Individual differences in service quality of university libraries in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study measured the individual differences in the service quality of Bangladeshi university libraries by type of university, user and gender. A modified SERVQUAL (service quality) model was adopted for the academic library environment, which included 30 items under five dimensions with a 7-point Likert scale. The survey was conducted among 61 teachers, 50 researchers and 455 students from two public, two international and two private universities in Bangladesh. The individual differences in library service quality were calculated through an analysis of variance and independent sample t-test for the university, user and gender categories. The overall service quality was significantly different ( p < .001) among the users of the public ( M = 4.02), private ( M = 5.08) and international ( M = 5.10) university libraries, as well as between male ( M = 4.48) and female ( M = 5.01) users. Several statistical methods supported the sampling adequacy, reliability and validity of the adapted model, which could be used as a basis for further assessments of library service quality by different demographic groups, both locally and globally.