Abstract

The academic library at the Research University should show quality performance The performance of an academic library can be measured using several elements i e number of books on the shelves the treatment given by the staff the library collection is up-to-date accurate information that can shared by the staff accessibility to the internet or its online database This study is conducted to examine the service quality performance of the academic library at four 4 research universities using five 5 SERVQUAL dimensions like the library as a place its collection its access to information reliability and empathy Four 4 research universities in Malaysia were chosen to be the sample for this study namely Universiti Malaya UM Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia UKM Universiti Sains Malaysia USM and Universiti Putra Malaysia UPM The five SERVQUAL dimensions used in this study show a significant positive relationship with the performance of the academic library and this result are in line with the previous researches done by Collen Fred 2001 Junaida Aishah Mahadir Sharunizam Siti Hajjar Afida 2011 Narit Haruki 2003 and Ashok Kumar 2007 The essential lesson that all academic libraries in Malaysia can learn from this study is the academic libraries should adapt the five SERVQUAL dimensions in their daily services to enhance their performance the loyalty and the satisfaction of their users