2). The

mean length faculty members have worked at UNO is 13.6 years. The mean age of faculty

respondents is 50.2 years.

DATA ANALYSIS APPROACH

SPSS software was used to conduct our data analysis. The nominal and ordinal data we

collected required us to use cross tabulations as well as frequencies when performing analysis. We

also mined our data to find out how many students responded to select questions as well as faculty.

Our primary research was done, so that we can make accurate assumptions regarding the knowledge

and usage of the library between the two groups. We also measured specifics within each group, such

as, age, gender, classification (freshman, sophomore, etc.), years at University, and college of study.

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RESULTS

The data showed that faculty members are more competent then students in their knowledge of

the Library. Also, students with higher GPA’s responded at a higher rate than students with lower

GPA’s. Students utilize the physical library more often than faculty. When respondents were asked

when they last visited the Earl K. Long Library, 72.4 percent of the students responded that they had

visited the Library in the past two weeks, while only 34.6 percent of the faculty and staff responded

that they had visited in the last two weeks. Faculty utilizes the on-line library more than students.

When respondents were asked if they had visited the on-line library, 77 percent of students responded

they have, while faculty responded 90 percent. When respondents were asked when the last time they

have visited the on-line library, 64 percent of students responded they had visited the on-line Library

in the past two weeks, while 71.6 percent of faculty responded they had visited in the same time

frame.

Respondents were asked to select from a list of resources that they thought were available at

the Earl K. Long Library, there was no limit to the number of resources they could select. The results

indicated the following: 70 percent of both faculty and student respondents were aware of the study

rooms, reference books, and coffee shop available at the library. Less than 50 percent of both faculty

and student respondents were aware of the laptop checkout, media equipment availability, and

classrooms. A larger percentage of faculty than students were aware of the following resources

available in the library: inter-library loan, LA special collections, federal documents, microfilm,

theses and dissertations, and course reserves. A larger percentage of students than faculty were aware

of the following resources available in the library: computer lab, printing, laptop checkout, and

scanner (Figure 3). With the exception of “OneSearch” students and faculty had similar knowledge of

resources available in the on-line library. The results indicated the following: 70 percent of both

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faculty and student respondents were aware of the library catalog search, databases, and journal

articles. We found that “research help” had a relatively low awareness when compared to other on-

line features (Figure 4). Faculty and students were asked how often they use the following resources

available in the library: inter-library loan, one search, online research databases, ask-a-librarian. 59.5

percent of student respondents indicated they have never used the inter-library loan resource, while

20.5 percent of faculty respondents say they have never used these resources. 84.5 percent of student

respondents indicated they use the one search resource 2 – 3 times per month, while 79.5 percent of

faculty respondents use this resource 2 – 3 times per month. 71.6 percent of student respondents

indicated they have never used the ask-a-librarian resource, while 69 percent of faculty respondents

indicated they have never used this resource.

After running analysis on several cross tabulations we concluded the following significant

relationships (p ≤ .05) with the in person library. There is a relationship between how often a

respondent visits the library in person and whether they are a faculty member or student (p-value <

.001) (Table 1). There is relationship between how often respondents visit the library in person and

their age (p-value .001) (Table 2).

After running analysis on several cross tabulations we concluded the following significant

relationships (p ≤ .05) with the on-line library. There is a relationship if student respondents have

ever visited the Earl K. Long Library on-line and their college of study (p-value .002) (Table 3).

There is a relationship between if faculty respondents have visited the Earl K. Long Library on-line

and how many years they have worked at UNO (p-value .006) (Table 4). Relationship between if

students have ever visited the Earl K. Long Library on-line and the number of years they have

attended UNO (p-value .003) (Table 5). There is a relationship between how students rate their

knowledge of the resources available on the library on-line and the number of years they have

attended UNO (p-value .016) (Table 6).

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LIMITATIONS

Our group was limited by the duration of time available to complete this study. We were also

limited due to the use of the convenience sampling method. Since respondents had to choose to

respond to our email, we had very few respondents who had never visited The Earl K. Long Library.

Also, respondents were asked how often they use certain library resources before they were asked

which resources they had knowledge of; this may have given hints to respondents of some resources

that are available at the Library.

CONCLUSIONS and RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on our results we can conclude that students visit the library in person more frequently

than faculty. Additionally, a higher percentage of faculty than students visit the on-line library. We

can also conclude that the majority (> 70%) of both faculty and students were aware of the following

resources available at the library in-person: study rooms, reference books, and coffee shop. The

following faculty and students are not aware of (< 50%) the following resources available at the

library in-person: laptop checkout, media equipment availability, and classrooms. Results indicate

that students and faculty had similar knowledge of resources available on the on-line library. A

majority of faculty and student respondents indicated they have never utilized the ask-a-librarian

resource. In conclusion, it seems there is a relationship between how people rate their knowledge of

the on-line library and the number of years they have attended UNO, this leads us to conclude that the

longer someone attends the University the more knowledgeable they become regarding the resources

available on the on-line library.

We recommend based on our results and conclusion that the Earl K. Long Library promotes

the following resources to students and faculty: laptop checkout, media equipment availability,

classrooms, and ask-a-librarian. We would recommend the Earl K. Long educate new students about

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the resources available to them in the library during their first weeks on campus. Therefore we would

suggest the Earl K. Long Library participate in new and transfer student orientation, as well as give

new UNO students information regarding resources available both at the physical library and on-line

library. Overall, faculty was knowledgeable of the research resources available, because of this we

would recommend library personnel and faculty partner up to promote the resources available at the

Earl K. Long Library, both physical and on-line, for class-assignments that require research. We

would recommend having professors bring their class to library during the class period they are going

over the expectations for a research assignment.

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APPENDIX A (Survey)

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Introduction

We would like to thank you for participating in our survey. This survey's purpose is to learn about student and

faculty knowledge and usage of the Earl K Long Library.

The survey only takes approximately 5 minutes to complete. Although some questions may seem similar, please

respond to all of them. Thank you again for your participation!

Library Usage

Have you ever visited the Earl K. Long Library in-person?

Yes

No

When was your last visit to the Earl K. Long Library in-person?

Less than 1 day ago

A week ago

2 weeks ago

A month ago

2-3 months ago

More than 3 months ago

How often do you visit the Earl K. Long Library in-person?

Less than Once a Month

Once a Month

2-3 Times a Month

Once a Week

2-3 Times a Week

Daily

Computer Lab

Private Study Rooms

Group Study Rooms

Book Checkout

Printing

Online

Have you ever visited the Earl K. Long Library on-line?

Yes

No

When was your last visit to the Earl K. Long Library on-line?

Less than 1 day ago

A week ago

2 weeks ago

A month ago

2-3 months ago

More than 3 months ago

How often do you visit the Earl K. Long Library on-line?

Less than Once a Month

Once a Month

2-3 Times a Month

Once a Week

2-3 Times a Week

Daily

How often do you use each of the on-line resources at the Earl K. Long Library?

Less than

Once a

Month

Once a

Month

2-3 Times a

Month

Once a

Week

2-3 Times a

Week Never Daily

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Inter-library Loan

The "OneSearch" feature

On-line Research Databases

The "Ask A Librarian" feature

Library Resource Questions

Select from the list below the resources that are available at the Earl K. Long Library. (Please check all that apply)

Computer Lab Louisiana and Special Collections Reference Books

Inter library Loan Periodicals Theses and Dissertations

Coffee Shop VHSs, CDs, DVDs Scanner

Study Rooms Women's Center Media Equipment

Printing Arcade Outside Study Area

Laptop Checkout Federal Documents Classroom

Text Book Rental Microfilm Research Help

Photo Copier Access Databases Course Reserves

Select from the list below the resources that are available on the Earl K. Long Library on-line. (Please check all

that apply)

Library Catalog Search Journal Articles

Databases Chat with a Librarian

OneSearch Electronic Journals

Research Help Pay Library Fines

Watch Videos

How would you rate your knowledge of the resources available at the Earl K. Long Library?

Poor

Fair

Good

Very Good

Excellent

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How would you rate your knowledge of the resources available on the Earl K. Long Library on-line?

Poor

Fair

Good

Very Good

Excellent

Student/Faculty

Are you a UNO student or faculty member?

Student

What is your classification?

Freshman

Sophomore

Junior

Senior

Graduate Student

Continuing Education

List the number of years you have attended UNO.

What is your overall GPA?

0.00 - 1.50

1.51 - 2.00

2.01 - 2.50

2.51 - 3.00

3.01 - 3.50

3.51 - 4.00

What is your College of Study of study?

Business Administration

Engineering

Liberal Arts

Education and Human Development

Science

Interdisciplinary Studies

Faculty

What is your position?

How many years have you worked at UNO?

Demographics

What is your age?

What is your gender?

Male

Female

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APPENDIX B (Figures/Tables)

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Figure 1

Figure 2

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Resource

Resources Available at Earl K. Long Library

Students

Faculty

Figure 3

21

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Library Catalog Search

Databases One Search Research Help Journal Articles Chat With a Librarian

Electronic Journals

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Resource

Resources Available at Earl K. Long Library On-Line

Students

Faculty

Figure 4

Table 1

Case Processing Summary

Cases

Valid Missing Total

N Percent N Percent N Percent

How often do you visit the

Earl K. Long Library in-

person? * Are you a UNO

student or faculty member?

505 98.4% 8 1.6% 513 100.0%

How often do you visit the Earl K. Long Library in-person? * Are you a UNO student or faculty

member? Crosstabulation

Count

Are you a UNO student or faculty

member?

Total

Student Faculty



person?

Less than once a month 110 42 152

Once a month 52 18 70

2-3 times a month 57 7 64

Once a week 53 7 60

2-3 times a week 102 3 105

Daily 50 4 54

Total 424 81 505

Chi-Square Tests

Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-

sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 38.658a 5 .000

Likelihood Ratio 42.556 5 .000

Linear-by-Linear Association 33.712 1 .000

N of Valid Cases 505

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TABLE 2


Cases

Valid Missing Total




person? * What is your age?

505 98.4% 8 1.6% 513 100.0%

How often do you visit the Earl K. Long Library in-person? * What is your age? Crosstabulation

Count

What is your age?

Under 16 17 18 19



person?

Less than once a month 0 0 0 0

Once a month 0 0 1 0

2-3 times a month 0 0 3 4

Once a week 1 0 4 2

2-3 times a week 0 1 11 7

Daily 0 0 2 9

Total 1 1 21 22


Count

What is your age?

20 21 22 23

How often do you visit the Earl

K. Long Library in-person?




Once a week 2 3 7 3

2-3 times a week 6 11 7 14

Daily 8 6 1 5

Total 22 30 26 36

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What is your age?

24 25 26 27






Once a week 5 1 2 3


Daily 3 3 0 2

Total 29 21 21 25


Count

What is your age?

28 29 30 31






Once a week 2 3 1 1


Daily 2 0 3 0

Total 14 14 18 11


Count

What is your age?

32 33 34 35






Once a week 1 3 1 1


Daily 0 1 1 1

Total 9 18 12 7

25


Count

What is your age?

36 37 38 39






Once a week 3 0 0 0


Daily 0 1 0 1

Total 11 6 4 4


Count

What is your age?

40 41 42 43






Once a week 0 0 0 0


Daily 0 2 0 0

Total 8 7 3 7

26


Count

What is your age?

44 45 46 47






Once a week 0 0 3 0


Daily 0 0 0 0

Total 5 3 9 6


Count

What is your age?

48 49 50 51






Once a week 1 1 0 0


Daily 0 0 0 0

Total 5 3 7 2

27


Count

What is your age?

52 53 54 55






Once a week 2 0 0 0


Daily 0 2 0 0

Total 5 8 1 5


Count

What is your age?

56 57 58 59






Once a week 1 0 0 0


Daily 0 0 0 0

Total 2 2 2 2

28


Count

What is your age?

60 61 62 63






Once a week 2 0 0 0


Daily 0 0 0 1

Total 5 2 2 4


Count

What is your age?

64 65 66 67






Once a week 0 0 0 1


Daily 0 0 0 0

Total 1 3 4 3

29


Count

What is your age? Total

71 74 75






Once a week 0 0 0 60

2-3 times a week 1 0 0 105

Daily 0 0 0 54

Total 4 1 1 505

Chi-Square Tests


sided)





TABLE 3


Cases

Valid Missing Total


Have you ever visited the

Earl K. Long Library on-line?

* What is your College of

Study of study?

430 83.8% 83 16.2% 513 100.0%

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Have you ever visited the Earl K. Long Library on-line? * What is your College of Study of study?

Crosstabulation

Count

What is your College of Study of study?

Business

Administration

Engineering Liberal Arts Education and

Human

Development



Yes 61 24 112 33

No 22 7 13 9

Total 83 31 125 42

Have you ever visited the Earl K. Long Library on-line? * What is your College of Study of study?

Crosstabulation

Count

What is your College of Study of study? Total

Science Interdisciplinary Studies

Have you ever visited the Earl K. Long

Library on-line?

Yes 84 17 331

No 39 9 99

Total 123 26 430

Chi-Square Tests


sided)





TABLE 4


Cases

Valid Missing Total




* How many years have you

worked at UNO?

82 16.0% 431 84.0% 513 100.0%

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Have you ever visited the Earl K. Long Library on-line? * How many years have you worked at UNO?

Crosstabulation

Count


1 2 3 4 5 6



Yes 6 7 1 3 5 3

No 1 0 0 0 0 0

Total 7 7 1 3 5 3


Crosstabulation

Count


7 8 9 10 11 12



Yes 5 1 3 3 2 5

No 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 5 1 3 3 2 5


Crosstabulation

Count


13 14 15 16 17 18



Yes 3 3 1 1 2 2

No 0 0 2 0 0 0

Total 3 3 3 1 2 2


Crosstabulation

Count


19 20 21 22 23 24



Yes 0 3 1 2 1 1

No 1 0 0 1 0 0

Total 1 3 1 3 1 1

32


Crosstabulation

Count


25 26 32 33 35 36



Yes 4 0 1 1 1 1

No 0 1 0 0 0 0

Total 4 1 1 1 1 1


Crosstabulation

Count

How many years have you worked at UNO? Total

39 40 42 44

Have you ever visited the Earl K.

Long Library on-line?

Yes 1 0 0 1 74

No 0 1 1 0 8

Total 1 1 1 1 82

Chi-Square Tests


sided)




N of Valid Cases 82

a. 66 cells (97.1%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum

expected count is .10.

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TABLE 5


Cases

Valid Missing Total




* List the number of years

you have attended UNO.

419 81.7% 94 18.3% 513 100.0%

Have you ever visited the Earl K. Long Library on-line? * List the number of years you have attended UNO.

Crosstabulation

Count


1 2 3 4 5 6



Yes 91 68 58 33 38 13

No 48 19 4 11 8 2

Total 139 87 62 44 46 15

Have you ever visited the Earl K. Long Library on-line? * List the number of years you have attended UNO.

Crosstabulation

Count

List the number of years you have attended UNO. Total

7 8 9 10 +

Have you ever visited the Earl K.

Long Library on-line?

Yes 5 4 3 11 324

No 1 0 0 2 95

Total 6 4 3 13 419

Chi-Square Tests


sided)

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a. 8 cells (40.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum

expected count is .68.

TABLE 6


Cases

Valid Missing Total


How would you rate your

knowledge of the resources

available on the Earl K. Long

Library on-line? * List the

number of years you have

attended UNO.

410 79.9% 103 20.1% 513 100.0%

How would you rate your knowledge of the resources available on the Earl K. Long Library on-line?

* List the number of years you have attended UNO. Crosstabulation

Count


1 2 3 4 5




Library on-line?

Poor 48 15 12 10 12

Fair 36 30 15 8 13

Good 32 26 19 14 11

Very Good 15 11 10 8 8

Excellent 3 4 5 3 2

Total 134 86 61 43 46

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How would you rate your knowledge of the resources available on the Earl K. Long Library on-line? * List the

number of years you have attended UNO. Crosstabulation

Count


6 7 8 9 10 +




Library on-line?

Poor 2 1 0 0 1

Fair 4 0 0 1 2

Good 9 3 3 0 5

Very Good 0 1 1 2 2

Excellent 0 0 0 0 3

Total 15 5 4 3 13

How would you rate your knowledge of the resources available on the Earl K. Long Library on-line? * List

the number of years you have attended UNO. Crosstabulation

Count

Total

How would you rate your knowledge of the resources

available on the Earl K. Long Library on-line?

Poor 101

Fair 109

Good 122

Very Good 58

Excellent 20

Total 410

Chi-Square Tests


sided)



