Service quality and customer satisfaction in academic libraries

Academic Library Quality Services

Academic Libraries are held to a higher standard because they are used by so many people for research purposes. They are utilized by college students and business people researching ideas and theories and they are utilized by doctoral students coming up with thesis subjects. Reports or articles written based on things found in an academic library are important and also can be used to find information that could theoretically be considered life or death.

The following is a listing of possible things to check for quality.

Opening times -- ideally libraries should be open twenty-four/seven, but that is not possible, therefore access to library via online services should be available twenty-four/seven.

Online catalog -- should be easy to use. Patrons should be able to find information with an easy search or a more detailed search.

Inter-library loans and document delivery -- checking out a book or a document should be easy and access to reference material and inter-library loan services should be timely, in other words you should not have to wait more than two to three days to receive material.

Reference service -- librarians should be technologically advanced and be able to help the patron find any information that they want to find, without any problems.

Electronic publications, books -- Kindles should be available and accessible, more and more books on CD's; magazines no longer in a rack, but on computer or other electronic source.

User training -- library should offer training in how to utilize the more advanced resources that are available.

On-line catalog

Librarians have voiced complaints about the usability of electronic cataloging since it was first conceived. Originally Amazon was the first electronic method of looking for a book or information in the early 2000s. One cannot discuss electronic online cataloging without discussing Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC), which was first begun in the 60s and is still utilized. It is considered outdated because it is over fifty years old, but because it is so common, it is still utilized. Librarians have come up with other programs to catalog material, but the problem is finding something that can be used by all online catalogs.

Vu-Find is an open-source next generation catalog overlay system that was developed by Villanova University Library and released to the public for beta testing in 2008. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign began offering Vu-Find alongside WebVoyage in 2009. It uses a faceted search discovery interface and focused on limiting searches after the initial search instead of before. Most patrons liked it, although it was not rated as "perfect." One of the problems noted was that when patrons did a search for "Gone With the Wind" for an example, they couldn't tell if the library had the movie on DVD, as it only listed things as video or audio and didn't specify media type. Another thing mentioned was the lack of the star rating system like the one that Amazon uses, which patrons felt would be a plus. One of the things patrons really liked was the ease of use of Vu-Find, they liked the color choices which were easier on the eye than some other systems and overall patrons at this particular library really enjoyed it. The library is continuing to use it as the only on-going cost is that of server maintenance. (Emanuel, 2011)

Reference Librarian

From the first library, probably the librarian was considered a reference librarian. Patrons asked the librarian for help and in academic libraries especially patrons needed face-to-face help with research. The traditional model of reference librarian was the face-to-face interaction between patron and librarian who answered every type of question back in the paper age. The reference librarian, must now be prepared to join the Twitter generation. Patrons now can ask the reference librarian questions via e-mail, texting, cell phone applications, instant messaging, Facebook and Twitter.

One response to technology was the evolution of the Information Common (IC) which is a rearranging of the library to organize computers and other technology in a common area. One of the ideas behind this was that so many students were coming to the library to do group assignments and they congregated around one computer. This way, there are a group of computers in one area, or a WI-Fi section where laptops can be set up and the group can work together utilizing the data from the research section of the library. Some libraries have even set up their IC area with a cafe' and a writing center in the area with reference sections and close to classrooms. This seems to be a wave of the future and in order to get the best use of space for the money output, the reference librarian(s) must be in the planning stages. (Wolfe, Naylor & Drueke 2010)

Electronic publications and books

The obvious changes here are to publications that are currently in magazine or periodical format that will have to be in digital formats, where the library purchases licensing agreements instead of the paper periodical. Music will no longer be on CDs within ten years and will be listened to via internet streaming done legally. Movies, documentaries and other video content will go to video streaming. Manuscripts, historical documents and photographs will benefit from digitizing services. Books will probably not even be published within the next two decades, they will all be in the form of e-books. Of course this will change the way that libraries conduct business within the next two to three decades. People will not so much check out books, videos, or music to read, watch or listen to at home, but will download things at the library and probably utilize it there.