In May 2026 we invited 361 library users (those with active accounts) to respond to a user survey, and 101 people replied. We will share the findings, their responses and our comments (where appropriate) to this user survey 2026.
This is somewhat embarrassing. Yours truly thought he knew what the survey was going to say, and didn’t yet (!) read some of the qualitative answers! One could just call it déformation professionnelle, or downright biased… Maybe I have worked for too long with students, who usually always ask about longer opening hours! Anyway, of 101 respondents of this survey, only 84 responded to What would you change about the library? And of those: 25 said “nothing”, or a variation of it. However, only 4 of 101 users who replied mentioned longer opening hours at all:
- Extend the hours…
- Increase the opening hours, especially on weekends
- Longer opening hours
- Longer opening hours
Yours truly had anticipated more of a request for longer opening hours, and discussed this with his colleagues and his line manager, and a trial for term 1 was thought of: Tuesdays the Library has been open until 7:30pm, not 6:30pm. But into week 4 of the current London Jesuit Centre teaching term, and only 1 evening someone was making use of the longer opening hours: they arrived at 6:45pm and left at 7:10pm. Obviously, what we do not know is how many potential (!) members never apply for membership, as the opening hours do not suit them. If only such a lack of knowledge could be overcome…
However, back to what is easier to accomplish… So, either now prove me wrong, and really use the longer opening hours on Tuesdays (as so far the trial suggests that Tuesdays until 7:30pm is not popular), or we might look into whether we might be able to extend opening hours a bit (!) on Saturdays, but not Sundays. Whatever you are hoping for: we are somewhat relying on the LJC’s reception being staffed, so don’t expect 24/7, or late nights. I can now go away, hang my head in professional shame, and learn never to underestimate the uniqueness of your library members! Lesson learned. Thank you!
CG
What are your thoughts about the above?