Users’ Hierarchical Perspectives on Library Service Quality: A “LibQUAL+” Study

This study confirms that a single second-order factor is associated with the delivery of high-quality library services in a research university environment. However, a hierarchical factor analysis also demonstrated that research library users simultaneously think about library quality at multiple levels. The LibQUAL+ diagnostic tool, a product of the ARL’s New Measures Initiative, shows that although a single factor dominates user thinking about library service quality, all of the items used in the survey suffuse this factor. Nevertheless, several first-order factors contribute important unique information to the notion of service quality. As different types of users place varying degrees of importance on the first-order factors, the utility of the hierarchical model is demonstrated.