Abstract

The purpose of this study is to apply the Servicescape, which is used to measure the spatial services in marketing, to the studies on university libraries, in order to identify the influence of the library spaces and facilities on the satisfaction and continuance intention of the users of university libraries. For this purpose, questionnaires and in-depth interviews were conducted for users in ten private universities located in Seoul. Servicescape factors of the libraries showed that cleanliness, comfort, aesthetics, and convenience had a significant influence. Of these, convenience turned out to have the highest level of influence upon satisfaction, followed by cleanliness, aesthetics, and comfort. Descriptive statistical analysis showed whether there were significant differences in satisfaction and continuance intention based on the differences in the characteristics of the samples. Findings show that it would be necessary to provide spaces that can accommodate the various functions of a university library; seek advancement of the services; and develop the spaces of a library in consideration of cleanliness, comfort, aesthetic, and convenience. This study introduced the concept of Servicescape for the first time in the field of library and information science. This study implies that the results assist a more detailed analysis for the Library as Place dimension of LibQUAL+, and provide a new guideline for practitioners who design library spaces.