The Effectiveness of Reference Services and Users’ Satisfaction in the Academic Library

Abstract

Library reference service is seen as one of the important activities that should be taken into consideration by the libraries to improve visibility and retain their relevancy. To have effective reference service for library users, it is essential for the libraries to maintain the accessibility, responsiveness, quality of answers and librarians’ communication. This study presents the effectiveness of reference services (service accessibilities, responsiveness of librarians, quality of librarians’ answers and librarians’ communication approaches) and its relationships with users’ satisfaction. Questionnaires were distributed to 231 random students who are using the academic library reference services. The analysis was undertaken using the SPSS software. The results indicate a positive and a weak relationship between service accessibilities, responsiveness of librarians, the quality of librarians’ answers, librarians’ communication approaches and users’ satisfaction. The finding of the study is useful for the libraries to realize their performance towards the users of the libraries. The libraries should improve reference services and vigorously make promotions on the services offered in order to ensure the libraries are still important and relevant
in this era.