Customer care in selected academic libraries in Ghana.

This article investigates the state of customer care programmes—including policies, structures, and practices—in five selected academic libraries in Ghana and their impact on the use of library products and services. Using a mixed-method approach with data from 3,153 respondents (students, faculty, and library staff) and interviews with university librarians, the study found that while all libraries had some form of customer care initiatives, many lacked written customer service policies specific to libraries, faced inadequate funding, and had training programmes not fully aligned with staff needs. The findings indicate that effective customer care programmes improve staff performance and positively influence library usage, but challenges such as poor complaint handling and limited technology use hinder service delivery. The article recommends developing clear, library-specific customer service policies, enhancing targeted staff training, improving complaint mechanisms, and adopting modern technologies to strengthen customer care and increase patronage in Ghanaian academic libraries.