Assessment of service quality in network of libraries in Portugal — SERVQUAL model

The SERVQUAL allows the measurement of the user´s perception of service quality. The present survey was made among people who regularly use the services of libraries. A questionnaire was sent to a random sample of the population and 787 answers were obtained. Data was collected from readers who attend several types of libraries: public (central and local), of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, belonging to the universities, specialized and private. The findings of this research suggest that the vast majority of the readers, despite exhibiting high degree of expectations, consider that the services of the libraries have a good quality; and the values found for the gaps are not significant. The readers´ perception of the service quality is also high considering the various types of libraries analyzed, which may eventually be considered a good indicator of the quality and performance of the professionals who work in libraries. Based on the findings of the present research we conclude that the service quality in the library network approaches significantly to what is expected by the users.