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PWB readership survey guides future directionPrinceton NJ -- The Princeton Weekly Bulletin is widely read by faculty, staff and graduate students, and readers largely are pleased with the publication. Those results were gleaned from a readership survey conducted this spring by the staff of the Office of Communications, in collaboration with the University's Survey Research Center. The goal was to find out who is reading the PWB and what they think about its content, design and distribution.
In addition, 650 facilities department staff members who do not have easy access to e-mail and the Web were invited to complete a paper questionnaire that was identical to the electronic version. Facilities supervisors were contacted and asked to distribute the surveys to their employees. Twenty percent of these employees responded. Nearly 90 percent of faculty, staff and graduate students surveyed had read the PWB in the previous six months. About 75 percent were reading either every issue or every other issue. More than 40 percent of the faculty and staff were reading either most or all of the entire issue. Respondents were basically happy with the quality of what they read. Some 70 percent rated the content as either "good" (60 percent) or "excellent" (10 percent). However, there is always room for improvement, and readers offered a few suggestions of items about which they would rather see more or less in the PWB. In particular, they would like to see more features on faculty research, staff and students as well as advance notices on lectures, conferences and seminars and information on human resources issues. Readers also were satisfied with the design of the publication, although 57 percent said they did not notice that the publication had been given a new look in fall 2000. A total of 39 percent said they thought the new design was better than the old design; only 4 percent thought it was worse. Two-thirds of the readers would prefer that the PWB remain on its schedule of publishing weekly during the academic year. Although many read University news on the Web (88 percent said they were checking the home page at least every once in a while), most still prefer to read the PWB on the printed page. And they like to get their Weekly Bulletins in the mail at home rather than at the office, with many sharing their copies with family members. More than 250 respondents took advantage of an opportunity to provide additional comments at the end of the survey. The comments can be characterized as follows: positive reaction to the PWB (114); negative reaction to the PWB (12); suggestions for the PWB (87); and other (44). "We're very thankful to the people who responded," said Ruth Stevens, editor of the PWB. "The results of this survey have provided us with some guidance as we further tailor the content, design and distribution of the PWB for our target audience. For example, we plan to offer readers more of the kinds of stories they said they want." She noted that a number of the comments from readers concerned the distribution of the paper. "Some readers mentioned preferring to receive the PWB at the office or wishing to eliminate the extra copies they get when multiple people in a household are employed at the University," she said. "In the next year or so, we should be able to accommodate those requests when the new PeopleSoft system for employee records is fully implemented." The publication also is delivered to offices through mail services and in high-traffic areas by a courier service. Some readers mentioned seeing extra papers left over each week. "This summer, we've looked into our distribution practices and made modifications as we can," Stevens said. "We'd appreciate it if readers would let us know when they see too many copies around campus." Another area of distribution -- via the Internet -- is one Stevens said the staff will be exploring in earnest this year. A new Web manager soon will join the Office of Communications staff. "Although two-thirds of the survey respondents said that
they never go to the PWB Web site to read the publication,
the fact that 88 percent said they were checking the home
page at least every once in a while for news tells us that
we need to continue to think about and improve this outlet,"
Stevens said. "We plan to look at how news stories on the
Web and in the PWB can complement each other, with an eye
toward giving the University community more consistent,
timely information." |
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