By Nonjabulo Ngcobo
The
University of KwaZulu-Natal Libraries are categorised as academic libraries
which are found in higher education institutions, and their aim is to support teaching,
learning, and research of their institutions. Academic Libraries serve the
scholarly and research needs of their clientele, and provide a service whereby
users’ access, or rather, have access to information resources. The University
of KwaZulu-Natal Libraries went above and beyond providing outstanding service
to the University community by providing a 24 hour service and access full
time. The Library was previously operating
from 8:00 am to 23:00 pm and also open on Sundays during exam times up until
March 2016.
A
24 hour service is not a new idea among universities in South Africa. Other academic
libraries are operating 24 hours (Ajiboye, 2013) e. g. University of Cape Town.
“The demand of users to have unrestricted access to the library and their
reluctance to leave at closing times, especially during examination periods,
and the request from the Student Representative Council informed the decision
of UKZN Library management to operate the libraries 24 hours. This has been a
remarkable transformation helped by emerging technology trends and the
evolution of the classroom beyond the classroom. Libraries are required to
continuously adapt in order to meet the ever-changing needs of their users
(Bowman, 2013). The expansion of a library’s operational hours to 24 hours is
one of the adaptive efforts, and many libraries have switched to a 24 hour
service which is far from the professional norm?. It is very important or rather
a requirement to implement various adaptive measures so that the service is
both safe and effective.
Issues with providing a 24 hour
service
Extending
hours has its concerns and challenges that involve a number of issues. Budgeting
for staffing is one of the major concerns since library budgets vary every
year. Budgeting for new positions is often the biggest barrier to offering the
extended services and hours (Sewell, 2013). Security is also a challenge as the
University provides libraries with one security guard during the day (although
24 hour security is now available). Security is a major concern as it involves
the safety of the staff, patrons, the facilities and collections. Another issue
is that the service that is offered in the evening will be or is limited since
there are no professional staff available to answer in-depth reference and
technical queries. Lastly, what is the quality of service offered during the evening?
This is a very important aspect as the main focus of the library is to provide a
service to its community.
Service Quality as an instrument/
method used to gauge library service quality
As
the library operates 24 hours it is very important to provide a quality service
to its users or community, and Service
Quality is an instrument used to identify a gap analysis of an organisation’s
service quality performance against user service quality needs. There are five
determinants of service quality namely:
· Tangibles
- the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and
Communications
material.
· Reliability
- the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.
· Responsiveness
- the willingness to help customers/ patrons and provide prompt service.
· Assurance
- the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust
and
confidence.
· Empathy
- the provision of individualised attention the library provides its customers.
How effective is the 24 hour service
to students?
· Students
have different sleeping patterns and study habits. For some students, their
most productive time of the day could be after midnight, while others are most
productive in the afternoon. A 24-hour library service is beneficial for
students who either work better at night or are unable to visit the library during
normal library hours (Peduto, 2013).
· A
24-hour service is also beneficial to international students, who tend to work
late and take the opportunity to contact family in another time zone. This assists
these students in avoiding the challenges of calling home in the residence
halls during quiet hours.
Downside
· A
downside to having 24-hour facilities is the frustration of where the money to
keep these facilities running will come from, and who would staff them as well
as the issue of security.
· Mess,
mess and more mess – overflowing dustbins and scarcity of toilet paper!
References
Ajiboye, B.A. &
Bankole, O.M. 2013. User survey of 24-
hour library service during examination
periods at Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. Journal of access service, 10:3,
172-185.
Bowman, A.C. 2013. 24-hour academic libraries: adjusting to
change. Journal of access service,
10:4, 217-239.
Peduto, M. 2013. Benefits
of 24-hour facilities outweigh drawbacks, http://www.etownian.com/campus-life/benefits-of-24-hour-facilities-outweigh-drawbacks/
[accessed on 03/03/2018].
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