Perceptions of Library Services by Gender – a Study in Bangladesh

Abstract

This is the first effort made to assess the service quality of a university library in Bangladesh from the perception of its users. This study assessed the level of service adequacy of the Independent University, Bangladesh Library (IUBL), along with the perceived differences in service quality by user group gender. A survey was conducted among the library users, especially faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. A modified version of the SERVQUAL questionnaire was used for data collection. Mean values for measures of services like minimum, expected, perceived, adequate and superior service were calculated. Mann-Whitney tests were conducted from the gap score of gender groups to see the statistical significance of differences. This has revealed that IUBL meets the minimum expectation of services in all aspects in that users thought that these services were adequate. Finally it has also been shown that there were significant differences in the rating of services by gender; on the whole, females were much more satisfied than the male users.

Effects of service quality on satisfaction in Eastern University Library, Bangladesh

“…Ahmed and Shoeb (2009) similarly focused on 30 statements in these seven dimensions using a sevenpoint Likert scale to measure service quality in the central library of the University of Dhaka. Different researchers (Alam, 2017b;Hossain, 2016;Hossain andAhmed, 2013, 2014;Hossain and Islam, 2012;Karim, 2018;Shoeb, 2010Shoeb, , 2011 have used the five modified SERVQUAL dimensions -that is, resources, responsiveness, competence, demeanour and tangibles -of Andaleeb and Simmonds (1998) in several empirical studies conducted in different university libraries in Bangladesh. Most of the studies in Bangladesh (Alam, 2017b;Hossain, 2016;Hossain andAhmed, 2013, 2014;Hossain and Islam, 2012;Karim, 2018;Shoeb, 2010Shoeb, , 2011 asked the respondents to appraise each statement of the SERVQUAL questionnaire from '1: lowest' to '7: highest' on a seven-point scale.…”

“…Based on the available literature, studies have been undertaken using SERVQUAL in Bangladeshi university libraries on individual differences in service quality (Shoeb and Ahmed, 2009); measuring service quality (Ahmed and Shoeb, 2009); gender perceptions of library service quality (Shoeb, 2010); identifying service superiority, underlying dimensions and tolerance zones (Shoeb, 2011); perceived service quality and user satisfaction (Hossain and Islam, 2012); developing a service performance assessment system for academic libraries (Hossain and Ahmed, 2013); developing and validating a service quality assessment scale to investigate service expectations (Hossain and Ahmed, 2014); identifying the major dimensions to evaluate service quality and user satisfaction (Hossain, 2016); assessing the perceived service quality of Eastern University Library (Alam, 2017b); and measuring the performance of 17 residential hall libraries at the University of Dhaka (Karim, 2018). However, very few efforts have been made to assess the effects of service quality on user satisfaction in university libraries in Bangladesh.…”

Service quality assessment model for academic libraries

“…They adequately covered the entire services of the university library due to the inclusion of additional two dimensions “collections and access” and “library as place” with the SERVQUAL dimensions of Parasuraman et al (1988). Different authors (Ahmed and Shoeb, 2009; Shoeb, 2010, 2011) similarly focused on the seven dimensions, i.e. collections and access, assurance, reliability, empathy, library as place, responsiveness and tangibles of Shoeb and Ahmed (2009) to measure the service quality in various university libraries of Bangladesh.…”

“…The modified SERVQUAL dimensions of Andaleeb and Simmonds are “resources, competence, responsiveness, demeanor, and tangibles”. Various researchers (Hossain, 2016; Hossain and Ahmed, 2014, 2013; Hossain and Islam, 2012; Shoeb, 2010, 2011) used the five modified SERVQUAL dimensions, i.e. resource, competence, demeanor, responsiveness and tangibles of Andaleeb and Simmonds (1998) in several empirical studies undertaken in different university libraries of Bangladesh.…”

“…minimum expectation, desired expectation and perceived service quality of Parasuraman et al (1994) to measure the service quality in different academic libraries. Most of the studies asked respondents to appraise each statement of the SERVQUAL questionnaire from 1 “lowest” to 7 “highest” considering a seven-point scale (Ahmed and Shoeb, 2009; Hossain, 2016; Hossain and Ahmed, 2014, 2013; Hossain and Islam, 2012; Shoeb, 2010, 2011; Shoeb and Ahmed, 2009).…”