The insights from this study indicate that there is a gap between users' expectations and perceptions of service quality at the IUCo Library. The results also show that there are variations within different groups of users in terms of expectations and perceptions of service quality.
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF CHARTS
European Foundation for Quality Management Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania Faculty of Business and Economics Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission. Higher Education Accreditation Council of Tanzania Health Science Library and Informatics Center Information Communication Technology Interlibrary Loan.
INTRODUCTION
- The research problem
- Purpose, objectives and research questions
- The purpose of the study
- The objectives of the study
- The key research questions
- Rationale of the study
- Scope and limitations
- Definitions of key terms
- LibQUAL+™
- Perception
- Quality
- Service
- SERVQUAL
- Structure of the study
- Summary
Surveys provide the library with an understanding of users' expectations of service quality and evidence of the need for it. Numerous and extensive studies have been carried out on the users' perception of the service quality in academic libraries internationally.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
- Brief history of Iringa University College
- Brief history of the IUCo Library
- The mission statement of IUCo Library
- Library services
- Lending services
- Special reserve collection (Short loan) services
- Reference services
- Library w e b p a g e and electronic full-text journal databases
- Catalogue
- Opening hours
- Computer, printing, binding and photocopying services
- Size of the library stock
- Library staff
- Library organizational structure
- Sources of income
- Cooperation with libraries, library organizations and consortia
- Summary
The management of the library is handled by the library committee, which meets at regular intervals. It has purchased and installed dedicated computer servers for automating library operations.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual definition, perspectives, justification for, and historical perspective of service quality assessment in
- Conceptual definition of service quality
- Academic library service quality assessment perspectives
- Justification for academic library service quality assessment
- Academic library service quality assessment in historical perspective
This definition marks the shift from the traditional concept of library quality to a new concept of service quality. To summarize, the reasons for quality assessment of academic library services have been widely discussed in the literature.
Theories of library service quality assessment and their challenges
- Balanced Scorecard Model
- E F Q M Excellence Model
- SERVQUAL Model
- LibQUAL+™ instrument
- Some concerns about SERVQUAL and LibQUAL+™
The challenge one notices with the model is its applicability in the academic library context, especially to assess library users' expectations of service quality and thereby meet their needs. The literature has shown that the EFQM Excellence Model has been deployed in academic libraries to assess service quality. The academic libraries in Andalusia, in Spain, used this model for library service quality assessment and achieved good results.
The SERVQUAL model was developed by these researchers in 1988 as an instrument for assessing customer perceptions of service quality in service and retail organizations (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1988). LibQUAL+™ research developed from a conceptual model based on the SERVQUAL instrument, a popular service quality assessment tool in the private sector (Brophy 2005:191).
Service quality assessments which have been done in academic libraries and their methodological approaches
The study shows that the LibQUAL+™ instrument is important in assessing service quality in an academic library. The results of the survey indicate a high level of user dissatisfaction with library services. The results of the survey showed that there is a significant difference in the perception of service quality between postgraduate and undergraduate students.
However, the results of the study showed that the university library provided a quality library service. The SERVQUAL instrument used in the study was useful in that it provided information to gauge users' expectations and perceptions of the quality of university libraries' services.
The impact and challenges of library assessment models
It is important to note that the quality of service in academic libraries is influenced by budgetary constraints, management policies, facility design and condition, staffing decisions, and staffing levels. According to these assessment models, user focus and user involvement have created an interactive, dynamic environment that has facilitated overall quality improvement in academic libraries. The literature shows that there are several approaches to measuring service quality in academic libraries.
This means that there is no single or right way to evaluate the quality of services in academic libraries. Therefore, librarians and information professionals should use the best combination of old and new evaluation methods or models to provide the most useful evaluation of library services that can contribute to the overall service quality in academic libraries (Bawden, Petuchovaite and Vilar 2005).
Summary
These assessment models brought new challenges for academic libraries to abandon the traditional way of assessing library quality in favor of a new way of assessing service quality that advocates user focus and involvement; that is, changing the concept of service quality assessment from collection-oriented to user-oriented. Library staff must understand, as Zhan and Zhang (2006) note, that "libraries exist not for the people who work there, but for the people they serve." Strenuous efforts are required from library staff to ensure quality service that meets user expectations and needs.
The chapter ended with a brief discussion on the impact and challenges of library assessment models.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Research design
- Sampling
- Population
- Sampling frames
- Sample size
- Characteristics of the sample
- Data collection instruments and procedures
- The instruments
- The questionnaire
- Forms of questions
- Peer review and pre-testing the questionnaire
- Validity and reliability of instrument
- Administering the questionnaire
- Response rates
- Methods of data analysis
- Summary
In addition to peer review, the researcher pre-tested the questionnaire before administering it to the respondents (Babbie and Mouton. The questionnaire was given to them to complete one week prior to administering the questionnaire to the sample population. The questionnaire was given randomly , by research assistants, to the required number of respondents in each class during class sessions.
Respondents who completed the questionnaire during the class session returned it to the research assistants. Williams (2003) actually argues that a response rate of 20% for a self-administered questionnaire-based survey is sufficient to report the results. Questionnaire return rates for this study were 213 or 72.4% for undergraduate students, 20 or 64.5% for postgraduate students and 34 or 68%> for academic staff - giving an overall response rate of 68.3%).
RESEARCH RESULTS
Questionnaire results
- Demographics
- Library usage patterns
- Frequency of use of library and its resources
- Frequency of use of Yahoo™, Google™ and other non-library gateways for information
- Users' expectations and perceptions of service quality
- Users' expectations of service quality
- Users' perceptions of service quality
- Rating of information skills, satisfaction and overall service quality
- Library provision of information skills to users
- Users' satisfaction with library support for their learning, research and teaching needs
- Users' rating of overall quality of library service provided
- U s e r s ' comments about I U C o Library services
A comparison within different groups of respondents shows that on average 29 or (86.7%) academic staff have the highest expectations for a single service in the library equipment category. A comparison within the different groups of respondents shows that on average academic staff, nine (40%) postgraduates and 85 (40%) undergraduates for each service in this category either disagree or strongly disagree that the library provides an adequate comprehensive collection. A relatively high percentage of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that the library provided computers that worked well.
A comparison within different groups of respondents shows that an average of 96 (45%) undergraduate students for each service in this category either strongly agreed or disagreed that the library provides a better service. Half of the academic staff considered the overall service quality of the library to be good.
The gap between users' expectations and perceptions
Lots of noise in the library (discussions and use of mobile phones) Security system must be installed to protect library property Theft of computer mice and other library resources. The library building should be expanded The library space is too small for the users Library space for discussion needed Card loans must have a study area/room. Activities unrelated to the library should not be entertained Cleaning should be done when students are not in the library.
In the agreement column in the difference column, the larger the number, the larger the gap. In the neutral column and disagree in the change column, the smaller the number the larger the gap.
Summary
DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS
- Library usage patterns
- Frequency of use of library and its resources
- Frequency of use of Y a h o o ™ , G o o g l e ™ and other non-library gateways for information
- Comprehensive collection
- Access to information
- Library equipment
- Library staff
- Library as a place
- Provision of information skills to users
- User satisfaction with library support
- The Overall quality of service provided by the library
- Significance of the instrument and proposed approach to service quality assessment in academic libraries
- Summary
This section examines the findings related to the frequency of use of the library and its resources and the non-library portals by the IUCo library users. Many factors can be attributed to the reasons why the library does not have a comprehensive collection. As with the category of comprehensive collection (see section 6.2), the study shows variations between different groups of users in relation to the expectations and perceptions of service quality in relation to the category of access to information.
The size of the library must match the number of users who use it and the activities that take place there. The users noted that the library is too small compared to the current number of users using the library and the services it operates.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of thesis
Library and highlighted the mission statement of the library, its services, staff, sources of income and cooperation with library organizations and consortia. It also presented the design of the study, population, sampling techniques, instrumentation, data collection and methods of data analysis used. The fifth chapter, Research Results, reported the results of the survey of the sample population of users of IUCo library, which was carried out by means of a self-administered questionnaire.
Discussions of Results Chapter 6 discussed the results of the survey that related to library use patterns, user expectations and perceptions of the quality of library services, and the provision of information skills to users. It also discussed user satisfaction with library support, the overall quality of services provided by the library, and the significance of the instrument used in this study.
Conclusions
In other words, the users' perception is low in relation to their expectations of the library's service quality. The first objective of the current study was to determine users' expectations of the quality of library services. The second purpose of this study was to determine users' perceptions of the quality of library service.
The third objective of the research was to determine whether the library meets users' expectations regarding the quality of services. The library's inability to fully meet users' expectations of service quality can be attributed to a number of reasons.
Recommendations
It is recommended that the library should be committed to continuous training and development of staff. Furthermore, the library needs to recruit more qualified librarians and ICT staff to fill identified vacancies. Given this, it is recommended that the library educate the users on the importance of each user being a "guardian" of the resources available in the library and acting responsibly in the library.
It is through this program that users can make the most of the library and its resources and take full advantage of the library's benefits. It is recommended that the library have a website that can serve as a gateway to educational information around the world, educational databases and links to essential information resources that users can access.
LIST OF WORKS CITED
Comparing service quality performance with customer service quality needs: explanation of Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry's SERVQUAL methodology. In addition to measuring service quality: learning from the voices of customers, the staff, the process and the organization. College and Research Libraries Journal 66 (3). lt;http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crliournal/>.
Expertise and evidence in evaluating the quality of library service. lt;http://www.emeraldinsight.com>. The Oxford Current Dictionary of English for Advanced Learners.
APPENDICES
In the table below, please mark [V] the number that best represents your expectations of the services provided in the library. In the table below, please tick the number that best describes your perception of the services the library currently provides. How do you assess the general quality of the library's services? ] Very good.
The result of the study will be communicated to the Iringa University College Library and the University administration. User perceptions of service quality at Iringa University College Library, Tumaini University, Tanzania.
