Distance survey-2019

Results of the 2019 Distance Enquiry Survey

During the period October - December 2019 London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) was one of 48 archive services across the UK which invited their distance users to participate in a survey organised by the Archives and Records Association (UK and Ireland) in conjunction with The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). The results are now in and Elizabeth Scudder reveals the main findings from the LMA survey.

This was the fifth distance survey since its inception in 2012 with the same questions being used as in the two immediately previous surveys to provide consistency. The survey began by asking the respondent how they had found out about the distance enquiry service; then there were questions around their reason for contacting the archive service and why they had chosen to make a distance request rather than to visit in person. The next section asked a number of questions to review different aspects of the distance enquiry service including an overall rating. The survey finished with a series of demographic questions to provide a profile of the individual enquirer. Space was also provided should the respondent wish to make a comment about any aspect of the archive’s service.

The results showed that an increasing number of people are finding out about LMA’s enquiry service via the website although only 76% rated the ease of navigation to the website as being Very Good or Good. 27% said that they had either used the website but needed more help or needed advice on the services available. Plans are in progress to remodel the website and it is hoped that this figure will improve when the survey is run again.

Just under a fifth of people contacted LMA in connection with their work or for education reasons whilst two thirds were asking in connection with their family history research. Around half were enquiring because they lived too far away too visit, with a fifth saying either that it saved on travel costs or they could not visit during the LMA opening hours. The demographic questions asked reveal that just under 80% of enquirers were from Europe with 10% from the Americas, 9% from Oceania and 2% from Africa.

Overall 94% of users rated the distance enquiry service as Very Good or Good which is an increase of 2% from the 2017 survey. There were similar figures for quality of content, clarity of response and promptness of response.

68% of those contacting LMA were first time users, the same as the national figure and the 2017 survey. This is very much in contrast to the onsite visitors’ survey where just under 20% were first time users – presumably people are making enquiries ahead of visiting LMA!

In the final section respondents could indicate any improvements or changes to the service. Many of these comments related to the online catalogue. Readers may recall that in January 2020 a major update was made to the Collections Catalogue which included the provision of a fully functioning collection tree, more user-friendly terminology, improved display of search results and significant changes to the search results filters to provide more control and ways to narrow down a set of results. Indications are that this has much improved users experience of using the catalogue since the survey was run. A number of respondents also asked for more digitisation of records, “Keep digitising your records and making them very searchable by ensuring you add comprehensive metadata.” LMA is continually adding more digital content to both the Collections Catalogue and to COLLAGE – The London Picture Archive so please do keep checking for additional content.

The next survey will be an onsite visitors’ survey. This was due to take place later in 2020, but it has been postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The distance users survey will be run again in the following year.

Please do complete the survey forms as they provide useful information and feedback to enable LMA to improve its services.