Measuring service quality in public and private sector university libraries of Pakistan

The problem addressed in this study investigates the perceived service quality of public and private sector university libraries of Pakistan from its users’ perspective. More precisely the study compares the following four aspects between public and private universities: zone of tolerance for overall and individual user groups, dimension wise zone of tolerance for overall and individual user group, gaps between desires and perceptions, and significant differences in the service quality. The data were collected through LIBQUAL print questionnaire from 1473 library users (faculty, graduates and undergraduates) of 22 public and private sector university libraries (main/central) of Pakistan. The psychometric properties of instrument were established through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The comparisons of overall, individual service level, and dimension wise gap scores revealed that private sector university libraries were generally meeting the minimum requirements of their users (except information control dimension) but, on the other hand, public sector libraries were not meeting minimum requirement in information control and affect of service dimensions. The study also found significant difference on service quality between private and public sector university libraries. The researcher found very interesting findings that small collection creates small expectations, and it is easy to meet or satisfy the needs of the users of small collection. The article also discusses findings, implications of results and limitations of the study at the end.