Business Domains for Boosting Customer Satisfaction in Academic Libraries

Abstract

University library administrators in Sri Lanka, realising the necessity of complying with customer perception of high quality service, have begun to search for alternative ways to satisfy their clientele on the basis of service quality. This study therefore aims to meet this need by identifying business domains in the university library setting to assess the extent to which service quality domains may be used to predict customer satisfaction, from a service quality perspective. Domain identification of service quality was carried out with a sample of 262 subjects. Accordingly, seven domains–affect of service personnel, building environment, collection and access, furniture and facilities, technology, service delivery and web services–were statistically tested to be confirmed as potential business domains of service quality. Whilst not detracting from preceding research studies conducted in the field, this study has demonstrated significant implications for researchers and library administrators in understanding the importance of individual business domains within the specific service spectrum of university libraries, in order to provide ultimate satisfaction for customers with a quality library service.