Perceptions of Library Services by Gender – a Study in Bangladesh

This is the first effort made to assess the service quality of a university library in Bangladesh from the perception of its users. This study assessed the level of service adequacy of the Independent University, Bangladesh Library (IUBL), along with the perceived differences in service quality by user group gender. A survey was conducted among the library users, especially faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. A modified version of the SERVQUAL questionnaire was used for data collection. Mean values for measures of services like minimum, expected, perceived, adequate and superior service were calculated. Mann-Whitney tests were conducted from the gap score of gender groups to see the statistical significance of differences. This has revealed that IUBL meets the minimum expectation of services in all aspects in that users thought that these services were adequate. Finally it has also been shown that there were significant differences in the rating of services by gender; on the whole, females were much more satisfied than the male users.