The LibQUAL+ instrument serves as an indicator of user satisfaction. While offering clear insights into user satisfaction levels, it lacks interpretability when seeking to judge overall library ...success. This study aims at adopting LibQUAL+ as a measurement tool to predict library users' intention to patronize the library more in future. A theoretical model is presented to measure the relationships among the three LibQUAL+ service dimensions and the overall library user satisfaction. We estimate the effects of the three service dimensions on two indicators of students' attitudes and beliefs (Overall Satisfaction and Perceived Academic Success) and, in turn, the effects of those two variables on students' anticipated library use. We tested the research model using structural equation modeling. Our study results reveal that the three dimensions, Library as Place, Affect of Service and Information Control have considerably different impact on Satisfaction and Perceived Academic Success. Similarly, the two mediating variables, Satisfaction and Perceived Academic Success, have different impact on the Intention to Use the Library More in future. Our work is meant to explain how an effective and widely used measurement tool can become more effective and informative through SEM analysis and to provide a broader model to predicting library success.
Customers usually have high expectations on the services they receive. The LibQUAL model was employed in this study to investigate the quality of services at an academic library. The participants ...were chosen from the five colleges in a university using simple random sampling. Two hundred participants were chosen from each college. In all, 1000 participants (including faculty members, postgraduate and undergraduate students) were selected for the study. The study revealed that users knew and used the library's services. The researchers delivered the questionnaires to the respondents at the library. The results showed that the library service quality (LSQ) fell short of users' expectations. There was a statistically significant difference in LSQ between gender of users. The users' expectations of the library's level of service were out of sync or mismatch. The variations could be attributed to differences in information needs of users. This requires the library to assess its services from users' perspective regularly. The use of the LibQUAL model provides useful information that library management can employ for developing service quality measurement scale and planning for service quality. The study also provides information about services that needs improvement, so that library staff could manage users' expectations and satisfaction in a better way. University authorities expect good return of investment made into the development of the library. Therefore, libraries should improve upon their services to boost the image of the Universities.
The purpose of this paper is to study the scattered behaviour of the overall published output of library service quality literature. Different parameters have been taken into consideration to analyze ...the literature on library service quality. The bibliographical data of the total number of publications published on Library Service Quality (LSQ), during 1960-2018 were searched from the Scopus database by using the search phrases, "Library Service Quality", LibQual and LibQual+, in Title, Abstract and Keyword have been used with Boolean operator 'OR' on December 8th, 2019. The search query resulted in 290 records. The first-ever publication published in the field of library service quality was published in 1997 as reflected from the Scopus database. The data were analyzed to observe the year wise pattern of growth of output with citations per publication (CPP), most prolific countries, institutions, and authors. It also identified the distribution of citations with highly cited papers and further source titles were used to establish the linkage between research results. Analyzing authors, institutions and country of the publications, citations complete count methodology was followed. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Iran were found to be the leading contributors to the field, and the pattern of growth is undulating. The journal articles (228) were scattered among 80 source titles, and it connotes that on an average, approximately three articles were produced by each source title. Moreover, a detailed and comprehensive content analysis of all the publications of clusters formed in co-citation and bibliographic coupling networks was employed to get the in-depth knowledge of the trend in concerning literature. The present study is the first bibliometric as well as text-analysis research to assess the overall research output on service quality in the field of Libraries & Information Science.
The study sought to assess user expectations and acceptance of library services at the African Union Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The study, which targeted 94 library users, employed LibQUAL ...and SERVQUAL protocols to collect data, which were subsequently analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that users have the lowest expectations of the physical aspects of the library, namely the
and of its
. By contrast, users had the highest expectations in aspects associated with people and of the library collection, namely the
,
,
and
. The study recommends the allocation of resources in a way that ensures that the human aspects of the library remain at high levels of service quality, while shortcomings related to information control, library space and equipment should be addressed. Further, the library should invest in electronic content that users can access remotely. The findings have implications for information practice, in that studying user expectations enables libraries to understand individual and group expectations. These, in turn, will inform decision-making processes in respect of service provision, and provide justification and accountability for the resources used during such service provision.
Objective: The purpose of this research is to evaluate the hospital libraries service quality of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences from the users' perspectives based on the LibQUAL+ ...model. Furthermore, is to make a comparison between library services of general hospitals versus specialized one. Materials and methods: The survey used the LibQUAL+ model to evaluate service quality of libraries of general as well as specialized hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (12 libraries) (Iran). The data were collected from library clients by administering the LibQUAL+ questionnaire in a printed format. Results: It has been revealed that hospital libraries have succeeded in satisfying the minimum expectations of its users but could not meet the customers' desired expectations that make them delighted. Information Control is the least satisfying dimension, whereas the Library as a place is the most satisfying dimension. The users are more satisfied with general hospitals library services rather than specialized ones in all dimensions. Conclusion: The hospital libraries failed to meet the minimum expectations of users in two dimensions of information control and the library as a place. Thus, it is suggested to improve the quality and quantity of library facilities and to create a pleasant atmosphere for users by considering a proper space for the study of clients. This will lead to help hospital libraries to meet the desired level of requirements of medical community users. Keywords: Hospital library, Library service quality, LibQUAL+, Medical libraries, Quality assessment
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the library service quality (LSQ) of University of Kashmir from the users’ perspectives based on the LibQUAL+ model approach.
...Design/methodology/approach
The survey used the LibQUAL+ model to evaluate service quality (SQ) of Allama Iqbal Library (AIL), University of Kashmir, Srinagar (India). The data were collected from library users by administering the LibQUAL+ questionnaire in a printed format.
Findings
It has been revealed that AIL has succeeded in satisfying the minimum expectations of its users but could not meet the customers’ desired expectations that make them delighted. Library as Place (LP) and Information Control (IC) are the most satisfied dimensions of SQ of AIL, whereas Affect of Service (AS) is the least satisfied dimension. LP is the most desired dimension amongst LibQUAL+ dimensions. All LibQUAL+ items were found to be lying inside the zone of tolerance (ZoT). Further, “Library is secure and peaceful place for study, learning and research” (LP-21) was found as most important service item as per users’ desired expectations, while “Library staff shows dependability in handling users’ service problems” (AS-9) is marked as the least desired item.
Originality/value
Only a few studies have been carried out to evaluate the SQ of Indian university libraries as far as the LibQUAL+ model is concerned. Therefore, the findings of present survey will help to understand how far library has reached in satisfying users’ expectations as well as the areas or dimensions where it needs to improve.
Este trabajo tiene como objetivo evaluar la calidad de los servicios bibliotecarios de la Biblioteca del Museo y Archivo Histórico de Portoviejo, Ecuador. Se implementó una metodología descriptiva ...con un enfoque mixto que incorporó el análisis documental, el método analítico sintético e inductivo-deductivo en la interpretación de la literatura consultada, la entrevista al personal de la biblioteca y el test estandarizado LibQUAL+ aplicado a una muestra de los usuarios que asisten a esta institución. Se examinaron tres dimensiones: el valor afectivo, la biblioteca como lugar y el control de la información. Aunque las apreciaciones del valor efectivo estuvieron sobre la media-alta, la biblioteca como lugar y el control de la información fueron apreciados sobre la media-baja; por ende, es necesario atender los indicadores de estas dimensiones cuyos valores estén por debajo de 50 puntos. En conclusión, se destaca la factibilidad de la herramienta empleada para valorar la actividad bibliotecaria desde los criterios de los usuarios. Se considera como posible línea futura de investigación la propuesta de mejoras que lleven a un mejor posicionamiento de esta institución en términos de calidad de servicios bibliotecarios.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the psychometric validity of the LibQUAL+® instrument in a developing country context in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a ...paper-version of the original LibQUAL 22 core-items to survey library users' perceptions of minimum, desired and perceived levels of service quality of university libraries in Bangladesh. The survey accumulated a total of 544 valid responses over a period of two weeks. The means and standard deviations for each service item were computed for the three service levels. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the original three-factorial structure and to assess the psychometric validity of the LibQUAL instrument. A one-factor CFA and separate CFAs by gender and user group on perceived services were conducted to determine the original three-factor structure of LibQUAL scale. Exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were also performed on the perceived scores to examine the potential factor structure of the scale. The descriptive statistics including EFAs and the CFA models were performed through IBM® SPSS® Statistics and IBM® SPSS® Amos, respectively.FindingsThe findings of this paper showed that all perceived services fell below the minimum scores. The confirmatory factor analyses found poor model fits for the original three-factor solution of the LibQUAL scale. The EFA results also showed no factorial structure similar to the original LibQUAL dimensions. The findings exhibited a low psychometric quality of LibQUAL in academic library settings in Bangladesh.Originality/valueThis study is the first of its kind to empirically examine the psychometric validity of the LibQUAL scale in a developing country perspective in Bangladesh.
Global competition among academic institutions has compelled university libraries to transform their conventional services and traditional roles to a more sophisticated, all-round service provider ...that can deliver their best services to their users. University libraries must cater the expansion of information sources, the high demand of users and information application as well as high student enrolments and competition among service sectors. The ability of an academic library to fulfill its user expectations will yield user satisfaction for its services. Primarily, research on assessing users' perception on the level of service quality focuses on finding ways to meet or exceed users' expectations. This study nevertheless aimed to measure students' perception and their satisfaction level of services provided by the UMP library and customized a new measuring tool on service quality and perspectives of library users based on the LibQUAL Model. A customized survey instrument was developed based on the model, consisting of 30 items measuring the level of four service dimensions and user satisfaction with an additional five items examining user satisfaction on general services. The Cronbach's alpha range is from 0.813 to 0.942, which was adequately greater than the recommended value of 0.7, thus exhibiting good internal reliability of the constructs. The result of the study reported positive values for both gap analyses in all service quality dimensions. Based on 382 respondent feedbacks, results showed that the perceived service quality level exceeded users' acceptable level on minimum service and desired service. Specifically, the users are satisfied with the services provided. Results from this study serveas a guide for effective decision making by the library in its administration and resource allocation to ensure accomplishment of the library's vision and mission.
