2. Satisfaction and needs for improvements in our services

2.1 How do you rate your degree of satisfaction in general?

80% of visitors to the Tokyo Main Library and the Kansai-kan, and 70% of those to the ILCL answered "satisfied" or "fairly satisfied" about the on-site services (Figure 8).

Figure 8: User satisfaction degree in general

2.2 How do you rate your degree of satisfaction with each of the services specified below? What improvements to the NDL services would you like to see most?

Figures 9-11 show the results to the question about visitors' satisfaction and needs for improvements with each aspect of on-site services in each of the three facilities of the NDL. In these figures, the pink line and the blue line represent user satisfaction degree (points) and the percentage of users who want to see improvement with each service (%) respectively. The user satisfaction degree is calculated as follows: (1) specify each answer as "satisfied"=100 points; "fairly satisfied"=50 points; "not very satisfied"=minus 50 points; "dissatisfied"=minus 100 points; and "No answer"=0 point; (2) multiply the point given with the percentage of each response; (3) and sum up all of the points.

A high rate of requests for improvement in the range and depth of the collection is common to all three facilities, which indicates that users seem to place much expectation on the NDL as the only national library that collects various materials and information inside and outside Japan through the legal deposit system and other methods. The NDL has been working on revising its collection development policy to organize information resources shared by all citizens in Japan. In addition, the Kansai-kan aims for a higher degree of users' satisfaction with its services by enhancing its open access materials and distinctive collections.

At the Tokyo Main Library, three aspects, "number of items that can be ordered at one time," "speed of delivery" and "waiting time for same-day copying service" with which users expressed quite low satisfaction in the survey of FY2003, have been improved in both user satisfaction and demands for upgrading. Also more users expressed contentment with "facilities," "signs and instructions to use facilities and equipment" and "response time of the NDL-OPAC" than that of the previous survey. These changes are probably due to the remodeling of the Tokyo Main Library in October 2004 and the corresponding adoption of a new system and easing-up on various restrictions. Nonetheless with some advances, demands for improvement of reading and copying services still remain high.

At the Kansai-kan and the ILCL, users expressed high satisfaction with "facilities" and "responsiveness of staff" as in the results of the FY2003 survey conducted just after the opening of the two libraries. Many users were satisfied with the "museum (exhibitions)" although requests for improvements were also high. With more visitors coming to see the "museum (exhibition)," the NDL aims to hold more enjoyable exhibitions to meet their expectations.

Figure 9: User satisfaction degree and needs for improvement with each service at the Tokyo Main Library

Figure 10: User satisfaction degree and needs for improvement with each service at the Kansai-kan

Figure 11: User satisfaction degree and needs for improvement with each service at the ILCL

Conclusion 

The NDL will earnestly take into account the issues and user needs we have identified through this survey in order to improve our services and operations. We are also planning to conduct alternately a survey for on-site users and a survey for remote users. The next survey will be targeted at remote users including both individuals and libraries and related institutions in Japan.