MEASURING THE QUALITY OF LIBRARY SERVICES
ABSTRACT
Libraries have always been dedicated to providing high-quality services to their patrons. The quality of library services is critical in order to satisfy library users. It is an important factor in determining how well a library performs in terms of highest return and user satisfaction. A good quality management system can help to achieve this level of service superiority.
Quality services are defined as resources and services that meet or exceed the expectations and perceptions of users. It is obvious that librarians use measurement tools to run library services. Total Quality Management (TQM), SERVQUAL, and LibQUAL+ are tools that assist them in assessing services, making decisions, improving services, and achieving higher quality.
This paper discusses quality concepts, measuring quality services in libraries, TQM, Benchmarking, SERQUAL, and LibQUAL+.
Quality, Total Quality Management, SERQUAL, and LibQUAL+ are keywords.
I. introductory paragraph
The success of a library or any other information center is heavily reliant on the quality of services it provides to its users. Managing a library as a social institution entails a variety of specialized and complex tasks. The primary goal of an academic library is to support the parent organization’s teaching, research, and other academic programs. An academic library is part of a service organization that personally delivers products to customers.
Libraries are organizations that provide services to their patrons. The libraries are developing a strategic plan with the goal of providing the best services possible while striving for continuous improvement. The goal of quality measurement is to determine the effectiveness, efficiency, and value of what has been accomplished.
This procedure reveals both the strengths and weaknesses of any library or information system. Measuring quality services is a comprehensive and structured approach to organizational management that seeks to improve product and service quality through continuous refinements in response to continuous feedback.
The quality management system provides a strong foundation for effective library services.
Libraries are service organizations, and the quality of their services plays an important role in the development and dissemination of knowledge.
They are service organizations dedicated to their customers, the patrons, and library managers can transform and improve their organizations by developing a strategic plan and following it up with a commitment to continuous quality improvement.
There are numerous methods, tools, and techniques available for measuring, controlling, and improving the quality of library services. Quality measurement and evaluation are extremely important in modern libraries because they provide enormous benefits to both the library and the user community.
Various methods, such as data collection for measuring library performance and quality; the SERVQUAL method, a multiple item scale to measure service quality; and the LibQUAL+, a tool based on SERVQUAL for measuring the quality of library products and services.
The concept of quality is now defined not from the standpoint of the producer or the supplier, but rather from the standpoint of the customer or user. ISO 8402, 1986 defines quality as “the totality of an entity’s characteristics bearing on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs.” Any product or service must have those qualities that make it what it is. On the other hand, it is a collection of elements / components that combine to make a product or service perfect in every way.
Quality is the fundamental philosophy and requirement of library service, and all libraries strive to provide the highest level of service possible. A quality service is one that fully meets the users’ expectations and needs. It could be argued that a library is maintaining quality if it provides appropriate information to the right user at the right time and in the right format. Quality library services imply accurately, exhaustively, and expeditiously answering each and every user’s query.
Quality management strategies should incorporate a variety of approaches in order to achieve higher-quality information services. The performance of the information system is primarily determined by (1) the accuracy of the services, (2) the adequacy of and need-based services, and (3) the timeliness of the services. Information Abstracts, Bibliographies, Indexes, Current Awareness Bulletins, and so on are examples of information products in the LIS sector.
Improving Library Service Quality
In this day and age, it is very simple to create a high-quality library if the parent body or concerned authority contributes financially as well as collectively. It is critical for the librarian and its parent body to consider how the current and future generations will cope with international phenomena. To use the library effectively, a user must be educated and equipped with appropriate technology.
Users should be aware of the facilities and services available in the library and information center, as well as how to use them efficiently and effectively. The user satisfaction survey is a tool that provides both quantitative and qualitative data to help improve service quality. It is an essential component of libraries for measuring process and performance.
III. Measuring the Quality of Library Services
“A measure of library quality based solely on collections has become obsolete,” Nitecki defined. “Within a service-quality assessment model, only customers judge quality; all other judgments are essentially irrelevant,” Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Berry defined.
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