Strategic Factors Affecting the Integration of Digital Libraries at Universities of Medical Sciences in Iran

Integration of digital libraries is an important part of the consolidation process of information systems, emphasized by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.The purpose of the present study was therefore to identify effective strategic factors and the degree to which they affect the integration of digital libraries.
In this descriptive survey, the strategic factors were gathered through review of literature; these factors were then assessed and ranked by the Delphi panel using Fuzzy TOPSIS technique. The members of the panel were selected through snowball sampling. The factors were also assessed by library managers through a questionnaire. Responses were analyzed using Amos software to obtain the factor analysis model of the effective strategic factors.
Resalts: Although library managers and the Delphi panel members had different ideas about the degree to which the strategic factors affect the integration, there was a positive relation between these two groups (r = 0.6).
For the Delphi panel members, planning with normalized weight of 0.150 and for library managers, the policy of parent organization with a load factor of 0.97% were the most effective factors.
Strategic factors affect the integration of digital libraries. These factors are as follows: policies, strategies, requirements, planning, targets and vision of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and Medical Universities in Iran.