ENHANCING SERVICE QUALITY FOR LIBRARY USER SATISFACTION AT THE COLLEGE OF INSURANCE NAIROBI, KENYA

Abstract

Satisfaction for library users has been a concern of researchers and practitioners alike in the library and information sciences field. For academic libraries to succeed in supporting effective teaching, research and learning missions, they must become more user-focused in delivering their services. The study aimed to investigate service quality for user satisfaction at The College of Insurance Library in Nairobi, Kenya, and recommend strategies that can be used to enhance it. The specific objectives of the study were to; Establish the services offered at the College of Insurance Library; Determine the level of service quality at the College of Insurance Library; Examine whether there exist relationships between service quality and library user satisfaction at the College of Insurance Library; Determine the challenges faced in the provision of quality information services and propose strategies to enhance the quality of services at the College of Insurance Library. The Value Expectancy Theory, Assimilation Contrast theory, and SERVQUAL and LibQUAL+™ Instruments informed the study. The study employed convergent mixed methods approach methodology. The target population was 1660, including 1500 students, 155 academic staff and five library staff, of which a sample of 433 was selected, which comprised 316 users (students), 112 academic staff and five librarians. A purposive sampling technique was used to determine all the library staff. Simple Random sampling was used to select academic staff and students. Qualitative data was collected through semi structured face-to-face interviews and analysed using thematic analysis, while quantitative data was collected through questionnaires and analysed using SPSS 21. The findings indicated that: The College of Insurance Library offered inadequate services; the service quality was average, and finally, the study established customer relations from the staff. The study concluded that the library should listen to its users and use the feedback to improve service quality. It further recommends staff training and motivation, increased working hours, the need for more library staff, enhanced security and constant evaluation of the services. This study contributes to the existing studies examining service quality and library user satisfaction, and its empirical results may be helpful to the College of Insurance Library management in helping to bridge service quality gaps.