Developing and psychometrics of the Service Quality Measurement Tool of Libraries and Medical Information Centers in Universities of Medical Sciences

One of the assessment methods of service quality in organizations is the gap analysis tool. The current research was conducted with the aim of designing and evaluating validity and reliability of the service quality assessment tool in libraries and medical information centers in universities of medical sciences according to the gap analysis models.

A cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the service quality assessment tool of libraries. It is considered as a tool development study that was carried out between July and September 2023. The statistical population included the users of the central library and document center of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences (students, faculty members, and staff). First, the desired tool was designed through reviewing gap analysis studies and models (LibQUAL, DigiQUAL, and LibQUAL), which are service quality assessment models from the customers' point of view, and assessing services that can be provided in the libraries of medical sciences universities. Afterwards, it was sent to 15 librarians and library staff to estimate the validity of its content (CVI & CVR). To estimate its reliability (internal consistency), Cronbach's alpha was calculated. 

The study tool included eight main domains and 76 items. According to the results obtained in the validity study of the questions, the CVR score was 72items higher than the number of the Lawshe’s table (0.49), and all these items were confirmed. The scores of four items were lower than the number of Lawshe’s table, so they were excluded from the questionnaire. In the CVI assessment, all components scored above 0.79. The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of the items with a reliability of over 0.90 revealed that all eight main domains and 72 questions had the necessary validity.

The results demonstrated that the service quality assessment tool of libraries in medical sciences universities has the necessary validity and reliability properties. Therefore, it can be used as a suitable tool for measuring the quality of library services.