Research study of library users to determine satisfaction levels with the services and facilities provided by North Shore Libraries

Abstract

The research study addresses the knowledge gap that exists regarding library user satisfaction with services and facilities provided by the North Shore Libraries. The research was carried out over a seven day period in June 1997 in the form of a self-administered survey of 384 North Shore Libraries' users. The overall results revealed that across the six libraries, user satisfaction with services and facilities was very high; 98.3% of users were either 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied'. This was consistently reflected across the six individual libraries. At each library, satisfaction levels with individual services and facilities was generally high. The chi-square test for statistically significant differences between the individual libraries did not reveal any significant differences between the libraries and satisfaction levels with the individual collections and facilities. Statistically significant differences were found between the reasons why people use individual libraries and the convenience of library hours. Satisfaction levels between male and female respondents appeared to have no statistically significant difference, but statistically significant differences were recorded between the different age groups of users at a 95% level of significance. The different occupations of library users did not reveal any statistically significant differences with satisfaction levels. The main conclusions from these results are that the libraries seem to be providing consistent levels of customer service resulting in the consistently high levels of customer satisfaction. Males and females both are generally satisfied across the libraries with overall services and facilities.