This fall I distributed a short survey asking students and faculty whether they preferred print or online journals and books. Here's what I found out!
For books: 81 preferred print; 17 preferred electronic; and 18 indicated that the format didn't matter.
For journals: 52 preferred print; 45 preferred electronic; and 19 indicated that the format didn't matter.
The breakdown on who responded to the survey is this:
faculty 10
students -- landscape 13
students -- interiors 18
students -- architecture 75
Here's a comment from one of the respondents, emphasizing the importance of print materials for browsing: "The serendipity principle is still an important role for the library. People discover things through the physicality of wandering and looking around that they wouldn't consider otherwise." and another comment: "Honestly there are too many distractions online -- print is better." and one more: "Prefer electronic if easy to access."
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