The course deals with the concepts, principles, definitions and methodologies of Quality Management and Marketing for Information Services. The course includes a number of thematic areas such as the following: standardization, standards, certification, accreditation, quality/safety manuals development for omnibus and/or specific standards, quality awards and approaches to Total Quality Management (TQM) as well as applications of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) for Information Services of the public sector. The course also includes marketing concepts and definitions as well as marketing mix strategies for Information Services. Finally, user satisfaction surveys as well as SERVQUAL-type disconfirmation approaches for Information Services are discussed.

Upon successful completion of the course, the students will be able to:

• Define and discuss the importance for information services of quality control, quality assurance and quality management.
• Understand concepts and procedures relating to standardization, standards, certification and accreditation,
• Be aware and understand the content of quality and safety omnibus standards applied to information services.
• Understand the principles of Total Quality Management and the European Quality Award of excellence.  
• Understand the role, and the content of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) for Information services of the public sector.
• Understand the definition, role and content of the Marketing dimensions.
• Develop Marketing Mix Strategies for Information Services.
• Understand basic methods and approaches for user satisfaction surveys as well as surveys based on SERVQUAL-type methodologies

Week #1: Course content overview and clarifications for student assessment and evaluation

Week #2: Definitions and discussion of quality control, quality assurance and quality management in Information Services 

Week #3: Standardization (technical committees) - Standards - Certification - Accreditation

Week #4: Omnibus Quality and Safety Standards with application to Information Services (ISO 9000 series, ISO 14000, ISO 18000, etc.)

Week #5: Quality Manual & Controlled Documents: Quality Manual Structure - Processes - Procedures - Operations

Week #6: Examples of quality processes and procedures for information services

Week #7: Performance measurement standards for Information Services

Week #8: Impact Measurement Standards for Information Services

Week #9: Basic principles and definitions of marketing for information services

Week #10: Dimensions of Marketing for Information Services

Week #11: Marketing Mix for Information Services

Week #12: User Satisfaction Surveys 

Week #13: SERVQUAL type surveys for Information Services – Course Summary

• Banou, C., & Kostagiolas, P. (2009). “Marketing Strategies for the Printed Book in Greece: Current Issues and Survey Results”. International Journal of the Book, 6(1).
• Broady-Preston, J., & Steel, L. (2002). “Employees, customers and internal marketing strategies in LIS”. Library Management, 23(8/9), 384-393.
• Cook, C., Thompson, B., Heath, F., & Thompson, R. (2001). “LibQUAL+: service quality assessment in research libraries”. IFLA journal, 27(4), 264-268.
• Kostagiolas, P. A. (2011). “Thinking beyond quality: meeting the challenges of reliability analysis in library management”. Library Management, 33(1/2), 73-85.
• Kostagiolas, P. A., & Kitsiou, M. B. (2008). “Issues and perceptions for ISO 9000 implementation in Greek academic libraries”. Library Management, 29(6/7), 583-599.
• Town, J. S. (2011). “Value, impact, and the transcendent library: progress and pressures in performance measurement and evaluation”. The Library Quarterly, 81(1), 111-125.
• Stephen Town, J., & Kyrillidou, M. (2013). “Developing a values scorecard”. Performance Measurement and Metrics, 14(1), 7-16.

The course includes lectures and workshops. Within the course modern teaching tools and techniques are employed – an asynchronous platform with coursework material, continuous assessment, creation of working groups, etc. is utilized. Furthermore, a number of hourly lectures with invited speakers on subjects related to the course are organized. 

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Compulsory Exams as well as provisional coursework tasks are available to students (the tasks and essays always announced at the beginning of the semester). A Lesson Planning Guide is provided for the course.