In the autumn of 2007 The National Documentation Centre (NDC) took a survey of registered users of the NDC website to gather feedback on their experiences of using the site. The survey sought to find out:

• Who is using the NDC website, and what type of work they do
• How they learned about the site
• What their purpose was in coming to the site
• Whether they find it easy to navigate the site and find the information they need
• Whether they have any difficulties in using the site
• Which parts of the site they use most frequently
• What they think of the quantity, quality and usefulness of the information on the site
• What improvements or additional resources/services they might like to see on the site. 

We sent a questionnaire by email to 1,222 registered users of the NDC, and received 288 replies – a response rate of 23.56%. We used SPSS to analyse the data. 

Table 1   Satisfaction with NDC website

Key survey findings

• One-fifth (20.3%) of the respondents work in a university or college environment, and 14.7% described themselves as researchers.
• A majority (more than 75% in each case) rated the site as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ in terms of ease of use, design and layout, and quality and quantity of information (see Table 1).
• In relation to the resources currently available on the website, 77.4% (n=223) of respondents said that they were very interested in the Alcohol and Drug Research Unit publications, while 68.1% (n=196) said they were very interested in the annual national report on drug use in Ireland (see Table 2).
• 18.7% (n=53) of respondents heard about the NDC website from a colleague, and the same number, 18.7% (n=53), heard about us through an educational institution.
• 47.7% (n=135) said their main reason for using the site was work related, and 29.7% (n=84) said it was for research purposes.
• 37.1% (n=105) visit the site on a monthly basis and 28.6% (n=81) visit on a daily or weekly basis. 

Table 2   Interest in services/resources available on the NDC website

 Views/comments

Almost all comments were complimentary of the resources and services available through the website. We will use all comments and suggestions to inform further development and improvement of the site. We are compiling a response to users’ queries and will post it on the site in the near future. Our thanks to everyone who took part in this survey.