STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION AND QUALITY IN LIBRARY SERVICES – A CASE STUDY

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perception of the student users of Library in a private academic institution in the United Arab Emirates, Middle East. A questionnaire with a 5-point Likert-Type scale was used to obtain feedback from students (users) about the library services. All the students who visited the library during the two week- data collection period were requested to partake in the survey. A total of 109 students from different study programs provided the requested data. The questionnaire generated data on several different aspects of the library service. Data analysis was done using percentage and frequency counts. Mean, standard deviation, factor grouping and ANOVA were also applied using SPSS. The results of the study revealed that the respondents were highly satisfied with the library services (mean score of 4.0), followed by the library facilities (mean score of 3.9). The aim of this study is to encourage the library professionals to be involved in user satisfaction surveys, improvement processes, and to focus on delivering quality service to merit the trademark of a quality library.The concept of service quality assessment of a small private university using this methodology can be used as a guide for other academic libraries that are interested in offering quality services.