Customer's perception of service quality in libraries

K. Manjunatha     manjunath@mail.tapmi.org     (T.A. Pai Management Institute)   D. Shivalingaiah     (Mangalore University)

Annals of Library and Information Studies ( web site) 2004 51 (4)145-151
(ReLIS:igi:annals:v:51:y:2004:i:4:145-151)

Abstract:

Service quality assesses performance of products and services from customers' perspective. A library has both tangible products and intangible services. Service quality in management is of recent origin and new to Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals. Today, the library customers are open to multiple sources of information and expect quality material within shortest possible time irrespective of the format of information. The web technologies and commercial information service providers have impelled libraries to be customer focussed for their survival. Proper understanding of customers' perceptions along service quality dimensions is essential for LIS professionals to recognize the customer expectations. Aligning the products/services to meet customer expectations would result in reduced gaps in perceptions of service quality. In this paper, the authors briefly explain the concept of service quality; trace its development and highlight some of the results of an empirical study on service quality in academic libraries is presented.

Pages: 145-151
Volume: 51
Month: December
Year: 2004
Issue: 4

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