FACE-TO-FACE WITH THE SOVEREIGN CONSUMER - SERVICE QUALITY AND THE CHANGING-ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS

This article considers the impact of service quality initiatives on th e role of professional academic librarians.' It is argued that these i nitiatives - by asserting the dominant role of 'sovereign' consumers - offer a powerful legitimating device which is currently being used to support radical changes in professional work. One possible outcome of this is a weakening of professional autonomy and power to unilaterall y determine levels and standards of service. The case of academic libr arians is adopted to illustrate these points. Firstly, two ideal types of library and professional organisation, developed from a review of the librarian literature, are compared. These are the 'traditional' an d the 'service quality-led' models. Following this, a case study of an academic library which has recently adopted various quality improveme nt strategies is discussed, The results of this investigation suggest that not only have service quality initiatives provided a legitimation for radical change, but they have also generated a number of unintend ed consequences and hidden costs for the users of library services. Fi nally, some of the wider problems associated with service quality init iatives in the public sector are discussed.