Customer survey 2024 confirms: the ETH Library is an important service provider for studying, teaching and research
In November and December 2024, the ETH Library surveyed the scientific community both within and outside ETH Zurich about its services. Over 6’500 participants responded to the online survey.
The survey focused on the following key questions: What is the situation regarding usage and satisfaction, where do customers see potential for improvement, and what are the best communication channels for reaching our customers?
The results underscore the role of the ETH Library as a digital service provider for research and teaching and as a physical space for working and learning.
It is encouraging that satisfaction with the various services offered by the ETH Library is generally high and that a majority of respondents rate them as useful.? The key findings of the survey are summarised in the short report (in German).
Which services are used most frequently?
The services most frequently used for work, research and study are digital media (e.g. e-books, e-journals), the library infrastructure (e.g. study spaces) and the library catalogue ETH Library @ swisscovery. Around half of the survey respondents say they use these services at least once a month. These are followed by platforms with digitised documents (e.g. e-rara, E-Pics) and research and publication services (e.g. Research Collection, research data management), which are used by over a third of respondents at least once a month.
Which communication channels are important?
Just under half of respondents became aware of the services offered by the ETH Library through their studies and/or the ETH Library website. Around 40% said they learned about them through recommendations from personal contacts.
When they have questions about the services, a clear majority of around 70% of respondents consult the ETH Library website. A personal visit to the library ranks second, with around 40%.
Where is there potential for improvement?
Over 2’300 open-ended responses regarding desired support and over 400 responses with suggestions for improvement revealed four areas for optimisation: access to analogue and digital media, user-friendliness of digital platforms, design of the library infrastructure, and communication and visibility of services.
What happens next with the results?
The results will be incorporated into the implementation of the ETH Library's strategy 2025–2028 (in German). In addition, the ETH Library will use the results to refine, improve and further develop its services in a targeted manner.
About the survey
Data collection, analysis and reporting were carried out by FORS Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences, Lausanne.
The short report on the main survey results (in German) is published in the Research Collection.
All employees and students of ETH Zurich (excluding employees of the ETH Library) as well as members of other public research institutions in Switzerland were invited to participate.
The response rate, including partial responses, was 10.2 per cent.
Note on the translation
This text has been translated for your convenience using a machine translation tool. Although reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, it may not be perfect. If in doubt, please refer to the German version.
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