Users’ experiences of reference services in Thai academic libraries

Abstract

This research aimed to analyse the user experiences of reference services in academic libraries based on the marketing mix 7Ps concept. The sample was instructors and students from eight national research universities in Thailand. Questionnaires were returned by 337 instructors (86.41%) and 399 students (100%). The results show that the component of the marketing mix 7Ps that was most important for reference services according to the users was people (β = .881), followed by place (β = .868), promotion (β = .863), product (β = .856), price (β = .854), process (β = .805) and physical environment (β = .789). When considering product, the most important services were counselling, research information seeking, instruction and answering, respectively. The results of this marketing mix 7Ps study reveal users’ attitudes with regard to various aspects that can be integrated with service design and create a model for developing library service innovation.