Measuring User Saticfaction At The Main Library Gadjah Mada University (A User Survey In 2007)

Background A library is an essential component in any academic achievement. A library is not just a repository for books; it is an academic resource center for anyone requiring information. With collections of books, electronic materials and other facilities, a library is a major source of support for academic environment. A library is a service organization, and therefore greater efforts are made by universities to provide high quality library to service its customers. Asalibrary is not a commercial entity of a university, it enables a library to focus on the provision of quality resources and services. It follows then that the greater the quality of the library in a university, the greater the support that can be given to the academic endeavours of the greater university population which, in turn, would lend itself to fostering a research environment within the university. This study examined the level of user satisfaction at the Main Library of Gadjah Mada University Yogyakarta in Indonesia.The study analyzed user satisfaction of the Main Library based on a survey of its users. Several universities were used to compare the data obtained from the survey in relation to the provision of library services. The results of the survey were reviewed against several leading theories such as the standard of library services and policy. The results of this comparison led to the recommendation to improve library services in the future. Gadjah Mada University consists of two buildings: Main Library I and Main Library II. Located in the central area of the University, the Main Library is located and strategically placed with easy access for every faculty. In addition to the Main Library, there are 18 branch libraries located in the faculties. Despite being fragmented across the university, every library is administered centrally by the Main Library. Research questions The study included customers' feedback to facilitate the dialogue between the library and its users s0 as to enable the provision of improved services. Using the survey as a measurement tool, it was hoped that the library would exist for the better quality of the University and the broader community. It was time to assess the users' feedback as to whether they were satisfied with current library services. This study was intended to answer the questions 'Are the users satisfied with the services of the library?' and "Which part of the library services need improvement, given the users' perspectives on user needs and level of satisfaction?' Limitation of Study This user satisfaction survey focused only on the library services and the undergraduate population they serve. The services discussed in this study were limited to library general usage, library collections, library as a place for study and services. Library general usage included the library usage and the library website Significance of Study The significance of conducting a survey is to know the customers' feelings, and needs and/or opinions about a product in order to improve the service of a company or an institution. The object of the investigation in this instance is the Main Library at Gadjah Mada University. The purpose of a library is an excellent service for customers to obtain resources for their study and research. Therefore, servicing the needs of the customers is the primary goal of any library. This user survey is one of the best ways to measure the level of user satisfaction in a library. This is a fair judgment of library services from the users' point of view. access; while library collections covered the quality of the collections, the online journals and databases, the accessibility of the library website, the library online catalogue. The library as a place included the study rooms, chairs and tables. The library services covered borrowing policy, the librarians and the opening hours. Literature Review A user satisfaction survey appears to be an important tool in library development. There are several purposes for a user satisfaction survey. Firstly, the result of the survey will help library decision makers decide which part of their service needs to be focused on. Sometimes, the limitation of the annual budget makes it impossible for the library to do everything at one time, as mentioned above. That is why a survey can help to decide the priorities. Moreover, the purpose of user satisfaction surveys is to help the library to benchmark against the standard level of resource centres in universities, which the result of the survey will help staff decide which part of their service needs to be focused on. This supported by Franklin and Nitecki (1999). Silcox and Deutch (2003), Westbrook (2001) stated that another purpose of a user survey is to assess and evaluate the quality of the service that has been provided to users. Librarians should have the perspective that the library is for users and they are there to help the library development for the users' benefit. At Gadjah Mada University library, there are adequate numbers of staff. However, it is unclear, for example, if they are able to provide maximum quality service for the lecture resources and the online journal database. SCONUL (West, 2001) has created a service survey template with three categories: encouragement, expectations and comparison. In addition to those that have a survey instrument for members, there is also a service research tool by Zietaml et al (2006) that relates to service marketing. To consider the other point of view on user surveys, in this paper, University of Western Australia (UWA) and University of Idaho (UI) were chosen. UWA is an established university in Australia and is close in stature to Gadjah Mada University, which is also an oldest university in Indonesia. UI, as another comparison, is an oldest university in the United States of America. 'UWA used The LibQual+™ for its user survey. At UWA that held the user survey in 2005, some significant findings emerged; which were more printed and electronic journals subscription and more quite space for both individual and group work. UWA used The LibQual+™ for the survey and also completed the survey by benchmarking with a partner univesity that was on the same level which was Queen's University, Canada. The LibQual+™ was also used at the University of Idaho (UI) to conduct the user satisfaction survey. The university used benchmarking to compare the result. From the UI survey, some significant findings emerged which were the issue of photocopying and microform machine, more e-journal subscriptions, new book collections, the weeding process should be more ruthlessly or put the collection in a special stack in a remote area. Another university that used survey methods to develop the library was the University of the South Pacific (USP). It conducted its first library survey in 2004. The university created its own questionnaire. From the survey, the most significant finding was the number and condition of internet workstations (Fong, 2005). ln conclusion, user surveys can be a valid measurement to improve library services as this method involves users as direct clients for libraries.

As this study observed the level of user satisfaction at the library, data were gathered using questionnaires. The interview and literature study were two additional resources for analyzing the process. In this project, the survey focused on the Main Library with undergraduate students of Gadjah Mada University as the respondents. The survey was conducted in Indonesia, but prepared in English and Indonesian. Inspired by the LibQual+ TM, this survey was organised into five general categories of interest; Library Usage, Library Collection, Library as a Place, Library Services and Personal Details. Although it was adapted from LibQual+TM, in this circumstance, all questions were adopted based on the need for specific information about the Main Library. This study used 100% population sample approach, giving the questionnaires to all users visiting the library during the data collection period. The result was analyzed one by one in a spreadsheet and presented in graphs and tables. Every question had a variable code and had a comparison of mean for numerical question. To examine better, there was an analyses about the combination of two questions in cross tabulations.

This section discusses the findings of the user satisfaction survey at the Main Library Gadjah Mada University. The survey was conducted from 1 tol5 August 2007 at the Main Library. During the two-week period, the number of the surveys filled in by the target users was 321. However, 25 questionnaires were not used because they were incomplete. Therefore, only the completed surveys were analyzed. The final number of valid surveys was 296. The survey consisted of 23 questions about the services and one question for the users to give the comment and share ideas to improve the library services. The participants were provided a Likert scale, with five choices of answers; strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree. The questions were statements about the library services and were divided into five main parts: Library Usage, Library Collections, Library as a place, Library Services and Personal Details and the space for comments. The analyses consisted of description of the frequency of answers. 2. What library facility or resource that encourages you to come to the library? The graph showed the facilities and resources that encourage the users to come to the library. There were more than 200 users decided internet accesses as their reason to come to the library. This reached the highest point of any other reasons. At the moment in Indonesia, the price of internet connection either at home or in the internet café is quite expensive and still not affordable for students. That was why the users made use of the internet connection at the library. The second place was books and journals. There were 188 users who chose the library collection of books and printed journals as the reason to come. It can be assumed that the use of collection at the library provided a substantial contribution to users' study. Chairs took place in the third position of users' choice toome to the library which reached almost 100 users. This was logical as the users could study while having internet of students 100 150 200 250 access as well as close to the books and journal collections when they were at the library. There were several other findings arising from the analysis of the survey. In the Library Usage grouping, in average, most users came to the library “weekly”, the first reason why the users came to the library was the internet access, and the users were “rarely” access the library through the website from outside of the library. In Library Collections, the findings were that the library collections met general knowledge needs of the users, for their major course of study as well as general needs. The collections of the library were old and not up to date, according to the users; the electronic journals were difficult to use to find the information; and the users still found difficulties using the library website. The summaries of findings for Library as a Place were the users felt comfortable with the supporting furnishings, tables and chairs, and study rooms in the library. The findings arising from the Library Services section were that the librarians were friendly and helpful, however, the librarians did not seem to be able to assist in finding electronic journals. In terms of global level of satisfaction, overall, the users felt “satisfied” with the library services. Personal Details, as the last section of the survey had several findings. Three most informative findings were that the majority who came to the library were first year students, male, and from the Social Sciences. Summary of users' comments and suggestions on “collections”: 1. The reference collection should be update and more new books. 2. General knowledge collection should be the main concern of the library. 3. The collection of books and magazines in other languages, especially English, were not enough. 4. The library needed policy to discard History and old books. Students from History major need them. 5. The library should replace the missing books immediately. Summary of users' comments and suggestions on “librarians” and “opening hours”: 1. The librarians did not seem to understand how to use the online resources 2. The librarians were sometimes tired and not happy; it might be from their personal lives, so this condition affected their service at the library. 3. The library should have longer opening hours, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, or even 24/7 at least for some sections. 4. Summary of users' comments and suggestions on “online journals™: 5. The students felt difficult to use online journals and needed more workshops on it. 6. The library should provide one staff on the desk for e-journal support. 7. Thelibrary should build a system to access online journals from home. 8. The users needed printed guideline beside every computer so it will be easier to operate. Summary of users' comments and suggestions on “computer and books on the shelve”: 1. The position of computerized catalogue should be changed. It was placed near the window so that the screen was so difficult to see in the afternoon because of the sunshine. 2. The library should update the database for borrowing and returning collection. Sometimes, the books in the catalogue were not available on the shelves. 3. The sign age for the books should be clearer. From the data presented, the following suggestions arose from the results, analyses and discussion. First, the collections should be updated, particularly for the Sciences major as the rapid technology was unavoidable. Second, as access to online journal was the biggest issue for the library, trainings and workshops should be provided regularly not only for users, but also for librarians. Third, there should be a pamphlet about the library as well as on online journals guide to be put near the computer terminals for users when they need help. Fourth, book availability on the library website should be an urgent consideration as this is crucial for students accessing the collection from outside of the library. Fifth, the opening hours during the weekend should be extended to provide the users an extra day in the library although not all buildings need to be open. Sixth, air conditioning was needed, not only for the comfort of the users but also for collection preservation.