The text on this page was automatically translated and hence may differ from the original. No rights can be derived from this translation.
The KB, the national library of the Netherlands, manages extensive collections and provides services for social and humanities research. Digital services such as Delpher and the Digital Library of Dutch Literature (DBNL) offer opportunities for research in history, historical literature, language, and media. These services have the potential to be valuable for scientific research, but their reach among social and humanities researchers was previously unknown.
Dialogic, on behalf of the KB, investigated the reach of the KB services among social and humanities researchers. By conducting an online survey among these researchers, the study looked at 26 services to determine the percentage of the target audience that is familiar with these services, uses them, and their satisfaction levels with the services they use.
502 researchers completed the survey (8.8% response rate). Of these, 219 respondents are active in the social sciences and 261 in the humanities. We conclude that we have gathered a sufficiently representative response to provide a reliable picture of the reach of KB services.
The familiarity of the KB services is defined as "the percentage of respondents who indicate being familiar with at least one of the KB services." This applies to 75% of the respondents. The reach of the KB services is defined as "the percentage of respondents who indicate occasionally or regularly using at least one of the KB services." The reach of the KB services among social and humanities researchers is 53.2%. Among humanities researchers, the reach is 75.9% and among social science researchers 28.3%. For an overview, see the figure below.
[Image](https://content.dialogic.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Afbeelding-KB.png)
DBNL and Delpher are the most used services. The reach of Delpher among the entire target group is 34.1%. The reach of DBNL among the entire target group is 34.7%. More than half of humanities researchers use Delpher and/or DBNL.
The KB considers the results as a valuable baseline measurement and intends to repeat the research in 2025 to monitor the reach. The KB's response to our research can be read [here](https://www.kb.nl/nieuws/kb-diensten-uitzonderlijk-veel-gebruikt-voor-wetenschappelijk-onderzoek).
*Image: Mark David, KB national library, The Hague*
