lecture presented by Michael A. Pinto at PAARL’s Seminar /Parallel Session-workshop on Library and Web 2011 (Holy Angel University, Angeles City, Pampanga, 19-20 August 2010)

1. Delivering Service Quality
and Satisfying Library
Customers through Web-
g
based Services
Presented by:
MICHAEL A. PINTO, MPA
CaAKAp President
Director of Libraries‐University of Saint Louis
Tuguegarao City, Cagayan

2. An Anecdote
One Monday afternoon at around 3:10, Lucky, a
freshmen student went to the library to find the answer
for his assignment about the meaning of suffrage. It
was 20 minutes before his class. As he approached the
library premises, he noticed a long queue of students
premises
along the deposit counter. The students were arguing
about the bags which they deposited and accidentally
exchanged with the stuff of the others. In order to get
rid of the long queue in the deposit counter, he decided
to leave his bag to one of his friends and immediately
went to the shelves to locate the book.

3. Since he was running out of time, he then asked the
help of the librarian in charge but the librarian looked at
in-charge
him and said “Can you see that I'm busy? Better go to the
OPAC” I have a lot of reports to do.” Lucky didn’t expect
that kind of treatment to him. In fact, before the incident,
he was even boasting to his former classmates in high
school that the they have a very good library. Further,
library Further
during their orientation day, the Director of Library was
very p
y proud to say that the library staff are approachable
y y pp
and that they are free to approach anyone of them if they
need assistance. Feeling sad and disappointed, he went
immediately to the shelf because h is running out of
i di t l t th h lf b he i i t f
time. It took him 15 minutes to locate the book because
the book was placed in another shelf. Further, there was
p
no student assistant assigned to do shelf reading.

4. To catch up with his 3:30 class, he immediately
class
went the circulation counter for him to borrow the
book overnight. Unfortunately, he again noticed a long
g y g g
queue of students waiting for their turn to process the
book in the circulation counter. It took 5 minutes to
have the book officially checked out under h account.
h h k ff ll h k d d his
He went out of the library with a feeling of
disappointment and he promised that he will never ask
assistance from the librarian again.

5. POINTS TO PONDER….
• Have you encountered the same scenario
in your library?
• Is there something wrong with the
scenario?
i ?
• Are you the type of librarian described in
the anecdote?
• How many Lucky do you have in your
respective libraries?
• What can we do to avoid such?
at ca e a o d suc ?

6. Why Provide the following in
the Library?
Service
S i
Quality
WEB Services Customers
Satisfaction

7. The Moment of Truth
• Each customer contact is called a moment of
Each customer contact is called a moment of
truth.
• Y h
You have the ability to either satisfy or
h bili ih if
dissatisfy them when you contact them.
• A service recovery is satisfying a previously
dissatisfied customer and making him a loyal
customer.

8. We should answer following questions:
• Are we delivering the services?
• Are we delivering Quality services?
• A we able t understand th needs of
Are bl to d t d the d f
our clienteles?
• How can we further improve our services
to meet the customers’ expectations?

9. Vital Considerations of our
Vit l C id ti f
Existence..
• Customers not only need SERVICE but
QUALITY SERVICE.
• They are meticulous about their requirements
• Their queries are becoming very complex.

10. The Customer Expectations
The Customer Expectations
• Guests are the judges of service quality
(Berry and Parasuraman, 1991)
• Their Expectations of service greatly influence
their resulting level of satisfaction
• It is far easier to please guests with lower
expectations than those with higher expectations
t ti th th ith hi h t ti

11. Applied in the Library
Accordingly, it is easy to understand what most
users want when they go to the library.
users want when they go to the library
Wants: Expectations:
‐ Pertinent materials ‐Locate easily
‐ Photocopypy py p p y
‐ Photocopy will work properly
‐ Need assistance ‐ Staff will help them promptly
and courteously y
In others words, THEY WANT WHAT THEY
WANT WHEN THEY WANT IT!
WANT WHEN THEY WANT IT!

12. Categories of Service Expectations
g p
1. ESSENTIAL
1 ESSENTIAL These services meet the fundamental
These services meet the fundamental
requirements to continue operation
Ex. Circulation, Reference, Instruction Program
, , g
2. EXPECTED Those which the clients assume the service
p
provider should offer in order to provide
p
service
Ex. Photocopying services, internet services, Wifi services
2. OPTIONAL Guests considered these services as an added
bonus that enhances the value of their visit
Ex. Wifi zones, Social Networking sites for the library

13. Why Quality Matters?
Why Quality Matters?
• The global market is becoming more
The global market is becoming more
competitive every day
• Companies continually search for new ways to
Companies continually search for new ways to
gain an edge over their competitors around
the globe
the globe
• Global competition and deregulation in a
number of industries is forcing companies to
b fi d i i f i i
turn to quality in order to survive

14. Why Quality Matters?
Why Quality Matters?
“Quality is our best assurance of
Quality is our best assurance of
Quality is our best assurance of
customer allegiance, our strongest
defense against foreign competition,
and the only path to sustained
and the only path to sustained
growth and earnings” (Welch).
growth and earnings” (Welch).

15. Why Quality Matters?
Why Quality Matters?
“Quality is in the eye of the beholder”
Quality is in the eye of the beholder
“If customers say there is quality service, then
there is. If they do not, then there is not. It
does not matter what an organization believes
about his level of service”
(Petter Hernon and Ellen Altman (1996)

16. What is Service Quality?
What is Service Quality?
• The extent to which a service meets customers’
needs or expectation (Lewis and Mitchelle, 1990)
• The difference between customers expectations p
of service and perceived service.
• Customers also form perceptions of quality
p p q y
during the service transaction ‐ how effectively
and efficiently the service was delivered and the
speed and convenience of completing the
d d f l h
transaction

17. In Library Science…
In Library Science…
• Is typically defined in terms of gap analysis, or
the gap between customers’ expectations in
h b ’ i i
general (for an ideal library and services) and
those perceptions relating to the particular
h i l i h i l
library and its services. In other words, it is the
gap between customer expectations of those
b i f h
services in the library in general and those
perceptions of the services offered by a
i f h i ff d b
particular library

18. Dimensions of service quality
Dimension
Di i Evaluation Criteria
E l ti C it i Examples
E l
1. Tangibles: Appearance of physical A clean and professional
Physical evidence of facilities
facilities looking office.
looking office
the service Appearance of service A clean and well dressed
personnel librarian
Tools or equipment used The number of OPAC
to provide the service
p stations, working
, g
computer units, printers,
security devices.
The equipment used in the
technical processing of the
materials

19. Dimension Evaluation Criteria Examples
2. Reliability: Accuracy of bibliographic An accurate billing
Consistency and records, billing receipts receipt, accurate
information needed by a
needed by a
dependability in
d d bl library users
performing the
service Performing services when
g
promised “No borrower’s card, no
book card policy”
Library opens at exact
time.

20. Dimension Evaluation Criteria Examples
3. Responsiveness: Returning customer phone Asking users what they need
calls at the reference desk
Willingness or section
readiness of
employees to Providing prompt service Locating and delivering the
books needed by a dean
provide the service
provide the service within a period
Handling urgent requests Providing the result of board
exams
Availability of a staff when
A il bilit f t ff h
needed

21. Dimension Evaluation Criteria Examples
4. Assurance: Knowledge and
l d d A highly trained
hi hl i d
Knowledge or skills of library staff reference librarian,
competence of
p student assistants
employees and ability
to convey trust and Company name and A known and
confidence reputation respected service
respected service
provider
Personal Assist users to find
characteristics of the information and
library staff will not stop until the
need is provided

22. Dimension Evaluation Criteria Examples
Listening to customer needs A library staff listening to and
5. Empathy: Caring trying to understand a user’s
and individual
and individual Caring about the customer s
Caring about the customer’s complaint
interests
attention provided Informs library users of the
by employees
y p y new acquisition.
Providing personalized A Library staff assist the users
attention in locating books in the
shelves
Also access with regard to The librarian is visible and
approachability and ease of can be approached anytime a
contact from the customer is lib
f h i library user has a query
h
of importance to issues that
may be raised by the
customer.

23. Broad Dimensions of Service Quality
• Reliability – perform promised service dependably
and accurately
d l
• Responsiveness ‐ willingness/readiness to provide
prompt service
• Competence ‐ possess knowledge and skill to
perform the service
• Access ‐ approachability and ease of contact of
pp y
service personnel
• Courtesy ‐ politeness consideration and friendliness
politeness, consideration, and friendliness
of service personnel cont…

24. Broad Dimensions of Service Quality – cont.
of Service Quality –
• Communication ‐ keeping customers informed;
listening to customers
li i
• Credibility ‐ trustworthy, believable, honest
• Security ‐ freedom from danger, risk, or doubt
• Understanding/knowing customer ‐ knowing
Understanding/knowing customer knowing
customer’s needs
• Tangibles ‐ physical evidence of service
physical evidence of service
Parasuraman, A. Zeithaml, V., and Berry, L. (1985).
Parasuraman, A. Zeithaml, V., and Berry, L. (1985).

25. Cardinal Principles of Service Quality
• Listening precedes action
• Reliability is key
Reliability is key
• Flawless execution of the “basics”
• Pay attention to service design
Pay attention to service design
• Perform service recovery well
• Surprise customers
Surprise customers
• Practice “fair play”
• Promote teamwork
Promote teamwork
• Internal service begets external service
Adapted from Zemke, Ron (2002)

26. ‐ is a multi‐item scale
l l - represents service quality as the di
t i lit th discrepancy
developed to assess between a customer's expectations for a
service offering and the customer's
customer perceptions
p p perceptions of the service received requiring
received,
of service quality in respondents to answer questions about both
service and retail their expectations and their perceptions
businesses
businesses (Parasuraman et al 1988) The use of
et. al., 1988).
(Parasuraman et. al., perceived as opposed to actual service
received makes the SERVQUAL measure an
1988) attitude measure that is related to, but not the
,
same as, satisfaction (Parasuraman et. al.,
1988).

27. SERVQUAL MODEL
Customer’s Customer’s
Quality
= Expectation ‐ Perception of Service
Performance
GAP
Customer’s
Satisfaction

28. Gaps in Service Quality

29. Queueing Theory
A pioneer:
Agner Krarup Erlang
l
(1878‐1929)

30. What is queueing theory?
• Mathematical analysis of queues and waiting times
y q g
in stochastic systems.
– Used extensively to analyze production and service
p
processes exhibiting random variability in market demand
g y
(arrival times) and service times.
• Queues arise when the short term demand for
service exceeds the capacity
service exceeds the capacity
– Most often caused by random variation in service times
and the times between customer arrivals.
– If long term demand for service capacity the queue will
If long term demand for service capacity the queue will
explode!

31. Components of a Queueing Process
The calling population
gp p
– The population from which customers/jobs originate
– The size can be finite or infinite (the latter is most common)
– Can be homogeneous (only one type of customers/ jobs) or
Can be homogeneous (only one type of customers/ jobs) or
heterogeneous (several different kinds of customers/jobs)
The Arrival Process
– D t
Determines how, when and where customer/jobs arrive to the system
i h h d h t /j b i t th t
– Important characteristic is the customers’/jobs’ inter‐arrival times
– To correctly specify the arrival process requires data collection of
interarrival times and statistical analysis
times and statistical analysis.

32. Components of a queueing process
p q gp
The queue configuration
The queue configuration
– Specifies the number of queues
g p
• Single or multiple lines to a number of service
stations
– Their location
– Their effect on customer behavior
• Balking and reneging
– Their maximum size (# of jobs the queue can hold)
• Distinction between infinite and finite capacity

33. Example Two Queue Configurations
Example – Two Queue Configurations
Multiple Q
M lti l Queues Single Queue
Servers
Servers

34. The Psychology of Waiting
by: David Maister
1. Occupied Time Feels Shorter Than Unoccupied
Time.
i
“Boredom results from being attentive to the
passage o time itself
of e se
“A watched pot never boils”
2.
2 People Want to Get Started.
Started
- Acknowledge one’s p
g presence so that they know
y
that service has started: we know that you are here
- Th
There i a f
is fear of ‘being f
f ‘b i forgotten”
tt ”

35. The Psychology of Waiting
y gy g
3. Anxiety Makes Waits Seem Longer
‐ th
the anxiety was about whether or not one had
i t b t h th t h d
been forgotten
4. Uncertain Waits Are Longer than Known,
Finite Waits
‐ The most profound source of anxiety in
waiting is how long the wait will be
“appointment syndrome.”

36. The Psychology of Waiting
5. Unexplained Waits Are Longer than Explained
Waits
‐ The lack of an explanation is one of the prime
g y
factors adding to a customer’s uncertainty about
the length of the wait.
6. Unfair Waits Are Longer than Equitable Waits
“The feeling that somebody has successfully ‘cut in
front’ of you causes even the most patient
customer to become furious. Great care to be
b f i b
equitable is vital”

37. The Psychology of Waiting
The Psychology of Waiting
7. The More Valuable the Service, the Longer the
7. The More Valuable the Service, the Longer the
Customer Will Wait
‐ Tolerance for waits depends upon perceived
Tolerance for waits depends upon perceived
value of service‐perhaps with the emphasis on
the perception.
the perception.
8. Solo Waits Feel Longer than Group Waits
‐ Individuals suddenly turn to each other to
Individuals suddenly turn to each other to
express their exasperation, wonder collectively
what is happening, and console each other
what is happening and console each other

38. The Internet and Information Quality
y
Problems:
1. Information overload
2.
2 Availability of vast quantities of useful
il bili f ii f f l
information
3. The potential for inaccurate materials
4. The ephemeral nature of materials
p
disseminated via personal homepage

39. Information Quality
Information Quality
Information via web:
Quality is often used to refer to sources which
contain original content, or sources which are
g
accurate and reliable.
Information Quality refers to the fitness for its
Information Quality ‐refers to the fitness for its
purpose of an information source within a
particular setting
particular setting

40. Web Based Service in the Library
Web‐ Based Service in the Library
• Libraries are utilizing the Web to provide
Libraries are utilizing the Web to provide
services to an increasingly sophisticated and
demanding computer user.
demanding computer user
• M
More and more libraries are using the web to
d lib i i h b
make the library services available anytime
anywhere.
h

41. Some Library Services on the WEB
Some Library Services on the WEB
1. Library Website
1 Lib W bi
is an important tool in delivering quality
is an important tool in delivering quality
service to users since the content of the
library can be made accessible to the users
library can be made accessible to the users
either partially or fully.
http://www.loc.gov
http://libraries,uslt.edu.ph
http://www.mainlib.upd.edu.ph/
http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/library/

42. WEB OPAC The web OPAC of most
WEB OPAC ‐ The web OPAC of most
libraries are usually integrated in their
website.
b it
This helps library users to know what
are available materials in the library to
save their time especially if they are not
save their time especially if they are not
in the campus.

44. • Circulation – Loaning can be done thru the
library website.
library website
• New Acquisition – lists of newly acquired
books can be made available in the library
books can be made available in the library
website
• Reference Service – this can be done
through providing links to online reference
materials in the library website.

46. 2. Social Networking Sites
(Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, etc)
3. Yahoo Groupsp
4. Yahoo Messenger, Skype, etc
5.
5 Emails
6. Online Journal Subscription
(EBSCO, Pro-Quest, Gale, etc)
7. Open Access Journals
p
(DOAJ, Philjol, etc)

47. TIPS FOR ADVANCING WEB‐BASED
SERVICES
1. Commit to 24x7 access to library services
2. Take risks and move quickly
3. Utilize all library resources as well as the
Internet
4. Find information partners that complement
library service
library service

48. TIPS FOR ADVANCING WEB‐BASED
SERVICES
5. Use targeted marketing techniques to reach
new audiences
6. Partnerships and collaborations are the
cornerstone of philosophy of service and the
library's practice in advancing Web‐based
services

49. Anti Quality
Anti-Quality Attitudes
“There will always be a next time”
“To err is human”
“Better late than never”

50. “Librarianship is a combination
p
of something you are
(CHARACTER) and some things
you do. (COMPETENCE)”
Ma DATING at GALING
May

51. Thank You
Thank You
for
for
Listening!
g
Good Day!!
y