Assessing Service Quality : Satisfying the Expectations of Library Customers

Contents: Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. Understanding ends and means. 2. A look in the library mirror. 3. Your mission, should you choose to accept it. 4. Measuring and assessing the components of service quality. 5. What can go wrong with numbers. 6. Compliment and complaint management. 7. Listening to customers through surveys. 8. Listening to customers through focus group interviews. 9. Customer-related indicators and requirements. 10. Satisfaction and service quality: separate but intertwined. 11. Interpreting findings to improve customer service. 12. Embracing change--continuous improvement. Bibliography. Index.

"Providing quality service is a key objective for public and academic libraries everywhere. To be truly successful it is critical to know 'how' or 'if' the library and its staff provide quality service to customers. However, service quality is difficult to assess when compared to quantitative output measures such as circulation and internet use. Until now, librarians have lacked valid library-specific standards or tools to measure the quality of library services, or outcomes.

To the rescue comes this authoritative and practical guide to measuring library services, Assessing Service Quality: Satisfying the Expectations of Library Customers.

Assessing Service Quality puts customers at the center of the evaluation process. It provides cutting-edge measurement strategies and data collection methods to measure service quality in academic and public libraries.

The authors examine service quality standards and explain how services can be quantitatively and qualitatively assessed. Librarians can select the service factors and customers expectations they want to assess. Practical assessment tools provide the keys to measure service quality and identify strengths and weaknesses to narrow the gap between business-as-usual service delivery and customer expectations. Among the topics:

• Implementing a complaint tracking system.
• Listening to customers through surveys and focus groups.
• Planning for continuous service quality improvement.

Numerous tracking forms and measurement tools can be adapted to specific library situations. Samples from academic and public libraries are included, along with a bibliography." (jacket)