Abstract:
The aims of this paper are to assess the students’ perceived levels of library service quality, satisfaction with the library
service, frequency of use of library resources, and whether there are relationships among these constructs. A survey
research method using LibQUAL+TM instrument was used to collect data from a sample of 400 students at the National
University of Lesotho (NUL). Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to students during class hours.
Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data. As expected, factor analysis of LibQUAL+TM items
yielded 3 factors - affect of service, information control and library as a place. On average, the respondents perceived low
service quality from the library staff and the extent to which library patrons can easily access and control information. The
majority of respondents also rarely used the library website. There was a strong and positive correlation between all
attributes of library service quality and satisfaction with the library. Even though some attributes of the library service
quality had positive correlations with the use of library website, there was only a slight significant relationship between
information control and the use of library website in the regression analysis. There was no relationship between
satisfaction and frequency of library usage. The paper concludes that LibQUAL+TM has acceptable applicability in
Lesotho, and further recommends how affect of service and information control dimensions of library service quality at
NUL can be improved.
