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The purpose of this paper is to examine and discuss the basis for management decisions among options expressed by customer groups on the basis of their perception and assessment of library service.

In 2008, the authors investigated how customers perceive library functions and assessed the actual activities of Echigawa Library (Shiga prefecture, Japan). Two consecutive analyses were conducted: factor analysis and cluster analysis in order to segment the customers into individual groups based on their perception of libraries. Each of the segments of library customers was then examined to ascertain how they appreciate and make use of the Echigawa Library.

The survey results indicate that in general the customers show a high demand for multiple library services and give a good grade for its services delivery. Four groups of library customers are identified by cluster analysis; however, their demand for service and judgment of the adequacy of service delivery are fairly diverse. Among them, one customer group shows a reasonably positive response to the range of library services and is confirmed to be a yardstick group.

Since library evaluation should provide the criteria for determining management decisions, the question of which groups of customers the library should take into consideration is vital. This question is solved through the detailed investigation of empirical data.

The paper investigates the particular situation of a small library to offer a model that could be used globally for a more subtle and precise approach to the improvement of library service than is usually attempted.

Despite a growth in demand that public libraries be accountable to citizen needs, basic research into the socio‐cultural context in which libraries operate, particularly cross‐culturally, is still needed. Durrance and Fisher have argued that libraries have too long relied on output measures to indicate library efficiency (and to justify funding) but that such measures do not reflect the social, cultural or other values actually held or gained by library users. This observation begs the question, what socio‐cultural functions do public libraries actually have? What values do they reinforce? What needs are met? How do public libraries fit into the larger social fabric of public and private institutions? And how might these functions vary from one society to another? This paper aims to address these issues.

The questions are similar in scope to those found in museum studies (for example, see the book series Museum Meanings edited by Eilean Hooper‐Greenhill and Flora Kaplan), but have been rarely applied to libraries. In an unusual research collaboration we explore these questions relying on both qualitative and quantitative methods to gauge some of the socio‐cultural functions of a public library in Japan.

Of primary concern is the methodological problem of developing questions that draw out values and concepts of which the visitors themselves may not be explicitly aware. In this research the paper attempts to draw out not just the satisfaction levels of patrons, but to delineate something of the patrons' own conception of their public library. Studying a rather unusual library by Japanese standards, it is found that some patrons have responded to the particularly strong community focus of the library director.

Socio‐cultural studies of the functions of libraries are rare. This study therefore can act as an exemplar for further international studies.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the indicators and measures that correspond to the dimensions of users' evaluation of university library service.

In a previous study, the authors had clarified the four dimensions that construct the evaluation of service quality through factor analyses of the survey data. In this study, nine focus group interviews were undertaken, at the libraries of four universities in Japan, England and Finland. With the aim to recapture the four dimensions in the concrete contexts of library use, the transcripts were analyzed and mapped according to the dimensions: “Effect of Service – Personal,” “Library as ‘Ba’,” “Collection and Access” and “Effect of Service – Organizational.” Another goal of the FGIs was to find out what measures should be added to the questionnaire, if any.

Usage scenarios were clarified for each user group – undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members, and the contents of interview statements were mapped to the tree based on the dimensions. As a result, the features and the background of four dimensions were revealed, and some clues for changes in the service quality assessment instrument were extracted.

Though the interviews were conducted in international/diverse contexts, it is necessary to be discreet about generalization and further examinations are required.

This article addresses considerations important to the service quality assessment in university libraries.

The objective of this study is to identify the dimensions that determine the customers' evaluation of service quality in academic libraries. One university library each in England and Finland and two in Japan were selected to conduct a questionnaire survey based on the GAP theory of SERVQUAL that has led discussions on the assessment of service quality in marketing theory and practice. Since the actual delivery of information as a service outcome is as important as the service process in libraries, attributes inherent to libraries were incorporated into the survey. Subjecting data obtained to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that library service quality consists of four dimensions: effect of service (personal), library as ba (place), collections and access, and effect of service (organizational), which are different from the five SERVQUAL dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy.

The motivation for this paper emanates from the continuous success and sustainability of the Japanese agriculture, most remarkably in its technical sense. The agricultural extension services have traditionally been regarded as a bridge between research laboratories and farmers, hence, the purpose of this paper is to explore the preferences and roles played by extension advisors in relation to knowledge creation and sharing among the advisors, farmers, and other stakeholders.

Data are collected through interviews with 11 principal and senior extension advisors and a consultant from different prefectures and organizations as well as questionnaires from 135 extension advisors in the Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.

Results show that the Japanese agricultural agencies are actively involved in facilitating an integrated knowledge creation and sharing initiatives within their organizations. On the other hand, the extension advisors, as intermediaries and catalysts, are the key links between farmers and the relevant agencies in terms of providing personalized and need‐based information for decision making by all parties concerned.

Future research may be conducted by other agro‐based economies and organizations with regards to creating, sharing, and streamlining knowledge towards achieving organizational objectives.

The findings of this paper have provided some insights on how knowledge is created and shared within a strategic sector of the economy and this could serve as an initial framework for leaders to create opportunities and space for such activities to be effectively carried out in their organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to show that in a time of dramatic social change and progress in information communications technology, surveys and analysis were used to identify residents' lifestyles and their views and attitudes toward public libraries.

Two series of surveys were conducted in suburban/rural cities of Japan in 2004 and 2006. The first survey was across all local residents, and the second among library users. The results of these surveys were analyzed in depth, and different lifestyle groups were identified. Library use by each of these groups was investigated in detail.

The findings demonstrate that those who positively appreciated the various benefits of the public library tended to be frequent/regular visitors and to belong to the “Group of ‘actively striving’” and the “Group of ‘respecting others’” in the 2004 survey, and similar types of group in the 2006 survey. In addition, the 2006 survey also showed that the visitors include those who were not necessarily conscious about library services, and 10 per cent of the respondents were not much interested in them at all.

The results demonstrate that the libraries acquire new user groups according to their service innovations. However, it was found that people have already started to utilize search engines on the internet, regardless of the presence/absence of the corresponding service in the library to acquire various types of information.

This paper re‐examines the traditional understanding of the user profile of public libraries, and demonstrates a tool to help identify changes in use and users.

Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.