Assessing Service Quality: Satisfying the Expectations of Library Customers, 2nd ed.

Citation

Fields, A. (2013), "Assessing Service Quality: Satisfying the Expectations of Library Customers, 2nd ed.", Collection Building, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 74-75. https://doi.org/10.1108/01604951311322075

Now is an interesting time to be involved in library service: the growing range, availability and use of new technologies means that many library customers have available to them an increasing range of library services and options for accessing them. Methods of assessing service quality need to take account of these changes, and the new edition of Hernon and Altman's Assessing Service Quality does just this.

The authors have reconsidered the established methods of measuring service quality outlined in their first edition some 12 years ago, and provide in this new edition an updated guide that can be used across a wide range of library services, including online and distance services. The resulting measurement of how well customers are interacting with and making use of library services then becomes the basis for improving service quality.

The quintessential question about the value of this book is both asked and answered by the authors in the preface: “Why should librarians and students in schools of library and information science […] be interested in a revised edition of the 1998 volume?”. The answer is “Instead of presenting a cookbook of measures to apply to various services, we identify some touchstones critical to the well‐being of libraries: customers, services quality, satisfaction, loyalty and reputation” (p. vi). These form the foundation for assessing service quality regardless of how library services are delivered or accessed.

Parameters for undertaking any measurement of service quality are set in the opening chapters. Understanding Ends and Means looks at the development of quality measures within libraries and focuses readers' attention on the purpose for assessing anything before embarking on the assessment itself. Subsequently the practicalities of conducting quality assessments are discussed by asking what needs to be measured for a meaningful result and then identifying how this measurement can be made.

Later chapters look in turn at different assessment methods, including surveys, focus groups and customer‐related indicators, and consideration is made of the difference between customer satisfaction and service quality. The final chapters outline the use of findings for improving customer services and also the concept of continuous improvement.

The clear and approachable style of the authors and the inclusion of numerous figures, lists and forms make this an ideal book for those involved in the practice of assessing service quality as well as those who want to learn about how it is done. This second edition of Assessing Service Quality comes recommended to librarians who want to assess their own library services regardless of delivery method or media, and also to those students and practitioners who want to learn more about this important area of customer service evaluation.