A    DOCTORAL RESEARCH

Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri has awarded Ph.D. degree (June 2002) in Library and Information Science to Manjunatha K, Librarian, TAPMI, Manipal for his research study on “Quality of Library and Information Services: A study of Customer Satisfaction in Academic Libraries”. The study was carried out in libraries attached to postgraduate institutes situated in Undivided Dakshina Kannada District of Karnataka under the guidance of Dr. D. Shivalingaiah, Reader in department of Library and Information Science, Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri.

 In his study Dr. Manjunatha measured Quality of Library Facilities and Services from customers’ (library users) perspective using an adapted standard survey instrument called SERVQUAL developed by marketing experts-Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml. He measured customer expectations, their perceptions (experiences) and the magnitude of gap between perceptions and expectations. He observed the discrepancy between customer expectations and their perceptions. The gaps were significant in reliability of services, responsiveness of staff and the comprehensiveness of resources & facilities provided in their library. The study also analyses the customers’ visiting pattern to the library and their post-service behaviour issues related to overall satisfaction, willingness to speak good words about the library and nature of complaints.

B    RESEARCH PROJECT

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR ), Government of India, New Delhi has Awarded a major research project to  TAPMI to study “Impact of Technology on Quality of Services in Technical and Management Libraries in  Karnataka” with Manjunatha as principal investigator. The research project has been successfully completed and final report has been submitted to DSIR with several recommendations during February 2007 for devising action plans. 

The primary objective of this study is to understand the status of technology supported resources, services and customers’ perceptions of quality of the same in Technical and Management libraries in Karnataka state.

In the first phase, the data was collected on IT supported resources and services provided by the libraries of Technical and Management Institutes in Karnataka. Of 153 technical and management libraries in the state, the study received 116 responses resulting in 75.8% of response rate. In the second phase, data related to customer expectations and perceptions of services provided in their institute library were obtained from a cross section of users of select Technical/Management libraries in Karnataka. It received 1697 responses from a cross section of users’ community (faculty, research scholars and postgraduates) in select technical and management libraries. An attempt was been made to obtain library data from IIT/IIM websites and to obtain customers’ perceptions of quality of library services from a cross section of users for the purpose of benchmarking. The study also obtained 703 responses from users of IIT/IIM libraries through web-based survey.

The results of the study show that there is wide gap in resources and services provided by respondent libraries in Karnataka as compared to the same available in IIT/IIM libraries. It also observed a gap in customers’ perception of quality of library resources and services against their expectations. The study identifies some features that could influence customers’ expectations and their perceptions of service quality. The customers’ satisfaction level, past experience, word of mouth, preference attached to institute library, opinion about adequacy of resources do have positive impact on customer expectations and perceptions. The results of the study are revealing, and invite attention of institutions and policy makers for devising appropriate action plans.

The full-text of the report is hosted by DSIR on its website and it can be accessed from: http://dsir.nic.in/reports/tifp/tapmi/tapmi_report.pdf

MPHIL RESEARCH GUIDANCE

Alagappa University, Karaikudi and Annamalai University, Madhurai have recognized him as guide  for MPhil Dissertation work for their distance education in Library information Science. Mr. Ganapathy Bhat, Librarian of SMS college Bramavar has been awarded Mphil degree during 2006 under his guidance and other four students( Mr. Muralidhara of TAPMI, Mr. Rajashekharaiah of KIAMS,harihar; MR. Nagesh of MIT and Mrs. Jayanthi of MAHE Library have submitted their dissertation (July 2007). Currently five  candidates (Mr. Ramesh, Ms. Yashoda, Mr. Premkumar, Mr. Devendra and Ms. Prafulla) are pursuing their Mphil Dissertation work under his guidance.

(2006) Guiding informally two PhD Candidates (Mangalore and Mysore University) for data analysis.

OTHER RESEARCH

(2006): Jointly working with Prof. Simon George for his research work for writing a case study on Kasturba Hospital, Manipal.