AMICO Users & Uses Committee

College Art Association Focus Group
February 10, 1999

Summary of Questionnaires

Based on six (partially) completed questionnaires.

Background

The College Art Participants did not have great familiarity with the AMICO database prior to coming to the Focus group meeting. They reported an average of 3 on a scale of 1-5 (I've explored The AMICO Library myself before coming here), but some commented that this experience consisted of as little as ten minutes. RLG Application

As a consequence of having little experience with the Library, and probably also of having less experience with on-line systems in general, they had little to say about the RLG application appearance or functionality. Where they did rank features, there was little consensus. Perhaps the single issue that attracted attention was the perceived need for an improved Notebook function (ranked 2.25 on a scale of 1-high to 3-low and commented on elsewhere under saving previous search sets. Use

• Where: Somewhat surprisingly, CAA participants ranked the Library as first in places AMICO would be used by themselves and their students, followed by the visual resources collection, home and office. The classroom was checked by only one CAA participant, and as relevant only to students!
• Linkages: CAA participants saw links to ART History texts, Course web sites and local slide libraries as valuable. Links to encyclopedias, on-line library catalogs, personal databases were ranked lower.

Content

When asked to indicate percentages of The AMICO Library of particular genres, sources, cultures, or historical periods, CAA participants were unable to suggest targets, but in general they expressed the view that breadth was preferable, and that under-represented and hard to get works and collections should be featured. Perhaps surprisingly, they agreed that works that we would not expect from known collections, and works from relatively unknown collections, were preferred. Also, modern and contemporary work was seen as a positive. They were interested in being able to provide suggestions about content to AMICO, but in a more general fashion rather than requesting specific works. Rights

CAA participants would like to see works included in The AMICO Library even if full rights are not available - in general with rights enumerated at the item level. They would be interested in having links to where other rights can be obtained and possibly links to agreements offered by rights holders, but do not feel this should be incorporated at an extra cost. Users

• In general, the CAA participants felt it was desirable for almost anyone to be a user; they agree that it was essential to include Distance Education students.
• Currently allowed uses: CAA participants were adamant that viewing, use on course web sites, and research uses be permitted but were willing to give up (or probably to sometimes not have) copying to CD or slides, overlaying images, manipulating them, or incorporating them into one's own art work.
• Currently prohibited uses: Not surprisingly CAA participants were interested in having the right to publish in academic journals and in retaining for educational use after the license term. When asked for the value of such a post-use copy, however, they felt it was less that $5 (our lowest number) - possibly only $1 per image. All thought that faculty being able to retain copies for research was an important extension of the existing rights.

Reporting

• By and large, CAA participants were not willing to report on use, though two felt that reporting on copying would be ok.

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Last modified on  October 10, 2001