The DLI Contacts and Designates Survey: A Portrait of the West Gaëtan Drolet DLI / ACCOLEDS Training 2008 December 2-4, 2008 Mount Royal College Calgary,

The DLI Contacts and Designates Survey: A Portrait of the West

Gaëtan DroletDLI / ACCOLEDS Training 2008 December 2-4, 2008Mount Royal CollegeCalgary, AB

Introduction to the survey

Objectives of the survey: Provide important information to the DLI Section,

the External Advisory Committee (EAC) and the Education Committee

Help plan how we can better serve DLI Contacts and DLI institutions

Learn more about the situations and requirements of DLI Contacts and Designates

Quick Recap Final sample contained 97completed online surveys

Response rate: Overall 82% (97/118)

DLI contacts 92% (66/72)

Designates 67% (31/46)

Survey language used: English 78.4 %

French 21.6 % DLI Contacts (68%) or Designates (32%)

Respondents by DLI region: Atlantic 18.6 %

Quebec 20.6 %

Ontario 33 %

West 27.8

Q9 Respondents by region in %

Atlantic Quebec Ontario West CanadaOfficial DLI contact 66.7 60 62.5 81.5 68Designate contact 33.3 40 37.5 18.5 32Total 100 100 100 100 100N= 18 20 32 27 97

Q5 In your wider work do you consider yourself to be a____ person?

Recorded in %

Region Data GIS Reference Gov. Docs

Atlantic 83.3 0.0 0.0 0.0Quebec 66.7 0.0 0.0 0.0Ontario 55.0 0.0 0.0 35.0West 27.3 4.5 68.2 13.6

Q7 Percentage of your work dedicated to data by region and size of institution

Region Very small Small Medium LargeAtlantic 9.8 12.5 30.0 n/aQuebec 25.3 11.7 7.5 45.0Ontario 15.0 11.4 41.3 60.0West 5.8 13.7 39.0 50.0

Q8 Are data and GIS tasks or responsibilities specified in your job description?

Region Data GISAtlantic 50.0 9.1Quebec 45.5 10.0Ontario 80.0 50.0West 68.2 20.0

Q4 How long IN TOTAL have you served as

DLI contact … at your institution?

Region Average YearsAtlantic 8.33Quebec 6.33Ontario 6.55West 7.86

Q12 Does your institution offer a dedicated data service?

Region Data Service in %Atlantic 27.8Quebec 50.0Ontario 67.7West 44.4

Q16 % Data extractors used at your institution?

Region IDLS Island Landru Nesstar SDA Sherlock CHASSAtlantic 83.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 8.3 0.0 58.3Quebec 66.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 75.0 33.3Ontario 55.0 0.0 0.0 35.0 10.0 0.0 55.0West 27.3 4.5 68.2 13.6 27.3 4.5 68.2

Summary: Section I (The environment)Canada A complementary pattern of DLI institutions: Very small, Small,

Medium and Large. 25% of DLI contacts in each group. 50% of respondents have fewer than 5 years experience in smaller

institutions; 64% have 6-10 years experience in large institutions. Approx. 70% have data responsibilities as part of their job

description. Multiple hats with many variations (very small, small, medium

institutions).The West Fewer designates (n=5). DLI contacts (n=18 of 22 contacts) consider themselves to be

primarily reference persons. % of work dedicated to data: from 5.8% to 50%. One of the more experienced group of DLI contacts in the country

in terms of years. Uses all the extractors listed in the survey. Collects more metrics/feedback info. than other regions.

Section II: Q23 Satisfaction with the support you receive from your local institution to provide data services

From 1=completely dissatisfied to 5=completely satisfied

Region MeanAtlantic 2.92Quebec 3.42Ontario 3.35West 3.45

Size Mean<5,000 3.315K-9.999 3.0010K-19,999 3.41Over 20,000 3.56

Q24 Of the following areas of support, rank the areas that could most improve the data services at your institution / Canada

As first priority for DLI contacts:

Areas of support PercentageIncreased funding 56.3

Technical support 47.6

Higher management support 46.2

GIS support 38.9

Statistical support 31.4

Reference service support 29.6

Computing support 29.4

Physical space 14.3

Q22 Relationships with RDC / Canada and West

% Canada % West

Refer researchers/students 60.8 59.1Distribute RDC flyers 25.8 18.3Mention RDC in training 42.3 45.5Correspond with RDC analyst/employee 32 27.3Working relationship with RDC employee 23.7 18.2Sit on RDC committee 14.4 27.7Joint training activities 10.3 0RDC as part of your DLI responsibilities 94.8 94.8Have no RDC activity in your institution 27.8 27.8

Summary Section III- Satisfaction with DLI products, services and DLI section

Q28 How often do you access DLI products and services:

Almost all contacts (n=64) used CANSIM on E-STAT. Never=0. West:81% daily or weekly.

71.2% access CANSIM II on CHASS. One from the West daily and only 4 never.

87.8% of DLI contacts access the DLI Training Repository (West 77.3%).

Seldom or never access: Reports and Reference materials (33.8%), Product release dates (26.2%) and Survey names and acronyms (26.2%).

Q28 How often do you read, write and search the dlilist?

READ dlilist messages: 81.8% of contacts read the list daily (West 90.9%).

WRITE: Canada: 36.9% never (n=9); less than 4 times a year (n=15). West: 45.5% seldom or never: 27.3% write seldom and 18.2 % never.

One contact claims to write daily to the dlilist. DLI contacts SEARCH the list more than they write to the

list. The recent improvement to the search tool is a good move. 21.5% search seldom or never (West 22.1%).

Q30 Level of DLI contact satisfaction with DLI products and services/Canada

Section IV: Products, services and DLI section improvements

DLI section: numerous and positive comments about the DLI staff, top improvement mentioned is language of your choice n=5 contacts.

FTP site: negative comments about the organization and documentation of the FTP site, version control, directory naming . (Census/Geography products of most concern here.)

Products and services: comments on Pumfs/metadata, about CANSIM (n=19), comments about access.

Improving the DLI website as first priority.

Q34 Top improvements to DLI products and services that would help you to work more effectively with data users at your institution

Areas of improvements 1st priority 2nd priority 3rd priority Total n=Expansion of business/economic collection

35.1 (13) 43.2 (16) 21.6 (8) n=37

Expansion of aggregate statistics collection

29.7 (11) 37.8 (14) 32.4 (12) n=37

A single version of CANSIM on the STC w ebsite

29.7 (11)

37.8 (14)

32.4 (12)

n=34

Access to longitudinal pumfs

44.0 (11)

36.0 (9)

20.0 (5)

n=25

Quality and standardization of metadata

36.4 (8) 36.4 (8) 27.3 (6) n=22

Expansion of administrative public use f iles

33.3 (7) 38.1 (8) 28.6 (6) n=21

A description of your training environment

o Results of Section V: Satisfaction and improvements with DLI training

o Focus on DLI Contacts . Results are mostly presented for Canada and the western region.

Q39 Do you usually attend DLI training workshops?

Region Yes No Never Attended

Atlantic 75.0 0.0 25.0Quebec 100.0 0.0 0.0Ontario 80.0 15.0 5.0West 90.9 9.1 0.0

Q42 Overall, how satisfied are you with the DLI training?

From 1=not satisfied and 5=completely satisfiedRegion Level of SatisfactionAtlantic 4.13Quebec 4.42Ontario 4.58West 4.33

Q43Training topics and their importance

Fairly important and very important categories were collapsed and the top and bottom ranks are presented. Results are provided first for Canada as a whole and then for your region.

In determining the least important training areas (n=18 training areas) for each region, we use the bottom 5 from the 18 categories of question 43.

Q 43 Most important training areas…

Top rankings for Canada RankingRegional workshops 93.5Subject matter presentations 91.9DLI section presentations 88.7Hands-on sessions 88.7Product reviews 83.9

Most important training areas…

Top rankings for the West RankingRegional workshops 100.0Hands-on training 100.0DLI section presentations 95.2GIS / Statistical and data literacy / Subject matter presentations

90.5

Q43 Less important training areas…

Bottom rankings for Canada RankingDownloading 59.0Reference interview 61.7DLI licence 66.1National workshops 67.2Knowledge of the DLI collection 73.8

Less important training areas…

Bottom rankings for the West RankingReference interview 61.9DLI licence 61.9Downloading 70.0National workshops 75.0Knowledge of the DLI collection 75.0

Summary on importance of training areas

Common important training areas:

- Regional workshops

- Subject matter presentations

- DLI section presentations

- Hands-on training

Less important training areas for all regions:

- National workshops

Q45 Knowledge and competencies

How do you evaluate your own knowledge and competency on 12 aspects.

Fairly competent and very competent categories were collapsed and the top and bottom ranks are presented below. Results are provided first for Canada as a whole and then for the West.

Q45 Evaluation of your knowledge or competency on the following aspects:

Top rankings for Canada Ranking

Census 71.5Finding and retrieving aggregate statistics 60.0Knowledge of the DLI products 52.3Finding and retrieving microdata 50.8Knowledge of DLI surveys 50.8

Evaluation of your knowledge or competency on the following aspects:

Top rankings for the West RankingCensus 63.6Finding and retrieving aggregate statistics 54.5Statistical and data literacy 54.5Knowledge of DLI surveys 54.5 Finding and retrieving microdata 50.0

Q45 Less knowledgeable or less competent on the following aspects:

Bottom rankings for Canada RankingUsing software to manipulate variables 18.8Using software to create specific file formats 26.6Knowledge of data outside DLI 29.2Statistical and data literacy 29.7Finding and retrieving geographic files 36.5

Less knowledgeable or less competent on the following aspects:

Bottom rankings for the West RankingUsing software to manipulate variables 13.6Using software to create specific file formats 18.2Statistical and data literacy 22.7Knowledge of data outside DLI 22.7Using and interpreting data documentation 36.4

Summary on knowledge and competency

All regions feel competent in: - Census - Finding and retrieving aggregate statistics- Knowledge of DLI surveys

o But feel less competent in:- Using software to manipulate variables- Using software to create specific file formats- Knowledge of data outside DLI- Statistical and data literacy

Designates characteristics

Served since 4.66 years as designates (n=31)

% of time dedicated to data (30.7%), GIS (20.5%) and other work (48.8%)

42.5% do DLI classroom instruction (Contacts 54% - 85%)

DLI workshops attended by 53.3% Overall satisfaction with DLI

training 4.19 (Contacts 4.13 – 4.58)

Region Number Percent Atlantic 6 19.4Quebec 8 25.8Ontario 12 38.7West 5 16.1

From the comments:The clientele for DLI training

Official clientele for the DLI workshops: DLI Contacts

Respondents have identified other clients who have DLI training needs:

1. Designates

2. Students

3. Professors

4. Researchers/Managers

5. Reference Librarians/Library Technicians

The Training Continuum Training the trainers → Training the coordinators and

training the instructors /the future coordinators

Training the intermediaries → DLI contacts

Training the back-up → Designates

Training the local colleagues → Reference/GovDocs/GIS

Training the end-users → Undergraduate/Graduate/Professors/Researchers/Managers

Discussion conducted by Anna Bombak

o Trainingo Designateso Institutional supporto DLI listo Products and services

Training

Should the different sizes of institutions be considered in planning DLI training? If so, how? (For example, some institutions find that they are dealing more with statistics than with data questions. Should this be reflected in the type of training offered?

Local training of colleagues, researchers, students ? Which support can bring the DLI programme?

National workshop. Role? Timing of Accoleds training.

Designates

The West has fewer designates compared to other regions. There are implications for back-up when a contact is not available. Possible solutions?

Training of designates?

Institutional support

Do you have it?

Can you talk directly to your library director? Need to inform or train the directors about the programme? DLI role?

Ways DLI can help with institutional support.

DLI list

Why do some contacts never write to the list? Should this be a concern? If so, what can we do about this?

Why do just over 20 percent of contacts never search the DLI list. Should this be a concern? Is so, what can be done about this? (Training session on how to search the new dlilist search tool and/or article for the DLI Update?)

Products & services

Is there a need for more information on seldom- or never-accessed products & services (i.e., reports & reference materials, product release dates, survey names & acronyms)

With the QC region (18.2%), the West is the most unsatisfied with the ftp site (14.3%). (Canada 10.5%.)