It is important for us to know that we are providing the services that you need and that we identify the aspects that are important to you. This helps us define the service levels to aim for and to demonstrate that we are achieving the desired level required.
To help us achieve this we
- provide feedback mechanisms for you to comment about library services
- benchmark the performance of Library and Learning Support against other university libraries
- use a number of Key Performance Indicators against which we monitor our performance
- publish a Library Service Statement.
| KPI | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | Latest BU data benchmarked against HE Sector* |
| NSS score (The Library resources - eg books, online resources and learning spaces - have supported by learning well) | 87% | 83% | 87% | 87% | 87% | 1% ahead of sector average |
| Our Libraries | ||||||
| Study spaces | 1,708 | 1,746 | 1,763 | 1,785 | 1,785 | |
| Desktop computers | 463 | 483 | 483 | 649 | 649 | |
| Our Collections | ||||||
| Total book stock (print and e-books) | 387,000 | 428,099 | 441,970 | 454,342 | 460,812 | not benchmarked |
| New print and e-books purchased during the year | 7,863 | 9,968 | 9,767 | 8,278 | 5,395 | not benchmarked |
| Journal titles (electronic and print) | 55,472 | 57,231 | 58,631 | 58,580 | 58,536 | |
| Book issues (excluding renewals) | 130,572 | 104,376 | 96,081 | 79,787 | 65,901 | |
| E-book views | 3,535,544 | 3,734,200 | 3,984,811 | 4,014,205 | 3,827,761 | |
| E-journal article full text downloads | 1,323,449 | 1,519,016 | 1,588,505 | 1,594,972 | 1,753,727 | |
| Full text downloads from the Institutional Repository (BURO) | 348,559 | 444,940 | 581,603 | 533,399 | 690,166 | not benchmarked |
| Our Support Services | ||||||
| Hours of study support (e.g. workshops, tutorials) received by students | 16,907 | 17,839 | 17,237 | 16,030 | 13,499 | Reduction in 2017-18 is primarily due to change to delivery mode during induction |
| Queries answered via online "Chat" service | 4,357 | 4,024 | 4,918 | 5,638 | 4,277 | not benchmarked |
| Reading List page views | 438,841 | 498,463 | 584,864 | 633,639 | 555,556 | not benchmarked |
| Number of PAL Leaders | 260 | 250 | 312 | 305 | 308 | not benchmarked |
| Students undertaking English Language learning | 159 | 197 | 229 | 157 | 112 | not benchmarked |
| Students learning a modern foreign language | 638 | 700 | 602 | 639 | 461 | not benchmarked |
*Benchmarked using SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) data. SCONUL represents over 170 libraries in UK and Ireland including all university libraries.