Distance-Learning Students’ Perceptions of the Quality of Digital Services in Academic Libraries

Abstrak

The role of digital library services in higher education institutions includes serving as a means of information access and bridging students' information needs beyond the institution's physical reach. This study aims to analyze the students' perception in remote locations regarding the quality of digital library services at UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung. The research method is descriptive, employing the LibQual+TM library quality measurement, which is based on three dimensions: Service Affect, Access to Information, and Personal Control. Data collection was conducted using questionnaires covering these three dimensions, followed by descriptive statistics and the LibQual+TM gap measurement model. The results indicate that the quality assessment of digital library services at UIN Sunan Gunung Djati for each dimension—Service Affect, Access to Information, and Personal Control—has a positive Adequacy Gap (AG) score, indicating it falls within the zone of tolerance, and that the minimum expectations are met. However, the Superiority Gap (SG) scores across all dimensions are negative, indicating that students perceive the digital services as not yet meeting ideal expectations. Based on these assessments, the library can improve service quality by developing programs to enhance the competencies of digital service libraries, increasing the variety of digital information through interlibrary cooperation, and providing digital literacy training for students.