Academic libraries and user studies

The past decade has brought unprecedented changes in the functioning of libraries: automation, electronic resources, rising costs of books and journals, consortial purchases etc. Another area of rapid change is user needs. In order to set up user-centered services, libraries need to know their users. This paper gives an overview of the results of various international user studies. The conclusions show that for the great majority of students, computers and networked environment are of vital importance (many of them get familiar with computers at nursery school), no wonder they expect the same speed and relevance from library services. Efficient university library services are also a prerequisite for effective academic research. The article draws the attention to the importance of user studies which should become a general practice at Hungarian libraries as well.