Transcript Slide 1

CICD LIASA WINTER SEMINAR
PERSPECTIVES ON QUALITY SERVICES AND
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN EKURHULENI
METROLPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY LIS: A
COMPETITIVE NECESSITY FOR BUSINESS
AND SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS
1ST JULY 2009
INTRODUCTION
•The purpose of employing 2008 survey was to:
(1)provide detailed information about the users’ opinion
of the service;
(2) help to clarify the organisation’s concept of the
service as well as assumptions about the user’s needs;
(3) indicate problems and suggest solutions
•The research is informed by the Batho Pele Principles:
BACKGROUND
•(43) library service points.
• The objective is to provide a library and information
services which:
•is free, equitable and readily accessible;
•provide for the reading and learning needs of
community; and
•promote a culture of reading and life long learning
thereby contributing towards a literate Ekurhuleni
Metropolitan Municipality community.
LITERATURE REVIEW
• Understanding Service Quality
• Service quality is variously defined as a component of
customer satisfaction and vice versa
• The quality that consumer perceives in a service is a
function of the magnitude and direction of the gap
between expected service and perceived service.
• “Perceived quality” vs “objective quality”
• Technical or outcome dimension, and functional or
process dimension
LITERATURE REVIEW
• Understanding Customer Satisfaction
• Satisfaction is defined as an emotional reaction to a
specific transaction of service encounter.
• Satisfaction or dissatisfaction may or may not be
directly related to the performance of the library on a
specific occasion but to multiple encounters.
• Satisfaction may involve long-term as well as shortterm perceptions and a personal reaction to service
built up over a number of transactions of various
quality.
METHODOLOGY
• The scope of the study has been limited to perceptions
on quality service and customer satisfaction. The
survey was conducted amongst all forty three (43)
libraries in Ekurhuleni. A structured questionnaire was
used to collect data in the process. The study covered
a representative sample of 1720 respondents. Data
was collected among library users within the following
age groups:
• 12-17 Years
• 18-24 Years
• 25-45 Years
• 46-59 Years
• 60+
Years
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
• There were 17 questions, section 1 of the questionnaire
was asking for the respondents’ biographical information
and preferred reading language; section 2 questions
addressed the following areas:
• Membership
• Frequency of library usage
• Convenience of library hours
• Main use of the library
• Interest in subject field
• Library resources
• Library programs and services
•
RESULTS:SECTION 1
• 48.31% were females and 51.69 were males;
• 25% were scholar learners; 20% were students; 15%
were employed, 5% were self employed; 20%%% were
unemployed; 15% were pensioners and 5% did not
specify;
• Representatively of ethnic languages were IsiZulu,
Afrikaans, English SeSotho, Sepedi, IsiXhosa,
Setswana, Xishonga, IsiNdebele, IsiSwati, Tshivenda,
5% did not specify;
• 90.32% preferred reading English language, 7.96% in
Afrikaans and 1.72% in IsiZulu;
MEMBERSHIP
REASONS FOR NON MEMBERSHIP
FREQUENCY OF USING THE
LIBRARY
CONVENIENCE: LIBRARY HOURS
LIBRARY MAIN USAGE
INTEREST IN SUBJECT FIELDS
Subject fields
Sport
Travel
People
Competitions / Crossword puzzles
Novels / Bestsellers
Study Materials
Current Affairs / Newspapers
Home craft (cooking, Knitting, Gardening, Needlework, Crafts
Management
Health information
HIV / Aids
ICT related
African Writers
Heritage collection
Tender documents
Community information
Government information
Metro Information
2010 World Cup
Percentage of those
who are interested
per subject
53%
45%
59%
44%
59%
64%
60%
33%
41%
64%
58%
53%
44%
37%
90%
90%
90%
85%
59%
SATISFACTION IN LIBRARY
PROGRAMS/SERVICES
Programs and services
Percentage of those
services who are satisfied
Personal client involvement
70%
Activities for children
69%
Regular subject specific book displays
80%
Assistance with projects and reference services
70%
Circulation services
70%
Discussion rooms
69%
Security
90%
Convenient Location
70%
Daisy players for the Blinds
65%
using
LIBRARY PROGRAMS
ENCOURAGING VISITING LIS
Program
Strongest Link Reading Programme
Educational toys
Story Books
Talks / lecture careers
Reading circle / Book clubs
Adult literacy classes
Hobby programs for scholars
Health Information
Books on tape / services to the blind
Information on employment opportunities
Availability of government information
Participate in Friends of the Library or Library Committee
LIBRARY RESOURCES
• Library media collection
• Staff friendliness and support
• ICT equipment
ACTION ITEMS
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Futuristic research
Library media collection
Customer Care Policies and strategies
ICT equipment
Marketing
Library programs
Partnerships
Public participation
FRAMEWORK FOR IMPROVING
SERVICE QUALITY & SATISFACTION
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to be more responsive and relevant to the needs of citizens;
– to be more efficient and effective in the use of public resources;
– to be more representative of the diversity and needs of all, especially, the most
disadvantaged sectors of the society;
– to improve access to services;
– to be more flexible and more efficient in the use of allocated funding;
– to remove the command or control approach of management and accompanying
excess regulation
– to have the ability to adjust policies and processes when societal problems are
detected
– to better utilise technology in the delivery of service; and
– to promote partnership with other sectors of public and private sector.
CONCLUSION
• In essence, the findings reveal that libraries should change their
priorities and align more closely with those of users. Library and
information services reliance on measures of “objective quality” has
not always met the customer needs therefore the focus must be on
“perceived quality” of the customers.
• The study point out that customer satisfaction is a measure of
service quality. Broadly defined service expectation, can potentially
lead to improvements in actual service quality.
• In competitive word of information and document delivery channels,
libraries need to focus on customer satisfaction, as satisfied
customers are returning customers (Rowley, 1994:9). Arguably, the
body of research into service quality and customer satisfaction in
the field of library and information studies shows consistent results
and patterns of responses by users in different libraries
THANK YOU