Quality of CIIT Library Services and Users’ Satisfaction: A Survey of Students, Faculty and Staff Members

Abstract

The basic purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of library services at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) Islamabad campus from its users’ perspective. The survey method was selected for the study and a modified SERVQUAL questionnaire was used as an instrument to collect data from the students, faculty, and staff members. Because of the large potential population, random sampling was applied and 275 questionnaires were distributed, of which 207 valid responses were received. The questionnaire was consisted of 22 paired closed-ended questions to elicit the responses of the users on a 7-point Likert scale. Analysis of the collected data revealed that there are no significant differences between the levels of users’ expectations and perceptions, which signify that the CIIT library is not lacking in quality services and users are satisfied with various aspects of its service quality. The study will be useful for those library professionals who wish to investigate the strengths, weaknesses and threats in their library services and who also intend to enhance the quality of these services. The study demonstrates that it is possible to make meaningful comparisons of library services, and argues that LIBQUAL should be introduced to provide a systematic regular study of the performance of Pakistan’s university libraries in meeting user expectations.