Results are in! From November 26 to December 2, 2009, the Killam Library ran a survey in the Learning Commons to learn more about demand for our workstations. A whopping 946 workstation users responded to our pop-up invitation (a 40% response rate) and told us all the reasons why they prefer to use our workstations rather than their own laptops.

The biggest issues keeping people from using their laptops were inadequacies of the wireless signal and the inability to print from laptops, rated 3-5 on a scale of 0-5 by 52% and 57% of respondents respectively. The good news is that Dalhousie is installing a new wireless system across campus. By this summer, Killam library users should have much better wireless service, with wireless accessible in the stacks where there are more workspaces with electrical outlets. We are also working with our campus partners to enable laptop users to send print jobs to the Learning Commons printers.

Despite these improvements, however, respondents have indicated that they may still prefer to use the workstations due to the better ergonomics, great atmosphere and convenience of the Learning Commons.

We want Killam Library users to be able to choose the computing method they prefer. The excellent insight provided by these survey respondents means we are better able to ensure that they have these options. A big thank you to everyone who participated in this survey!