Training Needs Assessment of librarians of the National Library and Archives of the Islamic Republic of Iran

To review, clarify and prioritize the training needs of librarians of National Library and Archives of I.R.I in occupational groups of Information, Providing, Listing and Organizing.
This research was applied and the used method was descriptive survey. Statistical population of this study consisted of 400 librarians of National Library and Archives and on the basis of Morgan standard tables, 120 people were randomly chosen as a sample from among the three occupational groups. For assessment of existing and desired capabilities and professional skills of librarians three questionnaire were used. The validity of questionnaire was confirmed by librarianship experts and reliability coefficient was accepted by using Cranach’s alpha. The results of study by using descriptive statistics (Frequency, percentage and mean) and inferential statistics (Kalmogorov-Smiranov Test, Paired Sample t test) were analyzed and eventually priorities were determined.
Findings: occupational group of Information with %45.5 had the most needs and the groups of Providing with % 29.9 and Listing and Organizing with %24.7 had respectively the second and third priorities as educational needs. In the group of Information from the total of 35 skills , 30 skills were instantaneous need and 5 skills were Ongoing need. In the group of Providing from the total of 23 skills , 3 skills were instantaneous need and 20 skills were Ongoing need and in the group of Listing and Organizing , from the total of 22 skills , 11 skills were instantaneous need and 8 skills were Ongoing need.
The most basic step in developing the implementation of the training program, is proper implementation of the assessment process and using its outcome. Despite a large extent of the respondents was familiar with most skills, but they announced them as educational needs. Thus, it is worthy to be considered for retraining in case of deterioration of the current situation.