Results of the Gabriel/European Library user survey

[olaf.janssen at kb.nl]

Dear all,

Through this message I would like to inform you about the results of a
survey among the users of the Gabriel web service
(http://www.kb.nl/gabriel). Gabriel is the joint web service of the 43
European national libraries.

The results of the user survey are available at
http://www.kb.nl/gabriel/surveys/results2003/index.html

BACKGROUND TO THE USER SURVEY
The user survey was available on the Gabriel website between 16th April
until 16th July 2003. It was held for TEL project
(http://www.europeanlibrary.org), which laid the foundations for a new
pan-European online service to search and retrieve the (printed and digital)
collections of the national libraries in Europe.

De Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National Library of the Netherlands,
currently develops the TEL project results into an operational service
called 'The European Library'. It will be launched in the beginning of 2005.
Gabriel will be incorpoated into The European Library and will therefore
disappear as a separate web service.

AIMS OF THE USER SURVEY
This survey was set up to get a better profile of the users of Gabriel and
their future needs. The users of Gabriel are considered an important target
group for The European Library. In total 560 people from across Europe
responded to the questionnaire.
This report gives insight into the background of the respondents (e.g. age,
education), their use of the internet, their use of the Gabriel website and
their opinions about this site. The respondents were also asked if they
would use a shared catalogue of all the national libraries in Europe if that
was to be created.

The results of the user survey are available at
http://www.kb.nl/gabriel/surveys/results2003/index.html or by following the
link "RESULTS OF GABRIEL USER SURVEY" on the top right of the Gabriel
homepage http://www.kb.nl/gabriel


With kind regards,

Olaf Janssen
Gabriel Editor
Koninklijke Bibliotheek - National Library of the Netherlands
http://www.kb.nl/gabriel
olaf.janssen at kb.nl