Measuring the service quality of the Middle East Technical University Library

As with service-based business enterprises, determining the quality of service provided by libraries is dependent on the discovery of reliable data. In modern libraries, the ability to accurately measure and evaluate quality service to users holds a significant place in determining the value of library service to users and provides a key to appraising performance and productivity. The ability to analyze performance is one of the most important factors in the successful performance of their duties for university libraries. The quality level of the various services provided by university libraries of our country cannot be defined numerically; on the contrary, libraries have usually relied on the traditional means of analysis, making judgements based on generalized observation or common opinion. In university libraries measuring quality levels of user-focused services is a core problem. The hypothesis of this research has been stated as "The quality of the services provided by METU Library can be measured and re-organized according to the dimensions of library service quality which affect service, access to information, library as place and personal control". In this thesis, the LibQUAL+T service quality measurement tool has been applied as the scale of user-focused service quality and the quality of service at the METU Library has been measured. Determining the findings and evaluating them against those found in the literature provide the results of this research