User satisfaction

Abstract

USER STUDIES proliferate in the literature of librarianship and information science. As early as 1967 one bibliography of library use studies contained 547 references. The popularity of the user study is probably a function of the service‐orientation of contemporary library philosophy. Librarians have become increasingly sensitive to user requirements and the user study offers a means of defining a library's clientele, establishing levels of demand for various services, and tailoring those services to meet the interests of that clientele. While some user studies have restricted themselves to gathering data about patterns of library use, many aim at evaluating users' attitudes to the library, and assessing the degree of satisfaction being achieved.