Maryam Hasannejad
Abstract
Background and Objectives: This study aimed to measure the service quality levels of the library of Jundi-Shapur University of Technology, Dezful, using LibQual tool to determine the status of its components from the users' point of view and to identify the components that require the improvement.
Methodology: ...
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Background and Objectives: This study aimed to measure the service quality levels of the library of Jundi-Shapur University of Technology, Dezful, using LibQual tool to determine the status of its components from the users' point of view and to identify the components that require the improvement.
Methodology: The research is a survey-descriptive type, and research community includes three thousand undergraduate and graduate students of the university and library members Sampling was estimated by simple random method, and the statistical sample size at 341 people based on Morgan's table. A questionnaire with 24 questions that is created in three dimensions and on a Likert scale serves as the data gathering instrument. 95% average confidence limits were established at all three levels in order to generalize the findings to the university library community (minimum expectations, maximum expectations, and services received). In the descriptive statistics of statistical indicators, and to analyze the data, SPSS software used to estimate the gap among the expectations of users, and the level of services they received and gap analysis.
Findings: The level of services received by library users in the "service effect" component (human dimension and quality of services provided by librarians to library users) is at the level of minimum expectations. Nonetheless, this component's user satisfaction score is higher than those for information control and the library as a physical location, and it also has the greatest degree of trust in society, with a score between 3.32 and 3.57.The largest gap in the limit of the sufficiency in this component is related to item 2 (library staff's readiness to answer your questions (for example, they always have enough time to answer you)), and the highest level of satisfaction related to item 7, Observance of politeness and modesty of library employees in connection with you). In "Information Control" component (expressing the quality of the collection, facilities, and equipment of the library for users to access the required information), the average level of services received by library users, except in a few cases, was lower than the maximum level of users' expectations in the society with the limit of trust from 2.86 to 3.11, it ranks second among other components. The greatest level of satisfaction in this component is related to item 20 (the existence of a website for quick access to the required information), which has the greatest gap in the limit of the sufficiency for item 21 (the presence of contemporary and sufficient equipment for easy access to the required information in the library, such as a sufficient number of computers) (for example, in finding the location of needed information).The services received by users in the "library as a place" component (expressing the physical environment of library) show that the library has not even been able to meet the minimum expectations of its users. Among other components of LibQual, this component also has the lowest level of received services compared to the minimum expectations of users. It was ranked third in the community with a confidence level from 2.52 to 2.79. The most significant gap in the limit of the sufficiency of this component is related to item 11 (the comfort and attractiveness of overall library space).
Discussion: The level of services received by library users in the "service effect" component is at the level of minimum expectations which does not have a significant difference from that at the community level, but the services received by users in the "library as a place" component has a significant difference with the minimum, and maximum expectations of users in society and the most significant gap in the level of sufficiency is seen in this component. In the "information control" component, the level of services users receive from the library is not significantly different from the level of minimum expectations of users. However, the difference is significant with the level of maximum expectations of users. Hence, paying attention to the variables that cause gaps and enhancing the quality of services obtained by library users may be a means of offering optimum and strategic services and achieving maximum productivity.
