Abstract—Libraries consider the use of the Six Sigma strategy an interesting topic, since it is an effective approach to dealing with products, processes, and services in a simple and cost-effective manner and it meets customers’ needs and expectations. The Six Sigma approach is spreading in manufacturing, but implementation of Six Sigma in the service sector remains limited. This paper discusses the application of Six Sigma in library services. The application of Six Sigma standards offers an opportunity to improve the library’s performance and the quality of services that it provides while maximizing user satisfaction and ensuring on-time delivery, with an emphasis on cost-effectiveness.
Keywords— Quality; Library; Six Sigma; TQM; Lbrary
The acquisition and organization of information and the dissemination of content is the main task of libraries. The library serves as a link between generations of information, and it disseminates this information digitally. Libraries are not-for-profit service organizations [1]. The main objective of every academic library is to anticipate and meet the users’ needs and demands. Libraries must always aim to provide high-quality services with the available resources. A popular catchphrase is “The customer is king.” Library users are defined as customers, and customers are becoming more aware of their rights. Achieving a quality service considers as a never-ending journey, as there is always room for improvement. In this journey, information providers cannot claim to have reached their destination. However, by continuously improving, they will reach milestones in delivering quality services to users. To improve the quality of service for users, information providers must devise new ways to collect feedback from library
The extent to which users’ demands are met is measured by the users’ level of satisfaction with the current service and any particular request or suggestion from the user related to the objectives of the library. User satisfaction with the library can be evaluated by quantitatively measuring the difference between the user/customer expectations and the actual service experienced by the user. User satisfaction varies according to the degree of pre-expectations and the actual quality of service.
There are various reasons for users to identify the discrepancy between the expected and actual quality of the service provided by the library. The main aim of the library is to meet the demands of every user. However, it is impossible to satisfy completely all the users’ requests. Thus, it is reasonable to determine the categories of services related to the objectives of the library and to assess whether they meet users’ urgent demands. Doing so helps maximize user satisfaction given the limited resources of the current