Social Sciences
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Item LibQUAL Analysis of Library Services in University Libraries in Sri Lanka(Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Wanigasooriya, PriyanwadaCurrently, in an ‘open/service-oriented information society' technology has increased access to content by bringing up information resources to one's fingertips and the provision of such services are increasingly becoming the signifier of excellence of quality. Therefore, over the years, the role of conventional university libraries has led to sophisticated service centers superseding the traditional storehouse concept. Thus compared to the global situation, university libraries in Sri Lanka have attempted to provide overall best services for their targeted users. But, in the Sri Lankan context some questions such as what are the users’ right information desires, are these desires being fulfilled, what are the evaluation criteria for library quality, what are the reasons for the lack of frequent library usage and why do people gradually drop out from libraries, what steps have to be taken to provide better services and how to retain registered users while attracting new ones remain unanswered. For an understanding of these matters and how the existing shortcomings can be fixed, sound studies are vital. This study aimed to evaluate the user perception and overall quality of services at university libraries in Sri Lanka. It provided suggestions to overcome identified difficulties encountered during the reception of library services. As the first LibQUAL survey conducted in Sri Lanka, this survey helped to assess current service performance (perceived services), users’ minimum and maximum (desired services) expectations and service quality gaps (adequacy and superiority) of their main user groups. The study concluded that there were only seven (31%) propositions in the entire survey that the users' minimum expectations were met. They included giving users’ individual attention, employees’ knowledge to answer users’ questions and their caring fashion, remote accessibility of electronic resources, quiet comfortable and inviting location which inspires studying and learning. Comparing “library as place” and “effect of service”, “information control" dimension received lowest perceived performance level at the survey. In contrast, a number of user expectations on resources (printed/electronic), library website and information searching tools were fewer satisfaction areas. Users mostly complained on issues related to locating materials and the fact that, they were less aware about the resources and services that the libraries offered. Furthermore, the majority of users negatively responded on internet related matters, unavailability of sufficient books for their own field of study in Sinhala language, noisy environment since people can be loud, telephone conversations and user behaviors. From users’ views libraries could not meet minimum users’ expectations except in some cases. Finally, the examination of users’ minimum expectations showed that the proposition of “making information easily accessible for independent use” was most important and the proposition of “giving users individual attention” was relatively less important. This study mainly identified 15 service areas which were in need of improvement. Continuous formal and attractive online and offline user education programs, sufficient staff training to upgrade their professional knowledge and inculcate positive attitudes among them, the increment of the minimum staff requirements especially for IT related purposes, the renovation and proper maintenance of library buildings and repair of the equipment which were vital to providing effective services for users. In addition to that, frequent user survey is also essential for the better understanding of users ever-changing desires.Item Understanding the Service Quality expectation of library users of Special Libraries of professional institutions(Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Gunatilake, K.A.D.P.M.; Galgodawaththa, G.W.I.21st Century libraries are not traditional places with only a collection of documents.The entire role of the national, public, academic and special libraries and librarians is changing and there is an urgent need to adapt to the environment because not merely sustain or survive but to thrive in to the future.Users or customers are important stakeholders in libraries and information centres. It is necessary to establish a dialogue with customers and find out their expectations. When identification the users expectations it will give a guideline to library to develop a quality library service and empower the library users to solve problems. Today, service quality is one of the most important factors in all service sectors. Now it is the time for evaluate the quality and significance of the library service through a service quality model based on ‘SERVQUAL’ concept. The main objective of this study is to identify the expectations of the usersservice quality of special libraries of professional institutions. The other objectives are to identify the most important factors to implement them giving a priority and to preparation of a library development plan for the library. Five special libraries in Colombo District have been selected as a sample for the study. All selected libraries are attached to a parent institution which offer ‘Professional Qualifications’ in different study areas such as Banking, Accounting, Engineering, Marketing and International Relations. The survey was based on primary and secondary data gathered through structured questionnaire and literature review. The data gathered on user expectations thought five service quality dimensionsresources, staff, services, guidance and physical environment. The expectations of users can be identified as most important, important, less important and no important and the first priority can be given to most important aspects and implemented. Then the other expectations can be fulfilled step by step plan.Collected data were analyzed using Weighted Average method. It is observed that the first priority given by the users of the selected special libraries is to ‘Physical Environment’. The library quality dimension ‘Services’ is ranked second by the users. Third ranked is ‘the Staff’ and the fourth to ‘Resources’ and fifth service quality dimension is ‘Guidance’. The expectations of the users will be implemented and library infrastructure services, resources, staff and other activities will be putting in to practices.Item Impact of service quality on level of tourist satisfaction in Pinnawala elephant orphanage, Sri Lanka(Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Kularathna, N.W.A.B.; Ashika, B.A.D.W.Currently most of tourists are attracted to wildlife tourism. The majority of tourist who are interested in wildlife are highly willing to watch and study animals by being closer to them. According to that, main purpose of this study was to identify the association between tourist satisfaction and service quality in Pinnawala Elephant orphanage. The specific objectives of this study was; identification of association between tourist satisfaction and reliability, tourist satisfaction and assurance, tourist satisfaction and tangibility, tourist satisfaction and empathy, tourist satisfaction and responsiveness. Build up two hypothesis to achieve the above objectives. There are H1 - There was a significant relationship between the five dimensions of service quality and tourist satisfaction, H0 - There isn‟t a significant relationship between the five dimensions of service quality and tourist satisfaction. There was one independent variable name as tourist satisfaction and there are five independent variables such as reliability, Assurance, Tangible, Empathy and Responsiveness. Stratified sample method using for select the sample and closed – ended questionnaire were used for data collection. Questionnaire were distributed through the 320 local and foreign tourist.The data was analysis from SPSS 21.0 usingcross tabulation and Pearson chi- square analysis. The findings of this study showed that each independent variable has significant positive relationship with tourist satisfaction. Accordingly, overall service quality bears a significant relationship with tourist satisfaction.