Library Service Quality

Summary Toy libraries have become a favoured way of providing a service to families in which there is a mentally handicapped child. The purpose of this study was to gain information about how parents valued the service provided by the toy library at Honeylands Family Support Unit. Parents expressed a great deal of satisfaction with the service. Suggestions are made as to how it could be further improved and about the desirability of it being extended to school-aged children.

The purpose of this paper is to identify best practices in order to improve the quality of services in Portuguese academic libraries. This article describes an ongoing project to assess the performance of library services, resulting from a partnership of six Portuguese higher education libraries. The study has three main steps:(1) selection of criteria to be evaluated and selection of their corresponding performance indicators;(2) data collection and analysis;(3) identification of best practices. The selection of the criteria to be ...

Purpose -This study seeks to apply ecological psychology's concept of "affordance" to graduate students' information behavior in the academic library, and to explore the extent to which the affordances experienced by graduate students differed from the affordances librarians were attempting to provide. Design/methodology/approach -In-depth, qualitative interviews with graduate students and academic librarians explored how the students perceived and used the library's various "opportunities for action" (e.g. books, databases, instructional sessions, librarians, physical space, etc.) and compared these perceptions and behavior with librarians' intentions and expectations. Findings -Findings indicate a disparity between expectations and experience and point to graduate students as an underserved population in this context, especially in terms of the library's outreach efforts. In addition, because graduate students are increasingly teaching introductory undergraduate courses, communication methods that bypass graduate students tend to miss undergraduate students as well. Practical implications -Practical implications discussed in this paper include possible methods of improving communication channels between graduate students and academic librarians, and considerations for information literacy instruction. Originality/value -This paper presents a unique perspective by using affordance theory to frame students and librarians' expectations about library services. The findings are particularly valuable for their implications for library-patron communication and information literacy. and other relevant topics. However, few studies examine the holistic role of the academic library -where systems and users interact within a broader social frame. Although digital resources play key roles in students' academic lives, focusing on these to the exclusion of other areas of interaction risks overlooking significant elements of the library experience. In this study, graduate students' information behavior is examined in light of theory from ecological psychology, with a particular focus on the role affordances play in shaping students' informational activities.

Purpose -This paper aims to propose a solution for recommending digital library services based on data mining techniques (clustering and predictive classification). Design/methodology/approach -Data mining techniques are used to recommend digital library services based on the user's profile and search history. First, similar users were clustered together, based on their profiles and search behavior. Then predictive classification for recommending appropriate services to them was used. It has been shown that users in the same cluster have a high probability of accepting similar services or their patterns. Findings -The results indicate that k-means clustering and Naive Bayes classification may be used to improve the accuracy of service recommendation. The overall accuracy is satisfying, while average accuracy depends on the specific service. The results were better for frequently occurring services. Research limitations/implications -Datasets were used from the KOBSON digital library. Only clustering and predictive classification was applied. If the correlation between the service and the institution were higher, it would have better accuracy. Originality/value -The paper applied different and efficient data mining techniques for clustering digital library users based on their profiles and their search behavior, i.e. users' interaction with library services, and obtain user patterns with respect to the library services they use. A digital library may apply this approach to offer appropriate services to new users more easily. The recommendations will be based on library items that similar users have already found useful.

Enough evidence as case studies has been reported till date on the usage of quality circle in many manufacturing organization for drawing cost saving or quality improvement goals. It has been the utmost goal of enterprises with no surprises to that. But in this paper the author proposes his opinion on applying quality circle in an academic library, a service organization. It argues that the concept encourages employee participation as well as promotes teamwork and motivates people to contribute towards organizational effectiveness through group processes. This paper tries to project a method from the parlance of management for anticipating the relative improvement of quality of services by improving the level of consciousness among all constituents so as to enhance their effectiveness and competence. The study will drive great yield to the practitioners and the users of the quality circle technique.

The efficiency of libraries and information services has been legitimately put to test. However, most evaluations of libraries and information services have measured usage value only and exclude option value. Measuring both values might clear existing doubts on the value and efficiency of libraries and information services. The paper argues that many previous evaluations of libraries and information services used ineffective methods and approaches, evaluates some of these methods, and suggests a model that might overcome previous approaches' shortcomings.

... DOI: 10.1108/09684880910929926 (Permanent URL). Quality assurance in distance learning libraries. The Authors. Manorama Tripathi, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India. VKJ Jeevan, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India. Abstract. ...

The study explores reliability and validity of scores from the SERVQUAL measurement protocol. Scores were highly reliable, but the five SERVQUAL dimensions were not recovered. As a result, the validity of the instrument as originally conceived may be questionable in the research library context. Comparisons to earlier SERVQUAL studies in academic libraries are drawn.

Research is taking on increasing importance in universities and colleges. It is thus appropriate for academic libraries in these institutions to re-examine how they can play a more relevant role in facilitating research. The aim of this study was to examine the views of one group of stakeholders, the postgraduate students, on the role of the university library in helping them with their research. A paper-based questionnaire was used to gather information from 36 postgraduate students. The findings suggest that students are generally satisfied with the resources and services provided by the library, but needed more help in certain areas of research, and that the library could be more proactive in providing assistance. Interestingly, students indicated they would be willing to pay a higher library fee if the library could help them more with their research. This opens up exciting possibilities for increased services.

Student perceptions of dependability and accuracy of the Texas A&M University Libraries' services are explored through focus groups. Users reported difficulty in locating materials, found inaccurate catalog and circulation records, encountered inadequate signage, and received late notifications. The results have helped the library identify areas in need of improvement.

This article reports on a study designed to find out the information needs of nomadic students in Iran in order to present a library service model to meet their needs. The results show that the preferred information format of the majority of students was print, especially books. Most of the students stated that they were in need of cultural and medical non-educational books. The study led to improved and expanded library services for respondents who are deprived of such services, including audiovisual services, extending the book collection, loaning books, advertising books and other publications, reference services, technical services and providing needed information to them. The paper presents for the first time a model for providing library services for nomadic students. Both practitioners and researchers in the nomadic library services domain will benefit from the synthesis offered in this paper, as it puts together convergent views on what nomadic students currently need.

Bu çalışma ile erken çocukluk döneminde kaliteli eğitim programlarının ve kitaplara erişimin önemi ortaya konmakta ve bu bağlamda halk kütüphanelerinin çocuk bölümlerinin ne kadar önemli bir misyona sahip oldukları hatırlatılmaya çalışılmaktadır. Bu makale tanımlayıcı bir çalışmadır ve çalışmada niteliksel yöntem kullanılmıştır. Monroe İlçe Halk Kütüphanesi (MİHK) verileri toplanırken, gözlem, görüşme ve belge toplama teknikleri kullanılmış ve veriler bu doğrultuda analiz edilmiştir. Bulgular IFLA'nın "Çocuklara Yönelik Kütüphane Hizmetleri Rehberi"nde bahsedilen on ana başlık altında değerlendirilmiştir. Sonuçlar göstermektedir ki MİHK sistemi çocuklara yönelik olarak IFLA standartlarına göre oldukça başarılı bir şekilde hizmet vermektedir. Ancak, bu çalışma ayrıca şunu göstermektedir ki, ele alınan konuda örnek olabilmek ve gerekliliklerin yerine gelebilmesi için kütüphanelerin güçlü bir mali yapı ve toplum desteğine ihtiyaç vardır. * 24-26 Ekim tarihinde Ankara'da düzenlenen Değişen Dünyada Bilgi Yönetimi Sempozyumu'nda sunulan posterin genişletilmiş halidir. Abstract This study aims that during early childhood stage, access to quality education programs and books have a vital importance and in that context, public libraries' children departments have an essential mission to support preschool children. This is a descriptive study that used qualitative method. While collecting data of MIHK, observations, interviews, and documents were used as data collection technique and the data was analyzed in that sense. IFLA's "Guidelines for Children's Libraries Services" was used as a framework to evaluate the fi ndings. According to the results, MCPL system is very successful in regard to accomplishing the terms of IFLA's guidelines to support preschool children; however in fulfi lling all of these there is a defi nite need for strong fi nancial structure and support from the society.

The study aims to assess library service quality (LSQ) associated    with user satisfaction of AC Joshi Library, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. A modified SERVQUAL instrument was used to examine perceived LSQ and level of user satisfaction. The data was collected through questionnaire consisting items related with different library service attributes. The study considered a number of critical elements of service quality assessment. It was found that library environment and library services significantly predict the user satisfaction. The level of quality of different attributes, i.e., library environment, collection, staff, and services were significantly different across academic discipline of respondents. The study will be helpful for libraries to improve their quality of services and increase user satisfaction.

Keywords: Library service quality, AC Joshi Library, Panjab University, Chandigarh, user satisfaction, SERVQUAL

The CAPM Project features the development and evaluation of an automated, robotic on-demand scanning system for materials at remote locations. To date, we have developed a book retrieval robot and a valuation analysis framework for evaluating CAPM. We intend to augment CAPM by exploring approaches for automated page turning and improved valuation. These extensions will results in a more fully automated CAPM system and a valuation framework that will not only be useful for assessing CAPM specifically, but also for library services and functions generally.

The present study aims to assess the library service quality (LSQ) and user satisfaction at Rajiv Gandhi National Law University (RGNLU), Patiala (Panjab), India. Survey method was used for collecting data. Library service quality was measured by using LibQUAL scale. A total of 116 questionnaires were analyzed. The findings of the study show that there is significant difference in the desired and perceived level of respondents about LSQ .Further significant difference was also noted in the perceived level of LSQ across the status of respondents. All the three LSQ dimensions i.e. Affect of service (AS), Information control (IC), and Library as a place (LP) were positively correlated with the degree of user satisfaction. Regression analysis reveals that IC and LP significantly predict user satisfaction account for 47.1% of variance

Focal point dapat diartikan sebagai titik fokus atau pusat liferal dari Lembaga atau instansi yang memiliki perpustakaan guna mendukung serta menunjang segala sesuatu terutama tugas dan tujuan dari Lembaga atau instasi perpustakaan yang bersangkutan, sehingga nantinya diharapkan sumber daya manusia yang terlibat dalam Lembaga atau instansi tersebut memiliki pengetahuan yang berkualitas baik. Salah satu cara yang dapat di implementasikan oleh Lembaga atau instansi terkait adalah dengan cara menyediakan koleksi sekurang-kurangnya 1.000 judul yang berkaitan dengan bidang-bidang yang dicakup oleh Lembaga atau instansi tersebut, memiliki total 80% koleksi yang berkaitan dengan subjek di Lembaga atau instansi tersebut, melanggan mimimal 10 judul majalah yang berkaitan dengan Lembaga atau instansi tersebut, serta melakukan kegiatan pengadaan koleksi sekurang-kurangnya 2% dari jumlah judul per tahun. Perpustakaan milik PPIKSN (Pusat Pendayagunaan Informatika dan Kawasan strategis Nuklir) di Batan, merupakan salah satu perpustakaan khusus yang menjadi contoh nyata dari focal point. Perpustakaan PPIKSN melakukan analisis terhadap tingkat keterpakaian bahan pustaka yang di miliki oleh perpustakaan tersebut guna mengetahui seberapa pentingnya peranan dari koleksi yang di miliki untuk mendukung para staf serta karyawan dalam bekerja. Koleksi yang di miliki oleh Perpustakaan PPIKSN terdiri dari 15.3500 judul buku dengan subjek yang berkaitan dengan IPTEK nuklir, ternyata penerapan focal point yang di peruntukkan bagi staf dan karyawan hanya memiliki tingkat keterpakaian sebersar 1% pertahun.

This article examines the theoretical models applied to date in library assessment activities. A brief review of the history of library assessment practices and the evolution of their respective approaches is presented. A discussion of the theoretical concepts applied to these assessment activities in library and information science (LIS) as introduced from other fields, such as marketing and management information systems (MIS), follows.The conceptual issues and practical concerns in library assessment are then discussed. Focus is placed on the review of research concepts of service quality, customer/user satisfaction, and their applications in library assessment activities.

When IFLA needed reliable data about libraries and their services worldwide, it became apparent that there are no such data. Therefore, the IFLA Section on Statistics and Evaluation, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) committee TC 46 SC 8 `Quality — statistics and performance evaluation' have joined forces in order to develop and test a new set of statistics that might be used by libraries worldwide. The final goal is that these statistics should be collected regularly on a national basis, so that there will be reliable and internationally comparable data of library services and library use.

Library managers are continuously urged to provide better library services at a lower cost. To cope with these cost pressures, library management needs to improve its understanding of the relevant cost drivers. Through a case study, we show how to perform time-driven activity-based costing for a library acquisition process in a Belgian university and provide evidence of the benefits of such an analysis.

The study is intended to assess the expectations and perceptions about the university libraries in Kerala as they relate service quality and to know how far these university libraries succeeded. Seven state university libraries are selected as samples, and conducted a user survey with a modified SERVQUAL questionnaire. 1204 users have participated in the survey including students, research scholars and faculty members. Five dimensions of service quality such as tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy are analyzed according to thirty items in the SERVQUAL questionnaire. The results show that the service quality of university libraries are low in ever y dimension,users expect more quality in reliability and responsiveness dimension. The study explores the pitfalls of service dimension in these university libraries in
the state and will help the librarians to provide better services to its users.

The study aims to assess library service quality (LSQ) associated with user satisfaction of AC Joshi
Library, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. A modified SERVQUAL instrument was used to examine
perceived LSQ and level of user satisfaction. The data was collected through questionnaire consisting
items related with different library service attributes.The study considered a number of critical elements of
service quality assessment. It was found that library environment and library services significantly predict
the user satisfaction. The level of quality of different attributes, i.e., library environment, collection, staff,
and services were significantly different across academic discipline of respondents.The study will be
helpful for libraries to improve their quality of services and increase user satisfaction.

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the present state of development of integrated library systems (ILS) at the time of writing and to identify, describe and evaluate significant trends in the industry in relation to their context within the overall development of library services 1 . The development of integrated library systems needs to be considered in the context of trends, strategies and technical issues within the overall information environment. These include, for instance, electronic library developments within particular sectors, metadata initiatives, and organisational issues such as the convergence or integration of libraries with knowledge management or computing services. For the library, the fundamental challenge is integration, and in particular designing ways of navigating the wide range of resources using cross-searching and linking tools. Libraries' decisions about what to automate and why depend closely on the overall direction of their mission and service policies. 1 I have used several approaches in gathering information: 1) reviewing of the professional literature on library automation, print and online, located using the LISA, Current Cites, BUBL Journals and Library Automation Bibliography databases and through other Web searches 2) conducting interviews with vendors' representatives, by appointment and at trade shows:

In the context of the current debate about teaching reading, research to ascertain primary teachers' personal and professional reading practices was undertaken. The study explored teachers' reading habits and preferences, investigated their knowledge of children's literature, and documented their reported use of such texts and involvement with library services.

This study investigates information-seeking behavior and satisfaction level of teachers of National Textile University, Pakistan. A questionnaire collected data on preferred types of information sources and formats, methods for getting information, and level of user satisfaction of library services. The findings reveal that books, communication with colleagues and friends within NTU, journal articles, and communication with colleagues and friends in

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to explore the library use pattern of humanities faculty members at University of the Punjab, Lahore. Design/methodology/approach-A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to get response from the targeted population which consisted of 90 teaching and research staff of humanities departments. The response rate was 69 percent. Findings-The study reveals that most of the respondents feel themselves good in library use skills, which is owing to their high frequency of library use, not to any formal training. They prefer to use the library themselves, rather than seeking help from the library staff. Respondents found the central library richer in collection than their departmental libraries. Most of respondents were visiting the library for using the reference material or for searching some specific information and they seldom seek help from the library staff. Resources and services/facilities available in the central library were professed to be better than their departmental libraries. Respondents fulfilled their information needs not only from central and departmental libraries of the university but from other libraries in the city as well. They were facing the problem of non-availability of required material due to their heavy dependency on the library resources. Dissatisfaction was also shown with the library staff and technical support. More journals and reference material in humanities were suggested by the respondents, along with better facilities and services. Practical implications-The knowledge about the information needs and library use pattern of users helps the library and information science professionals to develop the library collections, improve the services and upgrade the facilities. Originality/value-This paper provides a case study of how specific kinds of scholars use library services and should be of interest to librarians providing information services for humanists.

As they are gradually becoming mature, digital libraries are being put more frequently under a magnifying glass in order to be evaluated. Some of the world's leading information scientist like T. Saracevic (Rutgers University, USA) claims that it is too early to evaluate quality of existing digital libraries as they are not yet taken their final shape and there is

Nearly 25 years ago, Douglas Zweizig identified limitations in understanding the users of library services and called for improvements in research methodologies. To asses the impact of his critique, citation searches on Zweizig and keyword searches on ''user-centered'' identified a body of library and information science (LIS) literature that can be linked to the work of Zweizig and his colleague, Brenda Dervin. The characteristics of this literature are described and the philosophical origins of the user-centered approach is critiqued. Zweizig's initial call to incorporate social science methodologies into LIS research is evaluated. A discussion of LIS education in light of the recent Kellogg-ALISE Information Profession and Education Renewal Project study of LIS curricula is included.

Purpose -Prior research has highlighted the isolation felt by some researchers engaged in academic writing. This article aims to examine whether such isolation might be partially overcome by membership of an online community of writers (CoW), hosted by higher education (HE) library services. Design/methodology/approach -A review of the literature was followed by an innovative piece of action research based around the authors' own long distance collaborative writing task in order to explore the issues at first-hand. Case studies of existing online writing communities known to the authors but not currently hosted by libraries were also undertaken. Findings -Themes emerging include the importance of finding a medium for a CoW that is familiar and comfortable. Motivators to join a CoW include demands that academics be research active. Demotivators may include lack of trust and reluctance to share. Research limitations/implications -There are still questions to be answered and decisions to be taken about the initiation of a CoW. Further research is needed into topics such as mentoring roles and trust-building but this work should provide a springboard. Practical implications -HE libraries might consider a CoW as a research support mechanism. Originality/value -The concept of a CoW is a novel one, as is the idea that such a collaboration might be hosted by HE libraries that might consider a CoW as an innovative addition to their existing portfolio of research support services.

The study employed case study approach and 29 libraries were represented. Data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire which was administered at Nigeria Library Association (NLA) Cataloguing, Indexing and Classification Section workshop held in Makurdi, Benue State in year 2013, and method of data analysis was simple percentages. The study revealed that majority of Nigerian libraries (62.1%) were currently involved in exhibition and displays, 69% of libraries hold only physical exhibition, 45% frequently hold exhibitions between 3 -6 months while others (58.6%) lasted between 1 -4 weeks. The purpose of exhibition include: education, awareness, increased sense of aesthetic and promotion of available resources. Lack of exhibition policy (96.6%), lack of display equipment (93.1%), lack of formal training 86.2%, and inadequate resourcesmoney, space (82.8%) were identified as inhibitors to library exhibition and displays in Nigeria. Physical exhibition and display is predominant. There is a need to explore the use of electronic resources, social networking sites and the Internet for online exhibition. The management of Nigerian libraries should provide exhibition guidelines, display equipment and materials needed for mounting exhibition, training for exhibit librarians and library schools should incorporate exhibition into the curriculum.

The paper describes how Harvard Business School's Knowledge and Library Services (KLS) leveraged collective knowledge of its employees in formulating, implementing, and evaluating strategy. The organization was faced with major, disruptive changes in its environment and needed the diverse knowledge and a full engagement of all employees to make a series of strategic shifts. The shifts included integrating KLS products and services with the Harvard Business School research and course development process, developing global scope in information resources and expertise, and trading its role as the guardian of books and buildings for the organizer of the School's priority information assets. In order to achieve that, KLS launched the Environmental Scan Program relying on employees' insights aggregated through social tagging, trend analysis and internal prediction markets tracking emerging trends. KLS also created processes for collective assessment of strategy and a faster way of turning ideas into new products and services. The paper concludes with the assessment of the approach, pointing to a difficult balance between emergent and collective dimensions of strategy process with its formal, structured facets.

In a study of users' perceptions of library service quality, interview data were used to restructure and reorient SERVQUAL, a widely employed survey administered to customers to determine quality of service rendered. When adapted to library users' perceptions of service quality, the new instrument, LibQUAL TM was configured as a Web-based survey, and administered to over 22,000 users of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries in North America. The data reported on here are comprised of the original interview data used to ground the Web-based survey. Interpretive and culturally-based analyses are offered as hypotheses for why the data were categorized as they were. D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. 0740-8188/02/$ -see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 7 4 0 -8 1 8 8 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 1 0 7 -4

In this paper, a prototype of an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) is presented. This new OPAC features new functionalities and utilizes web 2.0 technologies in order to deliver improved search and retrieval services. Some of these new services include social tag annotations, user opinions and ranks and tag-based similarity searches. The prototype is evaluated by a user group through questionnaires, interviews and with the system's integrated logging mechanism. The results are encouraging enough and show that Library 2.0 technologies seem to be acceptable by the majority of the users.

Background: Potassium channels (KCh) are the most diverse and ubiquitous class of ion channels. KCh control membrane potential and contribute to nerve and cardiac action potentials and neurotransmitter release. KCh are also involved in insulin release, differentiation, activation, proliferation, apoptosis, and several other physiological functions. The aim of this review is to provide an updated overview of the KCh role during the cell growth. Their potential use as pharmacological targets in cancer therapies is also discussed. Methods: We searched PubMed (up to 2005) and identified relevant articles. Reprints were mainly obtained by on line subscription. Additional sources were identified through cross-referencing and obtained from Library services. Results: KCh are responsible for some neurological and cardiovascular diseases and for a new medical discipline, channelopathies. Their role in congenital deafness, multiple sclerosis, episodic ataxia, LQT syndrome and diabetes has been proven. Furthermore, a large body of information suggests that KCh play a role in the cell cycle progression, and it is now accepted that cells require KCh to proliferate. Thus, KCh expression has been studied in a number of tumours and cancer cells. Conclusions: Cancer is far from being considered a channelopathy. However, it seems appropriate to take into account the involvement of KCh in cancer progression and pathology when developing new strategies for cancer therapy. #

Este material corresponde a la información empleada por el Dr. Octavio Reyes en los Seminarios de actualización y capacitación dirigidos a los ejecutivos de la Alta Dirección que requieren de un compendio de información concreta, suficiente y acorde  las necesidades de sus puesto y a la disponibilidad del tiempo destinado a dicho evento.