Improving public library service quality in local city of Indonesia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the gap between perceptions and expectations of users on the services of West Sumatera Province Library as a public sector and determine the priority level of the requirements for the library in order to improve the quality of services based on the dimensions of the service quality. This was done using Servqual and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method. It was found that, from overall attributes, only one attribute fulfills users’ expectations (it has a positive gap), tangibles element for the attribute of cool air circulation. The ranking of the gap, for all dimensions, is the dimension of responsiveness, assurance, empathy, tangibles and reliability. It indicates that users’s expectations were not being fulfilled yet. The main benefit of this research is to understand user’s perceptions and expectations towards the services provided and to obtain the improvement priority to be taken by the West Sumatera Province Library.