Stakeholders' Satisfaction in a non-profit Organization: the Case Study of the Library of the University of Cyprus

Abstract

Our aim with this project was to analyze the importance of Service Quality (SQ) and Customer Satisfaction (CS) while taking into consideration the engagement and the role that the stakeholders have through their involvement at the University of Cyprus (UCY) Library. We have used the LibQUAL+ as a service quality measurement tool in order to engage the stakeholders o f the Library of the UCY by providing feedback through a questionnaire. The results of the analysis and the commitment of the library to proceed with the questionnaire were part o f a journey that the UCY started few years ago with the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). The Library has been selected by the Steering Committee to act as a “role model” unit and obtain the Recognized for Excellence (R4E) certification and a prerequisite for the R4E is the feedback from the customer - user. Through this process we have analyzed feedback from 1574 users. LibQUAL+ is the adaptation o f the well known SERVQUAL in a library setting. It identifies and analyze thee dimensions: affect of service, information control and library as a place. The aim o f the analysis is to effectively allocate resources were needed; asses whether the library meets users’ expectations, for future planning purposes and at the same time identify areas that require internal or external funding. Nonetheless some of the limitations that the system has include the complicating rating, the fact that the terms minimum and desired level of service were not easily understood, user group demographics are not easily customizable, it should be repeated for better longitudinal results and also the fact that it must be combined wit other assessment tools. The results have shown that some groups o f stakeholders are satisfied with several issues however the general opinion is that the library needs to proceed with fundamental changes in order to meet the users/stakeholders needs. Assessment is an on going process that needs to be repeated for planning and decision making purposes. By using similar assessment tools with other libraries there is benchmarking for better comparison. In addition staff training and development is necessary for the improvement of the service provided to the users.