Project Description
Customers have different service needs and expectations of a service and require service delivery to conform to these needs and expectations. It is important to take cognizance of in addressing the problems faced by the customers. Within library services, efforts geared towards filling the gaps between perceived expectations and perceived performance should be tailored to meet the needs of clients.
This becomes more poignant when analyzed from the perspective that librarians generally view customers or patrons through the prism of their collections. There is need to gain insights into effective strategies for flipping this to see library collections through the eyes of the customer.
The justification of this project revolves around the understanding that effective tailoring of library services towards the needs and expectations of the customer calls for deep knowledge in customer’s perspective. Audit Commission (2002) posits that by “explicitly addressing the value propositions with the aims of adding value and reducing irritation, student satisfaction with library services can be easily achieved.”
However, great deals of literatures on customer satisfaction within both for-profit and non-profit organizations abide in the fact that the capacity to consistently deliver quality services revolves around the ability to tailor products through the eyes of the customer. Successful completion of this research project demands a number of resources and support from stakeholders.
These include financial support, access to library data, access to articles, reports, and publications on the topic and approval of ethical considerations to carry out the research.
Research Objectives
Assumptions of customer perceptions by library staff are not always accurate (Applegate, 1993). In fact, librarians generally view their customers or patrons through the prism of their collections. This project seeks to examine effective strategies for seeing library collections through the eyes of the customer as opposed to viewing the customer through the prism of library collections.
Expected Outcomes and Benefits
This project seems to serve as a reminder to all library managers that they must deviate from viewing their customers through the prism of their collections. In fact, the project seeks to instill a culture of library service delivery that draws from the experiences of needs and expectations of the customer.
The strategies for achieving expectations of the client must therefore take cognizance of the view of the customer (Cullen, 2001). It is expected to form the basis on which library managers may find a cocktail of effective strategies in seeing their collections through the eyes of their customers, thereby acquiring the capacity to achieve customer satisfaction.
Budget Plan
Time Plan
It is expected that the research will follow the time scale as indicated below.
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007).
References
Applegate, R. (1993). Models of User Satisfaction: Understanding False Positives, RQ, 32 (4): 525-539.
Audit Commission (2002). Building Better Library Services: Learning from Audit, Inspection and Research. London: The Audit Commission.
Cullen, R. (2001). Perspectives on User Satisfaction Surveys. Library Trends, 49 (4): 662-686.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2007). Research Methods for Business Students. London: Pitman