A meta-analysis of service quality of Iranian university libraries based on the LibQUAL model

A systematic review of library service quality studies: Models, dimensions, research populations and methods

The study systematically reviews the studies based on a search of published articles from 2010 to 2021 on library service quality with the aim of determining which models of service quality are the most commonly used by librarians as a means of measuring service quality. In addition, the paper makes an effort to determine the variety of dimensions by which these qualitative evaluations were carried out, the types of libraries that have reported such qualitative studies, and the data collection strategies (research population, sample size and data collection instruments) adopted by the authors. The findings indicate that the SERVQUAL and LibQual models are the most frequently adopted models. The empathy, reliability, tangible, assurance, responsiveness, effect of library, information control and library as place are the prominent dimensions. The researchers rely heavily on questionnaire-based survey research methods with sample sizes of less than 100 respondents, mostly reported in academic libraries.

Service Quality of and User Satisfaction with Non-State-Owned Academic Libraries in China: Integrating the Fuzzy Delphi Method with the Kano Approach

Libraries are digitizing, and challenges are posed by digital technologies for institutions of higher education in China. This study aims to present the dimensionality of perceived service quality, its effect on customer satisfaction, and the case of a non-state-owned library’s academic service quality. A sample consisting of valid 453 respondents used online recruitment to retrieve answers to questionnaires. Ten experts were invited to review the questionnaire for content validity and question clarity. In this study, the Fuzzy Delphi method was used to establish questionnaire indices and the attributes of library academic service quality elements made available by the Kano model. Three dimensions, including emotional service, physical environment, and information control, which are correlated under the attribute classification of the Kano model, indicate support for the validity of using integrated models in measuring library service quality. The results, according to the improvements in the customer satisfaction matrix, provide nine elements to improve the quality of service and two major improvements to enhance the perception of service quality. In addition, users pay less attention to the use of academic resources and academic ethics, but these factors do not affect the quality of service.

Unveiling the research pattern and trends in library service quality studies: A meta-narrative review

‘Service Quality’ and its influence in Library and Information Science discipline are spectacular when studied intensively. In this study, researchers adopted the Realist and Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses: Evolving Standards review method and introduced a novel Initialization, Conceptualization, Actualisation) (ICA) framework for meta-narrative studies. This method would act as a boon particularly to the existing methods of conducting meta-narrative studies in social sciences in general and library sciences in particular. A total of 49 research articles were selected from Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases, covering a span of 5 years, that is, 2015–2019, published in the domain of library service quality. An extensive in-depth analysis of selected publications was carried out under seven categories (i.e. library, library services, quality, ServQUAL, LibQUAL+, user satisfaction and users’ expectations), which were generated using the VOS-Viewer software and ‘Review Tags’ (manually generated using OneNote). The seven categories further identify a total of 27 sub-categories. The quantitative findings revealed that all the 49 reviewed publications were published in 27 journals. All the journals have been indexed in the Scopus database, whereas 15 journals containing the remaining 22 publications are indexed in both WoS and Scopus databases. This study unfolds a transverse trend in library service quality. It would be beneficial for the library managers to sustain libraries’ service quality and set a benchmark in the said field.