User Information Needs and Reference Services Satisfaction at Selected Federal Universities Libraries in North-Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

One of the most important criteria for assessing a library is the level of satisfaction its users express with the service they get. The extent to which the library is able to anticipate user needs and integrate such predictions into collection development is a crucial aspect in influencing the level of satisfaction users have with the library's service. As a general concept, "user satisfaction" refers to how satisfied users are with a service or product they have used; as a more specific term, "library user satisfaction," it is used to describe how happy library patrons are with the library's collection and services. The study used a descriptive survey technique with a sample size of 288 postgraduate students randomly selected from four different Federal Universities in Northeast Nigeria. The data was collected by closed-ended questionnaire, and the resulting psychometrics include a CRV=1 and r-coefficient of 0.83. Frequency counts and percentages, together with chi-square tests at the 0.05 significance level, were used to examine the data. The study established that graduate students asked reference librarians for the same types of information but were dissatisfied with the level of service they received from librarians at their respective institutions. The results reveal a linear correlation between all the factors; therefore, it stands to reason that the chosen universities have the same information needs and levels of user satisfaction.