Twelve years later

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use Song’s 2004 survey to assess this institution’s international business students’ perceptions and expectations of library services to improve the quality of services provided. Design/methodology/approach The authors of this study deployed Song’s 2004 survey, with his permission, to 775 international undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the Fall 2016 semester using the online survey tool Qualtrics. Findings The current study compared Song’s 2004 survey results (n = 143) with the researchers’ results (n = 149). The response rate of the current survey deployment was 19.2%. This research focused on the comparison of this institution’s Chinese business students’ (n = 71) perceptions of library use and services in 2016 with Song’s Chinese students’ perceptions (n = 24) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne (UIUC) in 2004. The researchers asked the international business students (UG and GR) to rate their perceived importance of five topics of library services: personal study area, public computers, electronic resources, group meeting space and virtual reference. Overall students (n = 149) rated personal study area as being the most important library service (4.34; moderately important) and virtual reference as being the least important library service (3.33; neutral). Originality/value Overall the library literature is limited with respect to studies that compare the perceptions and expectations of library services of international students from China, who are studying business at universities or colleges in the USA.