Librarians as service providers need to properly understand the resources and capabilities and how to leverage them to create design new services. This leads to understand users expectations and use library's resources to satisfy them. Many libraries have resources (human, physical etc.) but librarians are not creative enough to leverage them.
It is true that these perceptions may be different. That is why it is very important to get to know the viewpoints of library service users. It seems that the most effective way to do this is through a survey of these users. For example, as I realize it here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320865575_Badanie_satysfakcji_Uzytkownikow_Biblioteki_Politechniki_Slaskiej_w_Gliwicach_Raport_dla_Uzytkownikow
Yes, There is a strong relationship between these two. But knowledge of librarians, description of refereed to librarian is very important to understand more .
Thanks Anna and Mahdi.
Anybody knows of an instrument to measure provider's perception?. In Business sector people use Barney's VRIO model. But it is difficult to adapt in the academic library sector because librarian view VRIO factors differently than other professionals.
So far, I do not know the standard allowing to examine the expectations of library users, but such research has been conducted (unfortunately, independently) in many countries. In Poland, they have also been conducted for some time and the quantitative results obtained are called the global index of satisfaction of library users. The article I provided above is a description of results of such research for the scientific library of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice.
I believe that only surveys and user studies can provide estimation of the user satisfaction degree. I did such a survey at my library years ago, and the results were quite unexpected. The surprise came from the librarians as a category of users of library services, apart from the specific ones such as: students, teaching staff, researchers.
Yes Victoria. You are right. But as you know, it depends on librarians. I mean Their prestige and their knowledge and their insight about users.
As you know some librarians are liberal and some are wary and cautious to give information.
thanks.
I agree with Victoria and Mahdi. In the literature, academic libraries have used SERVQUAL and LibQUAL instruments to measure service quality in user's point of view. But I feel all of them are attitudinal and influenced with personal bias. People have tried to find the dollar value or ROI (Return on Investment) of the library service. Yet it seems still impractical.
Perception of quality should meet from both : service provider and user.
Can you access this article? Anne Liebst & David Feinmark (2016) Tools of Academic Library Assessment: the User Survey, Journal of Library Administration, 56:6, 748-755, DOI: 10.1080/01930826.2016.1199144 If different institutions use the same user assessment tool, you end up with a bigger more homogenous feedback pool.
Also see the King report on LibValue "Methods to Assess the Use, Value, Cost, and ROI of all Academic Library Services" http://libvalue.cci.utk.edu/sites/default/files/DWKing.MethodsToAssess.Use_.Value_.Cost_.ROI__0.pdf is worth looking at, although the focus is mostlye on costs.
Thank Anne.
I have seen them and the second article gives some guidance.
Yes, definitely! there is relationship between librarian's perception of resource/capabilities and user's perception of service quality in academic libraries!!!
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