Essay - How to Use Libqual+ to Assess the Performance of Library...

How to use LibQUAL+ ***** assess the performance of library services

M O R A N D U M

F*****OM:

S*****BJ: How to Use *****+ to Assess the Performance of Library Services

Introduction

***** report is to provide you with the background and an overview ***** LibQUAL+, how it can be used to assess the ***** of ***** services, and what the experts have said concerning its advantages and d**********. A summary of the research ***** LibQUAL+ will be ********** in ***** concluding section, together with appropriate recommendations for its potential at this library.

Review and Discussion.

Background ***** Overview. Public libraries are now widely recognized as being an indispensable part of community life as promoters ***** literacy, providers of a wide range of reading for all ages, and centers for community information services. *****ever, there is an increasing need today for ***** to achieve outcome-based assessment, rather then relying merely on input, output, or resource metrics; pressure for this shift in focus has come from funding authorities as well as users themselves (What is LibQUAL+? 2004).

Outcome measures have the potential for demonstrating how ***** ***** organization provides services to ***** *****, and can gauge an institution's efficiency and effectiveness from the perspective ***** those who actually use these services. According to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), *****+ is one of several ***** assessment efforts begun under their "*****ew Measures Initiative." The LibQUAL+ survey was based on a conceptual model provided by the SERVQUAL instrument, which is a popular tool for assessing service quality in the private sector (***** is LibQUAL+? 2004), although it ***** received some cr*****icism (Jun & Yang 2002).

***** questionnaire ***** in the ***** model is adm*****istered to cus*****mers, managers, ***** first-line service employees; the existence of gaps then becomes readily apparent when the ***** results are compared (Bounds ***** Stahl 1991). The SERVQUAL model was selected as the departure point for future development in me*****uring library service quality because it had earned a reput*****tion ***** the statistical integrity of its ***** over its 12-year history and ***** had already been significant experience ***** the tool in academic research libraries (Syed & Simmonds, 1998). Whereas other researchers in the area ***** service quality have focused their qualitative inquiries upon the providers of *****, ***** LibQUAL+ investigators followed the guidance provided by Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Berry (1990), that "only customers judge quality; all ***** judgments are essenti*****y irrelevant" (16). ***** to ***** LibQUAL+ website, the goals ***** *****+(TM) are to:

***** a culture of excellence in providing library service

Help libraries better understand user perceptions of library service quality

Collect and interpret ***** user feedback systematically over time

***** libraries with comparable ***** information ***** peer institutions

Identify best practices in library service

Enhance library staff members' analytical skills for ********** ***** acting on data (Welcome to LibQUAL+ *****).

According to Jun and Yang (*****), the perception of the ***** of ***** can be defined as "a glob*****l judgment or attitude relating ***** the superiority