Inspiring, relevant and on trend : customers' expectations and perceptions of public library services : a gap analysis of service quality

Abstract

Last year's ad campaign portrayed public libraries as being modern, relevant and on trend and an inspiration for all New Zealanders. Since customers were not going to be asked what they think about the "inspiring, relevant and on trend" services provided by New Zealand public libraries, this research project was initiated. Firstly, the library managers themselves were asked to define "inspiring, relevant and on trend" public library services and to give examples of such services by answering six open-ended questions. Then these responses were used to formulate 19 action statements relating to "inspired, relevant and on trend" public library services and a survey instrument was developed and administered to customers at a particular library. The customers were asked to rank their expectations (of an ideal library) and perceptions (of that particular library) using a Likert-type scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The resulting averages were used to calculate the gaps between expectations and perceptions for each statement and therefore find out whether the respondents expectations were being met or not and what they thought of the service quality at that library. But service quality also depends on which expectations a library is willing and able to meet, based on its mission, objectives and goals. The survey was developed for this research project and independently tested at a particular library, without input from that library, so no direct recommendations were made and the results cannot be generalized. If other public libraries should use this survey to find out more about their own customers' expectations and perceptions, the survey could be modified to include those services that are of importance to them.