JISC key audience survey 2008-09
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This report summarises the findings from the 1st year of the new annual JISC Key Audience Survey. JISC has combined its two existing stakeholder surveys in a move towards a more consistent approach to surveying the community as a whole.
The findings of this survey reflect the views of Head and Senior staff who responded to the survey, and is therefore a reflection of their attitudes and perceptions rather than those of the whole community which JISC serves.This survey replaces the previous JISC Attitudinal Survey aimed at Librarian and Learning Resource Centre staff, and Network Infrastructure Services Survey aimed at IT, computing and network staff. While it retains a focus on the JISC-funded network infrastructure and content services, the scope has been widened to cover all JISC supported services and address other topics relevant to the community and to JISC. We have also broadened our survey to cover a new audience; senior managers and strategic leaders engaged within learning and teaching. Unfortunately response from this audience was lower than envisaged preventing a robust analysis of the results; we hope to build on this for future years to achieve a more accurate picture of issues across the sector. In the meantime, a qualitative overview of findings is presented.
Each audience was asked a set of core questions about JISC and its services, and then directed to a module of questions relevant to the specific audience.
This year we received responses from a total of 181 heads of IT and network managers from 177 individual HE and FE institutions, and 287 head and senior library and LRC staff from 266 individual institutions across the UK.
Summary of findings
Structure and future direction
Broadly speaking, around half of institutions have library/LRC services which operate as discrete services within the institution, with the remainder either being fully integrated or shared with other services or at least jointly managed. The survey suggests that library/LRC services will further integrate with other services over time.
A slightly different picture emerges among head and senior ICT/network staff, with the perceived level of full integration with other services being higher in both HE and FE; particularly in HE. The reason for this is unclear, but may be due to a blurring of functional and organisational lines leading to a lack of clarity by either audience of whether their service is actually functionally merged or simply jointly managed.
Findings from previous JISC attitudinal surveys suggest that the number of IT and library services becoming integrated or shared, has not been as large as perhaps envisaged by these audiences over the past year. Despite this, sizeable minorities predict future changes over the coming year, mostly towards further integration.
Cloud computing and outsourcing
While awareness of cloud computing is fairly high, the depth of knowledge among head and senior ICT/network staff appears less so. Indeed some of the main barriers for institutions in not using cloud computing centre around the lack of information and clarity of the issues and implications of doing so.
Use of cloud computing, at least at the institutional level, appears to be relatively low (mostly for outsourcing student email) although the appetite for institutions to consider using it appears much higher.
What is not clear is the extent to which cloud computing is used on a more informal basis by staff within institutions, but whatever the prevalence, few institutions have any policy or guidance in place for staff.
Supporting technologies and external collaboration
It is clear that the need for institutions to collaborate with external organisations and individuals is placing difficulties on existing IT structures and policies, such as access permissions and licensing issues. This is particularly prevalent among HEIs and although the extent of the problem may have improved to a certain degree since 2007, it still very much persists. Along with this comes the added pressure for IT services to respond to frequent technical queries from staff within the institution.
Communication issues
JISC is one of the top sources used by ICT/network staff to look to for information or expertise on ICT and network related issues across both sectors, and there may be an opportunity for JISC to engage more with them through various digital communication channels. There are some notable differences in other resources used within HE and FE. For example, in FE this audience is more likely to use AoC NILTA, Becta or LSN, and HE are more likely to use UCISA.
Green computing/ICT is a subject that is clearly high on IT/Network staff’s agenda, as is understanding the impact of technologies on teaching and learning and expectations of students. Staff from FE seem particularly interested in hearing more about e-Assessment and e-Portfolios.
The awareness and knowledge of the JISC Libraries of the Future Campaign has continued to grow among head and senior librarian and LRC staff in HE and to a lesser extent FE. The campaign has generated a considerable amount of interest within this community.
Although not specifically aimed at ICT and network staff, the campaign has drawn interest from this audience given the close relationship between IT and library services.
Perceptions of JISC and its services
Perceptions of JISC services among head and senior librarian and LRC staff are encouraging with generally high recognition across the portfolio (especially JISC Collections and the JANET Network, and the RSCs in FE). A high proportion continue to feel JISC is having a positive impact on libraries within HE and FE institutions.
Overall heads and senior ICT/network staff from the majority of UK institutions have favourable views towards JISC and perceive it to be having a positive impact on the support and provision of ICT within their institutions.
With the exception of network infrastructure services and some of the JISC Advisory Services, awareness of JISC services is fairly low among heads and senior ICT/network staff. However, where services are known and used, these are perceived as being valuable resources. The quality of the JANET network is rated as excellent by most.