AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ______________________________________________________ Mark Swails Presented on: April 4, 2018_______________________________ Title: Non-user Perceptions of Community College Library Service Quality______ Abstract approved: ______________________________ James Walther, Ed.D. The goal of this quantitative research project is to explore perceptions of community college library services among those who never or rarely use them (‘non- users’). The purpose is to fill a gap in the Library and Information Science (LIS) literature related to non-users and use this new understanding to illuminate the broad base of support libraries enjoy among all those who positively perceive the library, whether they use it or not. A fuller understanding of non-user perceptions could allow library leaders to better demonstrate the value they bring to their campuses beyond mere usage through functions such as recruiting students and faculty, signaling quality, and promoting a culture of scholarship. This may allow them to garner additional resources or avoid resource cuts and thus more effectively achieve their missions. The theoretical base in this study is drawn from Signaling Theory and Stakeholder Theory. The current project analyzes 1,200 respondents collected using the Association of Research Libraries’ (ARL) LibQUAL+ survey instrument at a large, Midwestern community college in the Spring of 2016 using a 3 x 5 mixed-design ANOVA. Non-users are defined as those who report never making use of the library premises. Their perceptions of service quality along three dimensions were compared with four other respondent groups, those who report using the library daily, weekly, quarterly, and never. Results indicate non-users’ perceptions of library services are largely positive and similar to more frequent user groups. Just 2% of the differences in perceptions of service quality are explained by usage level. Pairwise comparisons indicate no significant difference in perceptions between non-users and quarterly users, and found small effect size differences between non-users and daily users, non-users and weekly users, and non- users and monthly users. These findings suggest that non-use of the library does not necessarily indicate low perceptions of its quality. Library leaders looking to improve usage should focus instead on curriculum integration, faculty outreach, or stronger marketing. Having services that are perceived to be of high-quality is not enough to drive traffic to community college libraries. Excellent marketing, outreach, and a broader understanding of stakeholders is also vital. Keywords: non-users, community college libraries, perceptions of service quality, LibQUAL+ NON-USER PERCEPTIONS OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE LIBRARY SERVICE QUALITY By Mark J. Swails Westwood, KS April 4, 2018 ---------- A Dissertation Presented to EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY ---------- In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy The School of Library and Information Management ____________________________________ Wooseob Jeong, Ph.D. Dean of the School of Library and Information Management ____________________________________ Jerald Spotswood Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School and Distance Education ____________________________________ James Walther, Ed.D. (Chair) ____________________________________ Neal Luo, Ph.D. (Committee member) ____________________________________ Laura Spears, Ph.D. (Committee member) ____________________________________ Mark J. Swails (Candidate) ii ACNOWLEDGEMENTS There are a number of people who have supported my graduate education and completion of this dissertation, and this document would be incomplete without acknowledging their help and sacrifice. First, I would like to thank my dissertation chair, Dr. James Walther, for his invaluable expertise and commitment of time to my graduate training. Dr. Walther, my years working with you have been some of the most enlightening of my career. I am a strong librarian, researcher, and thinker because of you. Your advice and support will not be forgotten. I would also like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Neal Luo, for his invaluable guidance on the statistical analysis in this work, and Dr. Laura Spears for her insightful assessment perspective. As I hope you know, your contributions to this project have been invaluable. Finally, I would like to thank all of the faculty at the School of Library and Information Management from whom I have learned so much. The ideas and topics of this work were first explored in your inspiring classes. Thanks are also due to the administration, faculty, and leadership of the Billington Library and Johnson County Community College who supported the data collection of this work and permitted me the time and space for me to complete my graduate training as well as this project. In addition to my professional supports, I must also thank my wife, Lisette Swails, who has been an invaluable support, intellectual partner, and dauntless editor for my work. Leni, I could not have completed this work without you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS AKNOWLEDGEMENTS . iii TABLE OF CONTENTS . iv LIST OF TABLES . v LIST OF FIGURES . vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION . 1 2 LITTERATURE REVIEW . 21 3 METHODS . 73 4 RESULTS . 106 5 DISCUSSION . 125 REFERENCES . 165 iv LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER 3: METHODS Table 1 . 92 Data Representativeness by Sex Table 2 . 92 Data Representativeness by Discipline Table 3 . 95 Data Representativeness by Sub-Group Table 4 . 97 Respondent profile by Age CHAPTER 4: RESULTS Table 1 . 109 Descriptive statistics of each user group by dimension of service quality Table 2 . 115 Levene’s Test of Equality of Error Variances Table 3 . 116 Box’s Test of Equality of Covariance Matrices Table 4 . 118 Mauchly’s Test of Sphericity Table 5 . 120 Mean difference and effect size comparison of non-user group with other user groups 121 Table 6 . 122 Multivariate tests of significant differences between the LibQUAL service dimensions (RQ3, H6) and the interaction effects between the service dimensions and usage levels (RQ4, H7) Table 7 . 122 Tests of within subject effects for significant differences between the LibQUAL service dimensions (RQ3, H6) and the interaction effects between the service dimensions and usage levels (RQ4, H7) v LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER 3: METHODS Figure 1 . 93 Data representativeness by reported primary discipline. Figure 2. 96 Data representativeness by respondent sub-group CHAPTER 4: RESULTS Figure 1. 110 Box plot of responses to all LibQUAL+ items by user group. Figure 2. 111 Box plot of responses to all LibQUAL+ ‘Affect of Service’ items by user group. Figure 3. 112 Box plot of responses to all LibQUAL+ ‘Information Control’ items by user group. Figure 4. 113 Box plot of responses to all LibQUAL+ ‘Library as Place’ items by user group. Figure 5. 117 Percent of Respondents by self-reported usage level. Figure 6. 123 Estimated marginal means for each usage group for each service dimension. vi 1 Chapter 1: Introduction The purpose of this research project is to describe perceptions of academic libraries among those who never or rarely use library services (‘non-users’). The goal is to use this new understanding to empower library leaders to broaden their base of support to include all those who positively perceive the library, whether they use it or not. Background: User Focus in LIS For the last several decades (Dalrymple, 2001; White & Stone, 2010), the academic discipline of Library and Information Science (LIS) and practicing information professionals have emphasized users and usage. Ranganathan (1931) proposed the now famous “Five Laws of Library Science,” a direct reference to physical laws from the hard sciences, most notably including Newton’s Laws of Motion. Ranganathan’s very first law emphasizes usage: “Books are for use.” However, despite Ranganathan's first law, the field of LIS remained largely focused on systems and collections until the late 1970’s when scholars such as Dervin and Zweizig explicitly championed a new paradigm for LIS which placed users at the heart of the field (Dalrymple, 2001). Rather than study libraries, collections, or library systems, these scholars argued that both librarians and LIS scholars should instead focus their attention on their users and uses or risk irrelevance (Dervin, 1977; Zweizig, 1976; Zweizig, 1977; Zweizig & Dervin, 1977). Dervin and Nilan (1986) noted that this trend had solidified into a recognizable body of literature and summarized it in Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. 2 This user-focused paradigm has remained dominant in LIS for the last four decades (Dalrymple, 2001). Gap in Literature Non-User Studies in LIS Literature This emphasis on users and usage has created a notable gap in non-user studies in the LIS literature. Because the field emphasized users and usage, few scholars adopted non-users as a research topic. This gap has been in place for decades and while there have been a few studies on non-users, the lack of literature and need for further studies on non- users has been a persistent consensus. Klintoe (1977) issued the first call for user research in the late 1970’s. Slater (1981) identified non-users as a “neglected resource.” However, the gap persisted through the late 1990’s. In a theoretical exploration of non-users, Sridhar (1994) laments that “user research has totally ignored the study of non-users”