Understanding the Essentials of Total Quality Management (TQM) for Library and Information Management in Academic Settings

Abstract

TQM is a holistic and systems approach aimed at satisfying the customer requirements on a continual basis by involving everyone in the system, and at a lower cost. It has three basic principles: i) customer driven instead of generator driven, ii) focus on processes rather than be preoccupied with results, and iii) total involvement of staff. The authors have enumerated the characteristics of TQM. In the changing information environment, the academic libraries have to adopt TQM for their survival. Benifits of TQM for academic libraries and barriers for its implementation are also provided. Quality is a very important tool for application of TQM in academic libraries which can be measured, managed and improved by measuring rod of customer satisfaction.