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User library service expectations in health science vs. other settings: a LibQUAL+® Study
Author(s) -
Thompson Bruce,
Kyrillidou Martha,
Cook Colleen
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
health information and libraries journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.779
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1471-1842
pISSN - 1471-1834
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2007.00744.x
Subject(s) - medical library , context (archaeology) , service (business) , perception , service quality , quality (philosophy) , medline , health science , psychology , medical education , business , library science , world wide web , medicine , computer science , marketing , political science , geography , philosophy , archaeology , epistemology , neuroscience , law
Objectives: To explore how the library service expectations and perceptions of users might differ across health‐related libraries as against major research libraries not operating in a medical context; to determine whether users of medical libraries demand better library service quality, because the inability of users to access needed literature promptly may lead to a patient who cannot be properly diagnosed, or a diagnosis that cannot be properly treated. Methodology: We compared LibQUAL+® total and subscale scores across three groups of US, Canadian and British libraries for this purpose. Results: Anticipated differences in expectations for health as other library settings did not emerge. Conclusions: The expectations and perceptions are similar across different types of health science library settings, hospital and academic, and across other general research libraries.