Abstract:
Abstract
Service quality measuring tools and methods should be revisited to address the changing
environments. Although there are criticisms, LibQUAL+ is a well-tested tool for validity and
reliability in different continents and is suitable for the Sri Lankan university library context
too. To measure the service quality in university libraries, LibQUAL survey items were
selected and tested for their applicability using the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA)
matrix with a randomly selected sample of 1,791 respondents. The sample consisted of 2,000
users including teachers and undergraduates selected from eight state universities in Sri Lanka.
Results indicated that there was a significant gap between users’ expected quality and perceived
quality (t (1,790) = 43.053, p<0 001). The IPA results showed that 13 service quality attributes
related to ‘Library as Place’ and “Service Affect’ dimensions fell into quadrant II implying that
those attributes are highly important and highly performed (satisfied). Four quality attributes
fell into quadrant III while three attributes to quadrant IV. No variable was fallen into quadrant
I indicating that no item was highly important and low performance. The IPA matrix is very
helpful for librarians to evaluate service quality. Future studies should consider discovering
more quality variables and more robust methods to evaluate service quality in turbulent
environments.
