Example: Short questionnaire-based surveys for consistency

January 2007

In the following I will summarise the most interesting results.

Use of Jhuwani Community Library

1. The male users are more than female users.

I found that male users participate in most of the daily activities of the library, even though the number of female members is higher than male (according to secondary data of membership in Jhuwani community library). The female membership is high because of the number of women involved in the saving and credit cooperative program of the library. Therefore it raises a question about the link between membership and 'real participation'.

2. Concerns of male and female users are different.

The survey shows that 82% of the males use the library for the books and newspaper, whereas only 9% of female users join the library for this reason. The telecentre run by the library is also more useful to males than females concerning use of telephone, fax and computer trainings. But saving and credit cooperatives, free health camp (41% of female users) as well as health clinics are used more by females than males (only 15% male users).

3. Opportunities of participation.

In the case of training and workshops the females are taking part less than the males. Same in the meeting and gathering activities, the males are taking more space than females.

4. Males are more involved in decision making.

In Jhuwani community library there is a women's saving and credit cooperative. Only women are taking part in this program, but in the case of the meetings of this cooperative, more males are taking part than females. This shows that in the decision making process the males are more actively involved.

Communicative ecology

1. Importance of television.

34% of the people in this area do not have television in their house. It indicates the low purchasing power of the people and perhaps that they therefore have less access to information. But the data shows those who have no television at home do have a high interest to watch at a neighbour's house.

2. Radio is more popular.

In the comparison to television we can see that the radio is more popular than TV. 88% of the people are listening to the radio daily. Even though 12% of the people don't have a radio, some are interested to listen to it elsewhere.

3. In this locality most of the people don't buy the newspaper. Most of the people who read the newspaper go to the library to read it (71%) and few of them prefer to read the paper in the teashop or market. While taking this survey I found that most of the people who are not reading the newspaper are illiterate (additional information by personal talks).

4. Access to computer and internet.

In the case of the use of the computer there is about equal ratio between people who have knowledge about computer and people who have no idea about it. Among the users 81% are using the internet and they prefer to use it in an internet café rather than the library. (At the time of the survey there was a dial up connection and the connection was too slow but now there is radio link connection. Numbers of users of computer and internet are now increasing).

5. Methods of communication.

Here I found that the most accessible and useful method for the people in this community is face-to-face communication. 72% of the people find this kind of communication most preferable (rank 1). Use of the land-line phone got 2nd rank. A few people don't have access to it. The use of mobile phone got 3rd rank in the preference of communication method. The data shows that a high number of people don't have access to the use of mobile phone (66%). In the case of using postal service it can be seen that it is not very popular and also a high number (28%) don't have access to the postal way of communication.

Summary

• Gender aspect:
  Involvement in decision-making and meetings of males are more active than that of the women.

• Women participation:
  Women have different fields of interest concerning the use of library than men. This is related to their daily lives and responsibilities, e.g. health issues (free health camp, health clinic), saving and credit program

• Access to information:
  A relatively high number of people cannot afford television (34%) or radio (12%). About 38% of the community have no access to newspaper (mainly due to Illiteracy). More than half of the respondent have knowledge about computer and most of those who use computers are using the internet.

• Communication:
  Most preferable method is face-to-face communication.

Field Notes

Sita Adhikari

Jan.23rd, 2007

I did one questionnaire survey in two different communities in September 2006, in Agyauli and Jhuwani. 50 respondents per community were questioned. The questionnaire sheet has been filled out in most of the cases in my presence in the library and in households nearby.

The first survey I did in Jhuwani. By doing this I got some ideas to make more practical questions and therefore the sheet for Agyauli has been slightly changed in a few places.

Here I try to make a comparison between the results I found in the two communities and libraries;

1. Library service and participation

There are some differences between the two libraries in terms of the services provided. We can find library services including ambulance service, saving and credit cooperative, health clinic, internet connection, phone and fax in Jhuwani community library. But in the case of Agyauli library these services are not available. Satellite radio, counselling services for teenagers and a children's development program (nursery class for children) are provided by this library.

The similarities of both libraries are books and newspapers, toy library, computer training, workshops, video show, place for social gathering.

We can find by the survey results that in Agyauli library many more women (68%) are using the library for the books and newspapers than in Jhuwani (9%). In case of participation in meetings, getting information and using the service of satellite radio the data shows there is gender balance in Agyauli. In Jhuwani more males are active in decision-making processes.

2. Communicative Ecology

Television: Both communities have a high interest to watch television .Those who have no television are watching in neighbour's house. There are more houses without a TV in Agyauli.

Radio: Radio is the most popular media of both communities and most of the people have access to it.

Newspaper: For reading newspaper both communities prefer the library.

Computer and internet: Both community libraries have computer training services but only Jhuwani has an internet connection. Data shows that in both communities half of the respondents have skills to use the computer. But in Agyauli the knowledge about using internet is low where as in Jhuwani most of the people who have access to computer are also having knowledge about using internet.

Communication methods: Both communities prefer face-to-face communication. It got 1st rank. Landline got 2nd rank by both communities. And in 3rd rank Agyauli has postal and Jhuwani has mobile phone. It seems to that the accessibility on mobile is higher in Jhuwani then Agyauli. (The network is better in Jhuwani then Agyauli).

Conclusion

These surveys reveal the importance of the libraries to their communities in terms of access to knowledge and information. For example both communities are highly dependent on the library to read the newspaper. In the Jhuwani community The library has the only internet connection and fax within a 5 km distance. Another important thing I found is that the women are using this public place (library) for various purposes, which is not common for women in other public places.

Communication in both communities is highly dependent on face-to-face communication, which shows the low access of the people to modern communication technology. Through this survey I came to know about levels of access. Agyauli has no internet connection in the library and no good network for the mobile phone, which is one reason for the low access to internet and mobile.