Propuesta metodológica para el análisis de la calidad de un servicio de bibliobús

Studies about the level of satisfaction of library users in regard to the services offered by libraries have been carried out for decades. Nevertheless, the library bus is a service that has not yet been studied profusely. This mobile service caters for the reading, study, and information access needs of population centres which, due to different reasons, do not have a permanent library service. With the aim of examining the profile of the users of this service, together with its impact and the users’ level of satisfaction, we propose a methodology of analysis which is able to capture the users’ perception of the quality of the library bus service. Importantly, our methodology is applicable to any geographical area. Accordingly, the goals of the present study are the following: (1) to identify and describe the characteristics of the library bus users in a specific region and time period; (2) to formulate proposals of intervention and improvement through the identification of the users’ needs and demands according to the results of the users’ study. The proposed methodology was defined on the grounds of three elements. First, a bibliographic revision about the state of the arts, which was based on two aspects: the current vision of the library bus service and the theoretical or normative models, such as the one by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) and the Association of Mobile Library Professionals (ACLEBIM, for its initials in Spanish). Second, we applied quantitative data analysis techniques for the collection of social and demographic data, together with statistics on the use of libraries at the local, regional, and national level. Finally, qualitative methods were employed to obtain specific information, namely a user survey (interview with the personnel in charge of the service, selection of the data collection technique, sample selection, etc.). The result was a survey. The questionnaire was selected as the method for data collection and the survey was implemented through open and closed questions which were presented and formulated to guide the user throughout the process. Future work might see how this methodology is applied to a practical case, specifically to the quality analysis of a library bus service in the Region of Murcia, a service that has been active in this Spanish autonomous community for more than forty years.