This paper examines the King Fahad National Library in Riyadh in the context of declining library usage, the rise of electronic media, and the ongoing debate between communal and social library functions. It explores the library's architectural renovation, including the addition of a modern wing, and evaluates research-driven strategies for improving customer satisfaction, measuring service quality gaps, and revitalizing library relevance. Drawing on scholars such as Wisner, Carlson, Demas, Freeman, Fister, and Hernon and Altman, the paper proposes a marketing-oriented approach to library management, addresses null hypotheses related to user expectations versus perceived quality, and reviews literature on information commons, gate counts, and physical redesign initiatives.
The rise of electronic media among the general public has become a primary driver behind the decline in the use of printed materials and academic resources. Each of these developments, combined with data showing decreasing student visits to libraries, has fueled numerous calls for the complete abolishment of the traditional library structure. Some researchers have aggressively advocated incorporating "social" spaces — such as cafes, museums, and theaters — creating mutual group study areas and "information commons," while others have simply abandoned the idea of preserving the traditional library altogether. The varied reactions to the challenges facing the King Fahad National Library have reinforced the idea that libraries serve a far greater purpose than merely functioning as storerooms for printed materials and texts (Carlson, 2001).
For example, while critics suggest that libraries are no more than book storage facilities, patrons' growing reliance on electronic media — which can supply information at any time and in any place — does indeed signal the end of the King Fahad National Library as it currently exists, unless it undergoes meaningful remodeling. However, libraries have never been merely book storage facilities. Traditionally, people used libraries not just for the intellectual material available there but also for the environment that accompanied those materials. The increased popularity of electronic media may suggest that individuals no longer need to visit libraries for information. Yet there are still individuals who visit libraries regularly (Wisner, 2001). They come primarily to enjoy the studious environment — watching others and being watched by others, quietly engaged in the same serious scholarly activities (Wisner, 2001).
The fact of the matter is that most communal libraries and social libraries are not similar in framework or structure. The social library model envisions a collaborative library where students and teachers can contribute and interact in order to generate new ideas. Spaces and designs may be created to facilitate discussion and mutual work by incorporating social activities and services such as coffee shops, galleries, group study facilities, and information portals, as mentioned above. The central issue with the social model, however, is that it ignores the fundamental characteristic of the King Fahad National Library: the communal nature of silence and serious study. Communal function is considered a private activity that is primarily studious, meditative, and silent. Social function, by contrast, is designed for group activities and is the complete opposite: it is not necessarily studious, not necessarily meditative, and by no means silent (Wisner, 2001).
Dismissing the social function entirely from the King Fahad National Library would be a mistake, however, because it has proven capable of improving the overall range of opportunities, services, and facilities needed to draw students and teachers back to libraries and away from the electronic world. To a certain degree, the promotion of services and facilities supplied through social activities does weaken communal activities. Moreover, the value added by social activities is not entirely clear, whether viewed from the broader perspective of supporting university research or the narrower perspective of increasing library usage (Wisner, 2001).
Many observers have declared that the King Fahad National Library has been rendered obsolete because of these trends. William Wisner argued that the goals of traditional libraries must be reconsidered, or their dynamics will most likely disappear in the coming century. If e-books become the dominant medium for reading, it will finalize that outcome for traditional libraries. Others believe that revitalizing and reforming the King Fahad National Library with various services and facilities can sustain it in some form. One reason for this transformation has been the rising trend toward higher education. Sociologists contend that knowledge cannot be manufactured by researchers working privately in libraries; rather, it is a social process. Knowledge is considered a socially constructed phenomenon. The traditional model of professors delivering lectures to students, alongside students working individually on research projects, clashes with the concept that knowledge is socially built. Professors and students alike acknowledge learning as a mutual process. These evolving ideas have led professors to place less reliance on examination results alone, increasingly assigning more group projects. These group projects actually demonstrate the process of knowledge creation, as students are given opportunities to exchange ideas collectively (Wisner, 2001).
In this study, the focus is primarily on the King Fahad National Library and how it needs to be revitalized beyond the traditional library structure in order to draw more attention to the overall importance of reading and to foster personal and communal growth. To achieve this, a new marketing approach will be needed whereby readers are drawn back into the library and employees are trained to treat customers with the respect they deserve — because libraries will likely decline without these customers.
Gone are the days when public sector employees in Saudi Arabia could rely on natural deference from their customers. The library, as a public sector organization, no longer has the privilege of simply arranging its products or services and waiting for customers to arrive on their own. This is the age of marketing, the age of customer satisfaction. Whether in manufacturing, services, or any other field, the right marketing approach is essential to satisfying those who pay for a product or service. The concept of complete customer satisfaction is not limited to the type of product — it has also entered the domain of how that product is delivered. This is precisely where the King Fahad National Library must reposition itself.
In today's customer-centric environment, libraries with a wealth of books — including rare titles unavailable elsewhere or the very latest publications — cannot fully satisfy customers on that basis alone. They also need marketing and customer satisfaction strategies to ensure that customers are aware of, understand, and appreciate their services. For instance, St. Clair (1993) examines how organizations can better serve their customers in the information age, explaining the basic principle of putting yourself in the customer's shoes. In order to improve customer perceptions, management must view itself from the customer's perspective. They must understand what customers genuinely expect, what they actually receive, and what they do not value. Viewing libraries as businesses — even if non-profit or not-for-profit — allows us to apply basic business research methods to determine what customers want. Three of the most commonly used methods are:
1. Conducting customer surveys;
2. Performing a needs analysis; and
3. Conducting an information audit (St. Clair, 1993).
Conducting customer surveys involves developing questionnaires about customers' perceptions of library services and having those questionnaires completed by customers. Performing a needs analysis involves interviewing customers directly or through focus groups, which take a slightly more formal approach and require greater customer effort to provide feedback. Specifically, focus groups are small groups that participate in deliberations about service quality issues, guided by a moderator. At an even more complex level, information audits are conducted, entailing intricate procedures for analyzing information sources and services in order to improve information flow and create more transparent channels between customers and management (St. Clair, 1993). A Customer Service Plan capturing goals and standards for customer service is also recommended by a number of researchers. However, the plan alone will not be sufficient unless it is followed up with surveys, focus groups, and continuous monitoring of consumer behavior and satisfaction.
Distinct and highly practical suggestions are offered by Hernon and Altman (1996) in their study of service quality in academic libraries. They advocate employing technology to accurately capture customer behavior and then use that data to improve service. Some of their technological and technical suggestions include placing video cameras to collect data, monitor live customer behavior, and obtain instant access to customer responses to various stimuli. The authors also provide a comprehensive checklist for reviewing such video data. The Service Quality Checklist and the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) are two particularly effective and advanced tools recommended for service enhancement (Hernon and Altman, 1996).
Studies have shown that while the Service Quality Checklist evaluates the quality of service provided by employees across various scales and criteria, the OPAC carefully analyzes customer transaction data to understand why and how customer searches succeeded or failed. At a more basic level, suggestion boxes should be placed in libraries for customers who have complaints or suggestions. However, suggestion boxes have become a cliché, and many customers doubt whether their input will actually be read. To counter this, a quick-response system should be put in place so that suggestion boxes retain their utility.
The depth and practicality of Hernon and Altman's work makes it one of the most useful contributions to improving service quality in libraries. As noted earlier, libraries must be treated like business organizations if they are to improve customer satisfaction and meet user expectations. Just as in business, leadership makes or breaks an organization. It must be the management that carries out research, analyzes results, and redistributes the roles and responsibilities of library staff (Hernon and Altman, 1996). The concept of "benchmarking" means that a library should compare its current performance with that of the previous year — in effect, measuring the time efficiency of a task, which is a major variable in meeting customer expectations. Multiple task-oriented processes and response times should be examined to determine whether they can be further improved.
Miscommunication, misunderstandings, and mistakes are the surest recipe for organizational disaster. When library staff misunderstands customer needs, miscommunicates those needs to management, and makes mistakes in implementing corrective action, the consequences are predictable. Numerous researchers analyzing customer expectations of library services refer to this phenomenon as a "gap." These authors stress the importance of gap reduction by maintaining a constant focus on customer behavior and expectations. A backfiring approach that many well-intentioned libraries fall into is "overpromising" — raising customer expectations too high and then failing to deliver (Millson-Martula and Menon, 1995; Armitage and Mark, 2001; also see Bagozzi and Lee, 2002).
Business research techniques such as survey questionnaires, focus groups, and information audits are critical at every stage of a customer satisfaction improvement plan. Interviews should be conducted with non-users as well as current users. The concept of the "internal customer" also merits attention. Just as an outside customer is served by front-office staff, front-office staff are served by back-office staff. For front-line staff to improve their service, they must first receive good service from back-office staff. This principle must be embedded throughout the entire organization to improve employee performance and customer service levels. All relevant and effective services should be retained and improved, while negative or unimportant ones should be eliminated.
Ensuring customer satisfaction is a delicate balancing act. If the King Fahad National Library tries to reduce costs by cutting investment in customer service even slightly, it will generate poor rapport that will cost more to rebuild than was saved. Conversely, if customer service levels are set too high, any minor fault will disappoint the customer because expectations will have been raised accordingly. The challenge of elevated consumer expectations has been highlighted by numerous researchers. While these authors emphasize the concept of Total Quality Management (TQM), they also acknowledge the inherent subjectivity of customer expectation and satisfaction data, which makes sound decision-making particularly difficult.
Research into measuring and quantifying consumer satisfaction with service quality is increasingly becoming one of the most recognized and widely adopted marketing strategies. It is a method that incorporates several intellectual disciplines. Consequently, numerous studies on commercial service quality have been commissioned by various service providers (Armitage and Mark, 2001). It is important for these service providers to demonstrate their capability in a corporate environment by surviving and thriving in a highly competitive business context (Armitage and Mark, 2001).
The concept of service quality has many dimensions, each connected to various characteristics. The term does not have a fixed definition and implies different meanings to different individuals (Armitage and Mark, 2001). Defining "quality" is inherently challenging because of its general nature. Although standards for defining the term may exist, those standards shift depending on various factors such as the phenomenon, culture, or time period under consideration.
If the characteristics of an event can be measured, quantified, and monitored, establishing quality standards is not particularly difficult — as illustrated by the example of assessing the quality of gold using carats within controlled processes. The challenge arises when we attempt to measure qualitative characteristics such as brilliance, magnificence, contentment, or enjoyment, since the implied meaning of these attributes varies according to individual perception (Armitage and Mark, 2001). Consequently, research on the theme of service quality may lack consistency when applied across different settings.
1. Can a user's satisfaction with the King Fahad National Library's quality be predicted by comparing their perceptions to their expectations, as suggested by the expectancy disconfirmation paradigm?
2. Which King Fahad National Library services are the highest-priority expectations from the user's viewpoint?
3. Which King Fahad National Library services are the lowest-priority expectations from the user's viewpoint?
4. To what direction and degree does a gap exist between the expectations and perceived performance of faculty, students, and librarians at the King Fahad National Library?
5. To what direction and degree does a gap exist between faculty and King Fahad National librarians?
6. To what direction and degree does a gap exist between students and faculty?
7. To what direction and degree does a gap exist between students and King Fahad National librarians?
Null Hypotheses:
a) There is no significant difference between users' expectations and the perceived quality of "environment, equipment, and physical facilities" at the King Fahad National Library.
b) There is no significant difference between users' expectations and the perceived quality of "public services" at the King Fahad National Library.
c) There is no significant difference between users' expectations and the perceived quality of "non-book materials" at the King Fahad National Library.
d) There is no significant difference between users' expectations and the perceived quality of "staff (librarians and their co-workers)" at the King Fahad National Library.
e) There is no significant difference between users' expectations and the perceived quality of "information literacy and user education" at the King Fahad National Library.
f) There is no significant difference among the total expected and perceived quality of each service category at the King Fahad National Library.
g) The total perceived quality of the surveyed libraries is not more than 50%.
"Consumer psychology rationale and study contributions"
"Gate count decline, technology, and architectural renovation"
"Information commons, social amenities, and redesign models"
The aforementioned facts suggest that students prefer individual study spaces over shared spaces. Despite the growth in awareness of collaborative learning and the increased use of group projects, students still generally prefer not to share their study space. Nonetheless, according to Shill and Tonner, the increase in gate counts was correlated with the quality of consumer workspaces. Several factors align with this finding: the quality of design as it delineates communal and social spaces; the quality of natural illumination; the overall quality of the general atmosphere — which defines an attractive and intellectually stimulating environment; and the number of data ports and quality of telecommunications infrastructure, which supports access to electronic resources in quiet study areas. Taken together, these findings suggest that usage increases are not tied to the overall quantity of seating in a library. The factor most closely associated with increased post-occupancy usage is, instead, the quality of consumer seating and work surfaces. When considered carefully, it becomes apparent that comfortable seating and large, well-lit work tables are the elements that most positively encourage the use of library amenities (Shill and Tonner, 2004).
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