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Macau Periodical Index (澳門期刊論文索引)
- Author
- Alhakimi, Wail; Khalifah, Zainab
- Title
- Measuring the quality of the reference services in academic libraries: a malaysian perspective
- Journal Name
- Euro Asia Journal of Management
- Pub. Info
- Jun. 2008, Vol.18, No.1, pp. 63-76
- Abstract
- Abstract : Nowadays, customer satisfaction and customer focus are critical to the competitiveness of organizations. Therefore any organization interested in delivering a perfect quality world, services expectations must begin with a clear understanding of its customers. In a perfect world, expectations and perceptions for customers would be identical practice, these indicators are often separated by some distances. A modified SERVQUAL instrument was used in this study to measure the quality of the reference services provided by a Malaysian academic library. To assess the gap between the expectations and perceptions of the five dimensions of service quality, a questionnaire was developed, validated, and distributed through face-to-face survey with 105 international students. Reliability and validity of the survey questionnaire were confirmed and proved to be high. The findings reflect a statistically significant gap between the international students' expectations and perceptions of the reference services. Reliability dimension was identified as the most important in evaluating reference services and responsiveness was the least important dimension. This paper concludes by discussing the difficulties facing the international students and implications for the service provider.