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Stefan Kubów
Service Quality in the Library of the Lower Silesian Higher School of Education in Wroclaw on the basis of a questionnaire
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The Library of the Lower Silesian Higher School of Education in Wrocław
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This article was translated thanks to the grant received from the Open Society Institute
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The libraries, that is, the staff and managers, do not realize to the end, that they function in competitive conditions - not necessarily with other libraries, although it happens, but also with other similar organizations and activities: book stores which quickly try to develop their services and adapt to their environment, various cultural and entertainment institutions, mass media as well as the Internet and computer games.
If libraries want to broaden the range of their users and or not lose those they have now, a marketing strategy should be undertaken. Its main task is becoming client- oriented, and making efforts to fulfill client needs and expectations. Like every institution working in a service market, the libraries should identify the clients, and provide help before and after buying a product or a service. They should explore the service effects, including first of all, the level of a client satisfaction. Satisfactory care of a client involves not only providing the basic services, but also providing other "value added" services which can augment it. It seems that the latter is determinative in deciding superiority in conditions of competition.[1]
To suit the needs of customers is not only the "raison d `etre " for a firm, but also for a library. It also leads to further benefits - satisfied customers show more loyalty which itself causes higher levels of service, more effective planning, and less uncertainty regarding the results of the additional activities. Customer loyalty helps to gain a competition advantage in an economical and difficult to imitate way, as it can become a base to promote activities. Satisfied customers will inform potential future customers about the firm`s reliability and promote a favorable image. It will also be more probable that the customers will be a source of support in cases when the very existence of the firm is threatened. In the context of a library, such a threat can arise when there are budget cuts or deterioration of the office conditions.[2]
A client - oriented library, is a library where the client is the focus of its activity. Improvement in the orientation to library users is based on improving relations between the library and its users. In this regard, a lot rides on partner marketing; thanks to that, there can be an integration of three elements : quality, client service and marketing.
The connections between quality, customer service and marketing.
Source: A.Payne, Marketing usług. Warszawa 1997, s. 261.
While the concept of marketing is common among the librarians, the term" client" in a library meets with surprise or even objections. But it seems to be justifiable. On the one hand it is the terminology of a marketing service, on the other hand the model of the library user changes. The library, thanks to new technologies improves services through a better understanding of how services are utilized, perceived, and assessed by users.
It is necessary to explain the term "service quality". There are a lot of definitions. The most comprehensive of them was written by P.Hernon and E.Altman. They define high quality services as a realization of certain requirements, understanding the relationship between others, and the elimination of mistakes and errors for strategic perfection.[3]
To provide high quality service, every organization including libraries should define a certain system of quality which covers some necessary elements as follows:
- Define a system for quality control.
- Define a feedback system which provides notice of inconsistencies and a process to correct them.
- Define a working plan of procedures to ensure their application.
- Disseminate the procedures and tasks among the staff and clients.
- Clearly identify goals and objectives of services.
- Follow the process to show that everybody is responsible for providing quality service.
One popular example of such a system is the TQM System (Total Quality Management).[4]
Many libraries still evaluate the quality of their service according to their own criteria, not from the clients point of view, and not always understanding that service delivery should always be linked with programmes for quality improvement. At the same time, they do not appreciate the importance of applying the tools of marketing and they underestimate partner marketing, which interferes with serving the client, and the quality and marketing of the library.[5]
The library of a non-governmental Lower Silesian Higher School of Education in Wroclaw (DSWE) which has existed since 1997 does not want to commit this error.[6]From the very beginning the library bet on marketing and service quality. To realize this, a marketing strategy plan was developed in 2000.The aim was to provide the best quality service in the condition the library has.[7] This can be done by the automation of library processes, realized step by step, according to the financial situation of the school. As a result, at the beginning-acquisition, processing, circulating as well as information retrieval were automated. This allowed for quick service.
To provide nearly complete information on the holdings, a database and related services have been created. It consists in "splitting" current issues of journals of collected works into single article (outstanding work is done during the holiday time). Thanks to that work, by June 2001 the total stock was over 11630 items.
To provide easy access, because of "economic" employment, we have open access to the holdings. Books which should always be accessible in a reading room, are designated with a red strip on the spine,[8] the others are marked with the following strips: white-borrowed for one week,[9] yellow-for a month[10], green-to the end of a term. Thanks to these marks a user knows how he/she can use the book. To make everything clear, there is also a date for returning the book. When overdue, there is a special fee, inversely proportional to return date. This should motivate the users to return the books on time. The money the library gets is spent on books for loan (a special stamp tells about it).[11]
By the end of May 2001 the library was working from 9 am till 5 pm, and during weekends 10 am till 5 pm. Three people were employed full time. Thanks to additional part-time staff, the library was able to maintain open hours from 9 am till 8 pm. As a result, the library is accessible 69h/week, the most in Wroclaw. It is also open during holidays(except the weekends). Special information posters are sent to the university libraries to invite users to patronize the library. Also the local newspapers welcome the potential users to visit the DSWE Library.
There is not an integrated library system but we hope to implement it in future, as we intend to apply for a certificate ISO 9001. We are authorized to do it as the library fulfills some British standards concerning the number of acquired publications per number of students and a scope of services. Firstly, we tried to evaluate the quality of service in the opinion of the library customers. At the end of May and beginning of June, during an exam time and additionally in preparation for the visit of the ministers, a questionnaire was prepared which consisted of seven questions. Two of them were detailed.
The opinions of 111 students of DSWE and 10 students of other schools were gathered. The opinions were so explicit that we thought it would be not necessary to show the differences in answers among specific groups of the students. The questionnaire was satisfactory although some changes and modifications should be made in future.
The first question concerned the willingness of users to visit the DSWE Library. Of the 111 people who responded, 90 answers were positive. The answers suggest that people are attracted by a kind staff, nice environment and a good choice of library collection.. Some people who have lectures in a building situated 3 km from the library were no able to visit the library. Five people did not want to come to the library and six did not have any opinion. They did not like library service, or the staff, or the fact that they could not borrow the book
Chart 1. Do you like coming to the DSWE Library?
Answering the second question concerning library conditions and equipment - 7 answers were given. 84 persons stated that it is functional, 31 - it is spacious (in fact it is not, but it looks spacious), 42 - it is stylish, and 50 - it is cosy. 7 persons had completely different opinions ("cold" and not cosy at all); 9 - narrow, (but with one comment, that he/she likes it, contrary to big reading room-he/ she does not like); and 7 - not functional. It was mentioned that the library situated in a basement is threatened by flooding and not friendly for the disabled, that the reading room should be separated from the lending room where it is noisy. On the other hand, it was added that the reader feels like an expected guest, that it is clean and nice, and the paint on the walls is selected very well (navy blue, white and gray are the dominant colours).
Chart 2. How do you assess the library office conditions and its equipment?
There were four ways to answer the third question concerning the library conditions. 93 persons stated that is adequate; 64 - that it is easy to find the way. About 50% of the respondents checked two answers, the other half matched one positive answer or the second, thinking that one includes the other. Disagreed were respectively - two and eight persons. The latter complained that the library is situated far from the center of the city. The noise from the street as well as poor directional signs to the library was also mentioned.
Chart 3. How do you assess location of the library?
The next question - about the library stock quality - had seven possible answers, including four positive. The lack of symmetry is visible from the lack of a negative answer while asking about current journals.
66 respondents thought that stock was current, 57 - the stock met the needs of users, 15 - appreciate the choice of journals, 16 - enough books recommended by the faculties. But 63 persons maintained that the recommended books are too few, 2 persons admitted that the library collection is too old (the library was open in 1997!), 4 people wrote that the books are purchased randomly. These respondents did not like anything in the library and did not treat the questionnaire seriously.
In an "additional remarks" there were statements regarding lack of books from the 1970s and 1980s, or wish to have in the library additional number of textbooks recommended by the faculty. There were comments that the library has the titles not available in the other libraries in Wroclaw or Jelenia Gora. People were surprised by so many current publications and encouraged the librarians to buy more. This last statement would be right, even in a rich country.
Chart 4. How do you assess the library collection?
When we mentioned the library`s operational hours, suggestions for improvement indicated that although 48 of 111 asked were satisfied, 31 (probably these who completed the questionnaire in May) felt that longer hours would have been helpful. E.g. 8 - persons suggested that the library should be open earlier. This will be realized from September - four persons will be employed full-time. We also plan to extend opening hours during the weekends to 19 hours. This will give a total of 74 hours / per week when the library is accessible.
Chart 5. How do you assess the library opening hours?
The above described system of open access to the collection was positively assessed by 95 persons. Only 15 preferred "traditional, old way ", when the librarian retrieves books from the stock. (Sometimes this is still done when the first time users look lost and need help).
The library users in majority (90 answers) accepted the system of marking books with strips. 16 people regarded it as not understandable and not very convenient. The comments point out that the lack of acceptance is associated with the fact that there are not enough books marked with strips of other than red colour - 11 answers. Besides, the respondents suggested that all information should be written on the information board. One user, (as we can assume from the questionnaire, a man) is against the library and wanted a free beer as well as sitting in a coat in a reading room!!!
Chart 6 a. How do you assess an open access to the library collection?
Chart 6 b. How do you assess the access to the library collection (when the books are marked with red and other colours strips)?
The seventh (and the last) question was also divided into two parts. The first part concerned the qualification of the staff. 75 persons accepted the service as professional, and adequate to fulfill the users needs; 3 persons (2 described above) stated that the staff was not very helpful. Most respondents indicated both positive answers, but some only one. It is possible that they regarded these two answers as very similar. Apparently, it was weak point in the questionnaire.
There were few remarks that sometimes incidents occur (it is possible that the users had to pay fee for overdue books), and there can be a lack of empathy with clients or fear to be criticized (when asking basic questions). Fortunately more comments concerned a nice atmosphere in a library.
It was very similar with the second part of the question - about the effectiveness and quality of library services and the culture of the staff. 96 respondents agreed that the staff is polite, kind, 76 - friendly. Only one person wrote that the librarian was gruff, and 3 described the staff as not very friendly. In additional remarks to this part of question, there were the notes: "OK", "Keep doing in this way", "I have always been served very well", and one person (always the same) wrote about the staff: " They need socialization".
Chart 7. How effective are the librarians?
Chart 8. How do you assess the library service (culture of the staff)?
At the end the respondents were asked to answer two "open questions": "What would you change in the library?" "Do you have any other comments?". As an answer they usually wrote:" nothing" or "-". Quite often were repeated the answers given to the previous questions
(more books for loan, more old books, ect.). Different individuals suggested providing individual study carrels and a catalogue accessible via Internet (this will be done in the next academic year) or serve soft drinks (a cafe is situated only 10 m from the library) and drinks are allowed in a reading room !!!). Some people suggested that there should be bibliographic lists in the library (there are but selected). Of course one person answered that he would change everything. Regarding notes not included in the questions, there were only positive comments. It was written that the staff is helpful and professional; the library can be recommended to the teachers; the library system (SOWA) is easy to work with; two persons were satisfied that there were not lending forms and appreciated open access to the publications.
To conclude, it should be stated that the care of the clients in a DSWE Library was noticed and appreciated. Some weak points were changed or will be in future (in spite of the answers e.g. web page will be available from the new academic year). Some suggestions are difficult to implement in the current library areas. If the library gets new premises (needed 430 square meters) - an application has been submitted to the school authorities, will be a better opportunity to arrange a new, bigger reading room or individual study carrels. On the other hand, if the school`s situation will be stable in the educational environment, and there will be more students, we can think about multiple copies or purchasing more latest publications.
Library service will focus an individually tailored information support, with the emphasis on one-to-one assistance and trying new programmes for the users. It can be supposed that some critical comments of the library users derive from an incomplete knowledge of certain rules while using the library. This concerns, for instance, the texts recommended by the lecturers. To fulfill the needs of the users, the library should have the amount of book copies almost equal to the number of the students. Thus, a student should be aware that to study means to read varied collections of material and use different learning resources. Regular visits in a reading room ought to be something very common during the years of studying. This should be mentioned and encouraged at the introductory courses as well as more detailed sessions on research techniques and information sources. These sessions will help students to use the library more effectively. The lecturers may also be very helpful to encourage the students to develop research skills.
The completed study will also be helpful for others in the future. It seems necessary to ask more library clients - not only those actually using the library but also other library students, for instance during the lectures or labs. The library identification cards (given only to the users who borrow books to take home) have been issued to nearly half of students of the school. They represent almost 90% of the library clients. It is possible that even more than 10% are unwilling to come to the library and their reason maybe quite justifiable. So it is necessary to think about answering some questions, and also on this basis, to improve and develop methods to assess library service quality.
Footnotes
[1] Podręcznik marketingu. Ed. M. J. Thomas. Warsaw 1998, p. 626.
[2] Podręcznik marketingu. Ed. M. J. Thomas. Warsaw 1998, p. 629.
[3] Ph. Kotler: Marketing: Analiza, Planowanie, wdrażanie, i kontrola. Warsaw 1999, p. 435.
[4] E. Głowacka: Studium zastosowania kompleksowego zarządzania jakością (TQM) w bibliotekoznawstwie i informacji naukowej. Torun 2000.
[5] A. Payne: Essence of Services Marketing. New York 1993.
[6] Because of a word sequence we can think that the education is higher while in fact higher is the school.
[7] S. Kubów: Plan strategii marketingowej Biblioteki DSWE jako przykład planu marketingowego organizacji non-profit. [in print].
[8] One cannot borrow out of the library - the exception; when one borrows for a lecture or exercises- journals or other materials.
[9] It is possible to extend the loan period when no one waits for a book.
[10] It is possible to extend the loan period when no one waits for a book.
[11] The idea of a stamp was taken from the Library of Wyższa Szkoła Przedsiębiorczości i Zarządzania im. L. Koźmińskiego in Warsaw It was prepared by Jadwiga Senko.
Translated by Jolanta Wróbel
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