[IEEE 2010 International Conference on Science and Social Research (CSSR) - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

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SERVICE QUALITY PERFORMANCE IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

Junaida Ismail/Mahadir Ladisma@Awis/ Sharunizam Shari

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/ FSPPP & FPM UiTM Kedah

junaidaismail@kedah.uitm.edu.my mahadirladisma@kedah.uitm.edu.my

nizam057@kedah.uitm.edu.my

Abstract – This study scrutinizes service quality in

academic libraries in the Northern Region of

Malaysia. By studying their implementation of

quality service, it is hoped that this paper may give a

useful insight to the academic libraries and other

related bodies on the extent of the quality service

provided to the users. It could also be useful as a

guideline to develop an appropriate model of quality

service in academic libraries. The main objective of

this study is to examine the users’ acceptance of the

service quality implementation in academic libraries.

This study adopted a modified SERVQUAL model by

Parasuraman [1988]. Five determinants of service

quality were identified, which are Library as a Place,

Access, Collection, Realibility and Empathy. The

Stratified Random Sampling was used to choose the

sample of this study. With an estimation of 36,000

users of academic libraries at all five public

universities in Northern Regions, at least 379

respondents are needed to ensure a well

representative of the population [Sekaran, 2003].

Results from Pearson’s Correlation Matrix suggested

that all null hypotheses should be rejected, thus,

confirmed that all six dimensions of service quality in

this study significantly explained the customers’

satisfaction level.

Keywords: Service Quality, Academic Library, Universiti Utara Malaysia [UUM], Universiti Malaysia Perlis [UniMAP], Universiti Teknologi MARA [UiTM] Kedah, UiTM Perlis and UiTM Pulau Pinang

I. INTRODUCTION

Acting as the heart of the learning society, academic libraries not only provide knowledge depository for the university, but also capture, organize and disseminate information for the

university’s community to conduct research. Thus, academic libraries play a vital role in ensuring the survival and growth of each university.

Realizing the very importance of academic library to a university at northern region Malaysia, it is crucial to scrutinize the service quality implementation in its respective academic library. Therefore, this study will particularly examine the influence of five dimensions on the service quality implementation in academic libraries at Northern Region in Malaysia.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Parasuraman et.al [1988] suggested several alternatives to view and measure the quality of academic library services. They have identified five determinants or dimensions of services which are very important to users:

• Reliability; the ability to perform the promised service both dependably and accurately.

• Responsiveness; the willingness to help customers and to provide prompt service

• Assurance; the knowledge and courtesy of employee as well as their ability to convey trust and confidence

• Empathy; the provision of caring, individualized attention to customers

• Tangibles; the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials [Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 2000]

Meanwhile, Cook and Health [2001], suggested that library can be measured using the several dimensions, which are i] affect of

2010 International Conference on Science and Social Research (CSSR 2010), December 5 - 7, 2010, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

978-1-4244-8986-2/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 867

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service [empathy, responsiveness and assurance], ii] ease of access [formats, timely access to resources, and physical location], iii] self-reliance, iv] reliability, v] comprehensive collections and vi] library as place [utilitarian space and symbol of the intellect]. Furthermore, Ahmed & Shoeb [2009], modified the SERVQUAL instrument that can be used in measuring the university libraries into seven dimensions which are:

• assurance

• collections and access;

• empathy;

• library as a place;

• reliability;

• responsiveness, and

• tangibles

Herbert [1994] emphasized that when library and customer measures of quality are incompatible; the library may be meeting its internal standards of performance but may not be performing well in the eyes of its customers. In general, an academic library performance is evaluated from the annual report statistics presented to the university administration. The report normally focuses on the number of collections, the number of staff and the number of users [Junaida et.al, 2009].

In Malaysia, service quality is not a new concept for the service industries. As a result most of the academic libraries in Malaysia are implementing quality management, TQM and ISO 9000, [Yaacob, 2000]. These implementation are purposely taken for developing the standard of services and to satisfy the demand of users.

III. METHODOLOGY

Five service quality dimensions have been identified in this study, i.e. i] Library as a place, ii] Collection, iii] Access, iv] Reliability, and v]

Empathy. The objective of this study is two-fold: 1] to identify whether each of the dimension influences academic library users’ satisfaction, 2] if such influence do exist, what is the direction.

Adopting a hypothetico-deductive method, this study utilized administrated questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. The questionnaire consists of seven sections, i.e. i] Demographic, 2] Library as a place, 3] Collection, 4] Access, 5] Reliability, 6] Empathy and 7] User satisfaction. Stratified random sampling was employed in determining the number of users needed from each academic library.

A. Data Collections

Questionnaires were administrated to the users of academic library in UiTM Kedah, UiTM Perlis, UiTM Pulau Pinang, UUM and UniMAP. As shown in Table 1, the student sample breaks down as UiTM Kedah 61 [15.2 percent], UiTM Perlis 70 [17.5 percent], UiTM Pulau Pinang 76 [19 percent], Universiti Utara Malaysia 172 [42.9 percent] and UniMAP 22 [5.5 percent], thus the total number of sample is 401.

B. Data Analysis

Morgan, G.A. dan Leech, N.L., dan Barret, K.C. [2005], defined data analysis as a process of classification, summarizing, organized and manipulated data that has been received from respondents. Hence, data analysis involves in this study only emphasized on the Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha, Descriptive Analysis and Correlations Analysis [to study the relationship of each dimension of service quality with users’ satisfaction].

IV. RESULTS

A. Cronbach Coefficient Alpha [Pre-test of Questionnaire]

To test the reliability and whether respondents can fully understand the content of the

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questionnaire, a pre test was performed with 100 questionnaires issued. Realibilty analysis of questionnaire showed high internal consistency and reliability for both dependent variable and independent variables. As shown in Table 2, the Cronbach coeffiecient values being 0.887 for dependent variable and value for each independent variable are: [0.762 for library as a place; 0.878 for collections; 0.830 for access; 0.867 for reliability and 0.923 for empathy].

B. Descriptive Analysis

A total of 401 questionnaires were administrated to students of five selected University in Northern Regions. As shown in Table 3, of the 401 respondents, 153 are male students and 248 are female students. Illustrated in Table 4, the age of the 401 respondents, were: a] <22 years, 285 [71.1 percent); b] 21-25 years, 115 [28.7 percent], and c] 26- 30 years, 1 [0.2 percent]. The disciplines of the respondents, as shown in Table 5 were: a] Humanities, 69 [17.2 percent]; b] Science, 57 [14.2]; Social Science 163 [40.6 percent]; education, 3 [0.7], and Engineering and Technologies 109 [27.2 percent].

The race of the respondents [Table 6] were: Malay 309 [77.1 percent]; Chinese 74 [18.5 percent; Indian 10 [2.5 percent], and others 8 [2.0 percent]. Table 7 showed the regularity of library visit of the respondents. Only 32 [8.0 percent] visit the library very often and 118 [29.4 percent] visit the library often. This make up 37.4 percent of the respondent go to the library regularly. The remaining 62 percent do not go as often with in Sometimes category has 209 [52.1 percent], Rarely has 36 [9 percent] and Never has 6 [1.5 percent].

C. Correlation analysis

To test whether all the five dimensions of services quality in academic library attributed to the satisfaction of users, Pearson’s correlation analyses were conducted and the

result shown in Table 8. The highest score for the test is the Reliability dimension, with r=0.717, p< 0.05 [p=0.000], followed by Collection dimension, with r=0.709, p< 0.05 [p=0.000], Access dimension, with r=0.679, p< 0.05 (p=0.000), Empathy dimension, with r=0.653, p< 0.05 [p=0.000], and the lowest value of correlations is the Library as a Place dimension, with r=0.500, p< 0.05 [p=0.000]. These suggested that all the null hypotheses were rejected. Thus, this study concludes that each of the service quality dimension provided by the academic libraries in Northern region of Malaysia is positively related to users’ satisfaction.

This study found that the two most influential dimensions of service quality in academic library are the Reliability dimension and the Collection dimension. This finding agree with Ashok Kumar Sahu [2007], who stated that there are many aspects of library operations where unreliable service can be viewed as barrier to self reliant behavior. Reliability dimension defined as the ability to perform a promised service dependably and accurately [Parasuraman et al., 1985]. Meanwhile collection can be defined as a number and varies of resources [book, journal, etc] in a particular library. This is in line with Satoh et.al [2005]. They conducted a research based on the focus group interviews at England and Finland universities, and found that the university library services should consist of four dimensions: i] personal, which relates to the attitude of library staff to customers, ii] library as a place, iii] collections and access, and iv] effect of services, which is concerned with service planned and offered by the library as an organizations.

V. CONCLUSIONS

The general conclusions derived from this study are: 1] all the five dimensions of service quality for academic library, which are Library as a Place, Access, Collection, Reliability, and

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Empathy, have positive relationship with users’ satisfaction, 2] the result of correlation showed that there is a significantly strong relationship between reliability dimensions with service quality performance, and finally 3] a focus on reliability dimension can significantly increase users’ satisfaction. These findings could be useful to academic library to improve the service quality performance and to perform services right the first and all time.

References

[1] Ahmed, S.M.Z., and Shoeb, M.Z.H. (2009), “Measuring service quality of a public university library in Bangladesh using SERVQUAL”, Performance Measurement and Metrics, Vol.10, No. 1, pp. 17-32.

[2] Ashok Kumar Sahu (2007). “Measuring service quality in an academic library: an Indian case study”. Library Review. Vol 56 No.3, pp. 234-243

[3] Cook, C. and Health, F. (2001). “Users’ Perceptions of library service quality: LibQUAL + quality study”, Library Trends, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 54-584

[4] Fitzsimmons, J.A. and Fitzsimmons, M.J. (2000). Service Management: Operations, Strategy and Information Technology,3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, Boston, MA, pp.43-67

[5] Herbert, F. (1994). “Service quality: an unobtrusive investigation of interlibrary loan in large public libraries in Canada”, Library & Information Science Research, Vol. 16. No. 1, pp. 3-21

[6] Junaida, I,; Mahadir, L,; Sharunizam, S, Siti Hajjar M,; & Kamarunzama J, (2009). “Influence of Reliability Dimension on Service Quality Performance in Northern Region Malaysia University Academic Library”. Journal of Canadian Social

Science, Vol.5, No.4, 113-119 [7] Kaur Kiran (2010), “Service Quality and

Customer Satisfaction in academic libraries: Perspective from Malaysian University”. Library Review Vol. 59, No. 4, 2010, pp 261-273

[8] Morgan, G.A. and Leech, N.L., and Barret, K.C. (2005). SPSS For Intermediate Statistics: Use and Interpretations. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

[9] Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A. and Berry, L.L. (1988). “SERVQUAL: a multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64 No. 1, pp. 12-40

[9] Parasuraman, A.; Ziethmal, V.A.; and Berry, L.L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing, Vol.49 No.4, pp.41-50.

[10] Satoh, Y., Nagata, H., Kytomaki, P. and Gerrad, S. (2005),” Evalutions of the university library service quality: analysis through focus group interview”, Performance Measurement and Metrics, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 183-93.

[11] Yaacob, H. (2000)., ’Follow-up dan follow –through ke atas perlaksanaan pekeliling’ (Follow-up and follow through on the implementation of circulars), Khidmat, p.31.

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TABLE 1: SAMPLE OF STUDENTS AT NORTHERN

REGION UNIVERSITY

University Frequency Percentage

UUM 172 42.9

UiTM Perlis 70 17.5

UiTM Pulau Pinang 76 19.0

UiTM Kedah 61 15.2

UniMAP 22 5.5

Total 401 100.0

TABLE 2 : RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF

QUESTIONNAIRE

Dimension CronbachAlpha

(α)

Percentage

Library as a Place 0.762 8

Collections 0.878 9

Access 0.830 8

Reliability 0.867 8

Empathy 0.923 8

Services Quality 0.887 8

TABLE 3 : GENDER

Gender Frequency Percentage

Male 153 38.2

Female 248 61.8

Total 401 100.0

TABLE 4 : AGE

Age Frequency Percentage

< 20 year 285 71.1

21 – 25 year 115 28.7

26 - 30 year 1 .2

Total 401 100.0

TABLE 5 : SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Discipline Frequency Percentage

Humanities 69 17.2

Science 57 14.2

Social Science 163 40.6

Education 3 .7

Engineering & technologies 109 27.2

Total 401 100.0

TABLE 6 : RACE

Race Frequency Percentage

Malay 309 77.1

Chinese 74 18.5

Indian 10 2.5

Others 8 2.0

Total 401 100.0

TABLE 7 : LIBRARY VISIT

Visit Frequency Percentage

Very Often 32 8.0

Often 118 29.4

Sometimes 209 52.1

Rarely 36 9.0

Never 6 1.5

Total 401 100.0

TABLE 8 : CORRELATION ANALYSIS

Dimension CronbachAlpha (α) Percentage

Place

Pearson Correlations .500(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 401

Collections Pearson Correlations .709(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 401

Access

Pearson Correlations .679(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 401

Reliability

Pearson Correlations .717(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 401

Empathy Pearson Correlations .653(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 401

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

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