Library Management

Quality management service at the University of Malaya Library

Kiran Kaur Pauziaah Mohamad Sossamma George
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Kiran Kaur Pauziaah Mohamad Sossamma George, (2006),"Quality management service at the University
of Malaya Library", Library Management, Vol. 27 Iss 4/5 pp. 249 - 256
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Quality
Quality management service at management
the University of Malaya Library service
Kiran Kaur
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and 249
Pauziaah Mohamad and Sossamma George
University of Malaya Library, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Received 14 July 2005
Accepted 20 February 2006

Abstract
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Purpose – This paper aims to describe the steps in attaining the ISO 9001:2000 quality management
system certification at the University of Malaya Library.
Design/methodology/approach – This article includes description of the planning,
implementation and maintenance of the quality management system by the library, along with
continual improvement efforts to provide quality service to the library clientele.
Findings – Finds that the move towards a quality management system within quality standard
requirements, such as the MS ISO 9001:2000 proved challenging to obtaining the management
commitment and the reorganization of services. Customer feedback becomes the focus of on-going
planning to fulfill customer requirements. A quality management system has brought about informed
decision making and increased customer satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to only four university libraries, thus
generalization to Malaysian academic libraries is premature at this stage.
Practical implications – This paper will be helpful to libraries planning to implement a quality
management system to improve its quality service and increase customer satisfaction.
Originality/value – This paper will be helpful to libraries planning to implement a quality
management system to improve its quality service and increase customer satisfaction. As libraries
strive to provide quality services to their clients, it is important that their quality standards be
accepted globally, therefore the implementation of a quality management system based on ISO
9001:2000 may be helpful in providing clear guidelines on measuring performance.
Keywords Academic libraries, Quality assurance, Quality management, Malaysia
Paper type Case study

A brief overview of ISO 9001:2000 at the University of Malaya

The University of Malaya’s MS ISO 9001:2000 certification has instituted a quality
management system (QMS) which is internationally recognized. The quality program
and the implementation of the QMS in the University of Malaya (UM) is the result of
the vision (turned to reality) of the former Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dato’ Dr Anuar Zaini
in an effort to address the criticisms from the public and the mass media regarding the
quality of graduates produced and comments on poor management and services
offered. Increased student enrolment, increased market forces and competition, the
need for greater accountability, stringent financial control and rapid technological
developments, enhanced the need for UM to be more consistent and competitive and
thus to be internationally recognized (Fauza et al., 2003). Though other quality Library Management
Vol. 27 No. 4, 2006
assurance measures such as accreditation and benchmarking are available, UM pp. 249-256
decided on MS ISO 9001:2000 certification as the groundwork towards building her q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0143-5124
quality management system. DOI 10.1108/01435120610668188
 LM University of Malaya’s core processes are:
27,4 .
Teaching and learning;
.
Research, whereas the eight supporting processes constitute;
.
Management of human resource;
.
Estate development and maintenance;
250 .
Management of finance;
. Management of commercialization;
.
Management of student affairs;
.
Management of library services;
.
Management of residential colleges; and
.
Management of sports and cultural services.
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The implementation of QMS cuts across the main campus covering 27 responsible
centres, including the University of Malaya Library.

Quality management system at the University of Malaya Library

The success of QMS is guaranteed only if each responsible center at UM strives to
achieve relevant quality objective(s). The University of Malaya Library contributes to its
parent organization mainly through its three major core processes; acquisition, service
provision and user education. How does the library manage this? Let’s reflect upon what
Peters (1999) believes. According to him quality management is driven by two broad
ideas; first is customer satisfaction and second is efficiency. If the organization can figure
out what the customer wants and need, it can than deliver it in the same way each time
there is a demand, (fitness for purpose). The other important step would be to figure out
the most efficient way to produce or service, and reduce time and resource wastage. The
Library is using the ISO 9001:2000 quality management system requirements as a tool to
achieve this. Basically, it assists to establish policies and objectives and to achieve those
objectives. The management system can be considered as an interaction of people,
processes and procedures, as illustrated in Figure 1.
The scope of the library is to support teaching, learning and research by providing
adequate current resources, quality service and user education to its clientele,
consisting of students, faculty and the university community. The expanding student
intake, rising cost of print materials and the proliferation of electronic resources has
increased the pressure of demand on the library to provide high quality resources and
services. The QMS provides the library a means of streamlining its processes to
achieve consistency and desired customer satisfaction. The library consists of a main
library, 13 special libraries situated at various faculties and two libraries off campus. It
was important for all staff to be involved so that the processes could be consistent and
efficiency in service be achieved with minimum resource wastage. Initially, the success
of the QMS at the library was guaranteed by certain factors:

Management commitment
As early as 2000, when the university began its quality program, the library’s
management showed their commitment by carrying out various in-house workshops to
introduce all library staff to the general requirements of MS ISO 9001:2000. Dato’ Dr
 Quality
management
service

251

Figure 1.
Management systems
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Zaiton Osman, the then Chief Librarian, referred the QMS as a “jigsaw puzzle” made up
of ten pieces, (the identified core processes) of which the library was a significant piece,
especially to the teaching, learning and research component (Osman, 2003). Every
member of staff underwent the team building programs and continuous workshops
were held to instill commitment to the University’s mission and vision. Relevant staff
were involved in the documentation of processes so that it reflected the actual tasks
carried out and at the same time identify critical changes to be made for efficiency of
work. Efforts were made to provide the necessary infrastructure and facilities needed
to carry out the task. Staff were also given training on the requirements of the standard
and auditing processes.

Communication
Clear, consistent communication of values, expectations and focus made staff realize
their role and contribution to every process of the library activities that ensured quality
library services to all. The input of staff during the documentation and verification
provided a communication channel which allowed staff to discuss real problems faced
at service counters and needs of customers become more apparent. To ensure QMS is
carried out effectively, a number of workshops related to QMS have been held for the
stafff from all categories.

Reorganization
An ISO committee was formed, consisting of 11 library members and six academic
staff, to begin on documenting quality procedures. The documentation began in July
2001 and carried on till May 2002. The challenges and demands of drawing up quality
procedures are detailed in an article by Sossamma (2002). To ensure the success of
QMS, the Library Quality Committee was formed, consisting of the library’s
management, a quality manager, a documents controller, internal auditors and
representatives of the general staff. Some significant changes to the organizational
chart were evident.

Resource allocation
Top management strived to provide adequate resources for the implementation of
quality efforts, especially in human and capital resources. As activities were to be
 LM carried out based on documented procedures, adequate supplies and equipment
27,4 became necessary to accomplish the tasks. The human resource management planning
become evident as vacancies were filled and effective utilisation of staff was carried
out. Such commitment from the university allowed the library to demand finances for
improving its infrastructure; signage, computer facilities, safety and upgrading of
workspace. Budget was revised to allocate a higher amount for electronic resources.
252 After the MS ISO 9001:2000 certification, there are currently two major areas of
concern for the library:
(1) Stability of the system, in terms of:
.
documentation;
.
management commitment;
.
communication and customer satisfaction; and
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.
product realization.
(2) Surveillance and continual improvement.

University of Malaya Library has adopted the QMS encompassing the procedures,
documentation and people. The documentation structure includes a quality manual,
six main documented procedures (required by the standard), three core library
procedures (collection development, services, training and user education) with 42
work instruction, external documents and forms/records. The library also prepared ten
work manuals to ensure consistency of work done across the main library and 14 of its
branch/special libraries. The ten work manuals are:
(1) Acquisitions work manual;
(2) Cataloguing and classification work manual;
(3) Indexing work manual;
(4) ICT work manual;
(5) Bindery work manual;
(6) Microform work manual;
(7) Reader services work manual;
(8) Laws amendments work manual;
(9) Publishing work manual; and
(10) Information skills work manual.

The quality policies are underlined in the quality manual, which describes overall
commitment and intent towards satisfying specified criteria through the quality
objectives. Documented procedures specify ways to perform activities to fulfill those
objectives. External documents refer to guidelines, specifications, legislation, etc.
Whereas forms/records are formats and documents showing evidence of activities
performed and results achieved.

Achieving the quality objectives

The library began its quality movement by identifying two main objectives which
have been stated in the quality manual:
 (1) Acquisition: To prepare at least 80 per cent of the resources listed in the reading Quality
list of core and elective courses. management
(2) User education: To ensure 95 per cent of first year undergraduate students and service
20 per cent of post graduate students are given training and guidance in the
field of information skills through planned information skills programs.

Assessment of these quality objectives as shown in Table I, show that generally the 253
library has achieved the quality objectives. A formal report is sent to quality assurance
management unit (QAMU) to be presented in the Management Review Meeting held
twice a year.
These quality objectives are currently being reviewed to include service oriented
objectives and raise customer satisfaction with the services offered at the library.
University of Malaya Library has managed to adhere to her quality objective
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through four major areas of QMS:

(1) Management responsibility;
(2) Resource management;
(3) Product (service) realisation; and
(4) Measurement, analysis and improvement.
Management responsibility
The library has an ISO Committee that meets once a month. It consists of the chief
librarian, the quality manager, document controller, internal auditors and members
representing branch libraries, special libraries and infrastructure respectively.
Responsibilities and authorities of personnel are clearly defined and the
appointment of the members of the committee is to ensure the QMS is implemented
and maintained effectively. All decisions are communicated to the other staff within
the organization and also to the patrons of the library. Among the means of
communication are notice boards, e-mails and the library web site.

Resource management
Resource management encompasses human resource, infrastructure and work
environment of the organization. At the library, the management is committed to
continually improve the skills and competencies of the staff through training. A
training and competency based matrix has been prepared to facilitate planning for
staff development. Currently, the University funds two librarians a year to pursue their
Masters degree. Staff competencies are enhanced through participation in various

2003/2004 (%) 2003 (%)

Acquisition: To prepare at least 80 per cent of the resources 82.9 80.6

listed in the reading list of core and elective courses
User education: To ensure 95 per cent of first year 98.6 per cent under 95.6 per cent under
undergraduate students and 20 per cent of post graduate graduate graduate
students are given training and guidance in the field of 26.5 per cent 21.1 per cent Table I.
information skills through planned information skills post-graduate post-graduate Achievement of quality
programs objectives
 LM training programmes such as seminars, conferences and workshops. Awareness
27,4 towards ISO for new staff is heId by QAMU every two weeks and the library ensures
the relevant staff are sent for these awareness session so that they are aware of the
relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the
achievement of the library’s quality objectives. All record of training, skills and
experience are maintained. To date there are two librarians who are certified Lead
254 Auditor for UM, one who is also a member of QAMU. There are also 11 librarians, who
are internal auditors for UM, trained by QAMU.
The library faces many challenges in the area of infrastructure and work
environment. Since computer facilities are essential to the success of the services
offered, ISO has provided the appropriate methodology for infrastructure
management. One of the support process identified in UM’s QMS is Estate
Development and Maintenance. The commitment towards conformity to standard
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procedures have brought about radical improvement in the infrastructure management

at the library. All complaints are handled through an online complaint centre and
attended with immediate effect.

Product realization
The product/service in relation to the ISO 9001:2000 standard for UM has been defined
as “the experience of receiving an education”. The library strives to provide quality
experience of receiving current information and quality service. The ISO certification
standard is one key way of assuring that the service to the library patron (customer) is
delivered as promised. Documented procedures are used to ensure every activity
promised is carried out to the satisfaction of the patron. Product realization is the
sequence of processes and sub-processes required to achieve the product or service. It
involves planning, customer related processes, design and development, purchasing,
product and service provision and control of monitoring and measuring devices.
Therefore every process which involves the library patron, beginning from
registration, loans, learning environment, facilities, user education – class schedule,
curriculum content, evaluation, monitoring, etc. are streamlined through written
documented procedure that ensures work is carried out consistently and towards
achieving the quality objectives or quality indicators that have been pre-determined.
Information technology (IT) has played a major part in this aspect.

Measurement, analysis and improvement

Customer satisfaction
A suggestion box has been provided at each library for library patrons to be able to
channel their suggestion or complaints. Complaints/suggestions/feedback form
(UM-PT00-PK08-BR001) and customer satisfaction form for counter service
(UM-PT00-PK08-BR002), a formal form (controlled document) is placed at each box
to facilitate the management of the suggestions/complaints and to channel them to the
right authorities to be handled. Every suggestion/compliant is recorded and action
taken is given as feedback to the person concerned. A monthly meeting of the ISO
committee discusses the issues and relevant action is decided upon, which are not only
corrective in nature but also preventive, so that the re-occurrence of the problem is
minimized. At the University level, a monthly meeting with the management
 representative (MR) ensures the smooth carrying out of this and action taken is Quality
reviewed by the quality manager. management
Customer satisfaction is measured at predetermined intervals. The library
carried out a customer satisfaction survey in early February 2003 to identify major service
customer concerns and measure customer satisfaction. This, together with
complaints/suggestions/feedback form from users and a separate survey carried
out by the reader services division, revealed a 60 per cent negative response rate 255
related to finding and locating books on the shelves. As a result, the library
carried out a continual improvement project entitled “Toward a more effective
system of supervising staff and a more efficient work procedure for shelving” in
August 2003.

Internal audit
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The measurement of quality often appears to be difficult. However, in ISO 9001:2000

QMS, an audit is carried out to verify conformity (fulfillment of requirements)
effectiveness (extent to which a planned activity is realized and planned results
achieved). To date, there have been five first party audits (internal audits) carried out at
University level. Before each audit the library conducts its own internal audit to ensure
conformity of processes to documented procedures. Detection of non-conformance has
two bearings, it is either the process has been carried out not in accordance to the
documented procedure or the more important is the realization that procedures need to
be changed according to circumstances or changing user needs. It is important to
understand that documented procedures are not a hindrance to change, but the
standard requires that continual improvement is carried out.

Continual improvement
Quality standards provide requirements for quality management systems and
guidance for performance improvement. Continual improvement is not necessarily
continuous improvement. It may not be happening all the time but improvement efforts
may be intermittently applied to achieve the desired consistency in fulfilling
requirements and the activities go beyond requirements. The PDCA (Plan, Do, Check,
Adjust) cycle is most useful in describing the efforts of continual improvement.
The objectives of the survey done on February 2003 were to investigate whether
students use the library collection and for what purpose; to investigate whether
students are aware of and use the services offered by the library; and whether students
are aware of the user education programmes offered by the library. Students have also
recorded satisfaction with various services provided by the library. The findings show
that the majority of respondents (both undergraduates and postgraduates) use print
resources more than electronic resources. Among those using electronic resources, the
postgraduates use them more than the undergraduates.
Since the findings have shown that electronic resources are not heavily used by
post-graduates and undergraduates, the library has come up with another continual
improvement project entitled “Promoting the usage of online databases”. In this
exercise, the technical, marketing and searching skills of those accessing the databases
via the interactive portal in the library homepage will be analyzed. The library aims to
increase by 30 per cent as compared to the year 2004, the usage of online databases by
postgraduates and academic staff.
 LM The continual improvement project entitled “Toward a more effective system of
supervising staff and a more efficient work procedure for shelving” has succeeded in
27,4 reducing the problem of not locating the books in the shelves. It has also increased the
user satisfaction towards the services offered in the library. It is worth mentioning that
this project won the Bronze Medal in a competition for continual improvement project
organized by QAMU. These surveys also give the library much leverage to prepare its
256 collection and services to meet the needs of its customers.

Conclusion
The University of Malaya Library has over the past few years ventured into the
benefits of ISO 9001:2000 as a means of streamlining its processes in order to be
compatible and competitive with other institutions at the national, regional and global
level. The MS ISO 9001:2000 has certainly provided clearer working procedures, better
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team spirit among the staff, better control of processes, reduced wastage, and better
relations with customers. Though the certification is only a beginning of the quality
improvement journey, management commitment, conducive environment and good
relations with customers is a definite indication of quality assurance in education.

References
Fauza Ab, F., Mashkuri, Y. and Siti, M. (2003), “MSISO9001:2000 certification and the
internationalization of University of Malaya”, paper presented at the 15th International
Conference on Assessing Quality in Higher Education, University of the Western Cape,
South Africa, July.
Peters, J. (1999), “Educational accreditation through ISO 9000”, Quality Assurance in Education,
Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 85-9.
Sossamma, G., Mohamed, P. and Kaur, K. (2002), “In pursuit of quality – towards MS ISO
9001:2000: the experience of the University of Malaya Library”, Kekal Abadi, Vol. 21 No. 2,
pp. 1-6.
Osman, Z., Kaur, K. and Udin, Z.S. (2003), “A survey of student satisfaction at the University of
Malaya Library”, Kekal Abadi, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 1-17.

Further reading
Huyink, D. and Westover, C. (1994), ISO 9000, Irwin Professional Publishing, New York, NY.
Lee, T. (1999), “The experience of implementing ISO 9001 in a small university workshop”,
Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 14 Nos 1/2, pp. 36-9.
Rada, R. (2004), “We need more standards like ISO 9000”, available at: www.acm.org/tsc/ios9000.
htm (accessed April 2004).

Corresponding author
Kiran Kaur can be contacted at: [email protected]

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