Assessment of service quality of 24 hour service in University of KwaZulu-Natal Library.

Abstract

This study examined the quality of services provided by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Library (UKZN) from the perspective of library users. The purpose of the study was to determine the gaps between user expectations and perceptions of the service quality provided after-hours. The study was underpinned by two theories Libqual model theory and Servqual model theory. The study adopted a pragmatic paradigm and employed a mixed methodology approach. The population of the study comprised of students, academic staff and library staff. The samples of the population studied were 252 undergraduate students, 30 postgraduate students, 37 master’s students and 24 academic staff. Total of 366 respondents responded to the questionnaire and five participants were interviewed. The questionnaire consisted of both open and closed questions although the latter predominated. Qualitative data was collected through interviews from three heads of circulation and two circulation supervisors, while Quantitative data was collected from students and academic staff using the questionnaires. Qualitative data was analysed using NVIVO whilst quantitative data was analysed using IBM SPSS software version 25. Libqual survey instrument was used to measure the gap between customers’ expectations and their perceptions of the actual service delivered by the library. The three dimensions of service quality, that is, access to information, staff service, and library facilities formed the core of the instrument. The results from this indicate that there is a small gap between user expectations and user perceptions of service quality delivered at University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) library. However, there were instances where gaps were significant and clearly these gaps do need to be addressed by library management. The extent of gaps varies depending on the individual services. There were understandable variations within the different user categories of respondents namely: Postgraduate sudent (Doctoral student and, Master’s students), undergraduate students and academic staff concerning library usage, perceptions of service quality at University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) library. The findings of the study revealed that most of the users who were students and staff rated the overall quality of service as good. Based on the findings, recommendations were made to address problems presented to improve service quality provided after-hours at UKZN library.