Purpose

The main aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which the major public university libraries in Bangladesh are meeting students' service expectations through analyzing LibQUAL+ core items.

Design/methodology/approach

The survey data were obtained from students using a paper version of the questionnaire consisting of LibQUAL+ core 22 service items at four top-ranked public universities in Bangladesh. Students rated the items on three service levels each using a nine-point scale: Minimum level, Desired level and Perceived Level. Descriptive statistics, i.e. mean and SD were obtained and service adequacy gap (SAG) scores between perceived and minimum levels were computed to see whether the libraries are meeting students' minimum expectation. Non-parametric Wilcoxon sign rank test was conducted to examine the differences between minimum and perceived scores. Finally, Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests were conducted to see the effect of students' demographic variables on their ratings on minimum and perceived scores.

Findings

The findings revealed that the service performances of major university libraries are lagging far behind from students' minimum expectation (minimum > perceived). There are significant differences between minimum and perceived scores. Significant differences are also found in students' gender, age and enrolment level concerning their ratings on minimum and perceived service levels.

Practical implications

The result of this study analyzes the service quality of major university libraries in Bangladesh. These findings can be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the library services.

Originality/value

LibQUAL+ has been used mostly in academic libraries in developed countries but this is for the first time a paper-version of the instrument was used in university libraries in Bangladesh.

中文翻译：

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孟加拉国的公立大学图书馆能满足学生的期望吗？–通过LibQUAL +核心项目分析服务质量

目的

本文的主要目的是通过分析LibQUAL +核心项目，研究孟加拉国主要公立大学图书馆在多大程度上满足学生的服务期望。

设计/方法/方法

调查数据是使用孟加拉国四所顶级公立大学的LibQUAL + 22个核心服务项目组成的问卷纸质版从学生那里获得的。学生使用九点量表在三个服务等级上对项目进行评分：最低等级，所需等级和感知等级。获得描述性统计数据，即均值和标准差，并计算感知水平和最低水平之间的服务充足性差距（SAG）分数，以查看图书馆是否满足学生的最低期望。进行了非参数Wilcoxon符号等级检验，以检验最低分数和感知分数之间的差异。最后，进行了Mann-Whitney和Kruskal-Wallis测验，以查看学生的人口统计学变量对他们的最低分数和感知分数的等级的影响。

发现

调查结果表明，主要大学图书馆的服务表现远远落后于学生的最低期望（最低>感知）。最低分数和感知分数之间存在显着差异。在学生的性别，年龄和入学水平方面，他们对最低和可感知服务水平的评分也存在显着差异。

实际影响

这项研究的结果分析了孟加拉国主要大学图书馆的服务质量。这些发现可用于确定图书馆服务的优势和劣势。

创意/价值

LibQUAL +已在发达国家的大学图书馆中广泛使用，但这是该文书的纸质版本首次在孟加拉国的大学图书馆中使用。