Acquisition of Library Resources in Iran: a Content Analysis of Last 5 Decades

In order to analyze the qualitative and quantitative content of acquisition literature on knowledge and information science in Iran, resources until the early 90s were identified, classified, and studied.

This review - analysis study is applied using the content analysis of texts. Phrases and Keywords such as "Acquisition in the Libraries", "Selecting and Preparing of Library Collection", "Collection Development", "Preparing and Ordering Books", "Book Selection", " Library Policy" and "Acquisition in Iran Libraries" were searched in all Iranian scientific databases in the field of Knowledge and information science. Finally, based on the retrieved documents, existing works in this field during 5 decades were classified and in every decade, according to the component under consideration in this study went under a content analysis.

In general, most of the published works (40.58) are allocated to the subject of need assessment. Subjects of technologies (26.66%), selection tools (18.20%) and Acquisition Policies (14.61%) were heavily considered. About half of all publications on acquisition area in the last 5 decades related to articles (195 works). 119 works (30.52%) related to theses and 76 ones (19.48%) included published books in this area. Most of the published books were authored in the area and articles done in the area, were allocated to need assessment and evaluation of resources and collections of various libraries. It seems that not all these conducted in this field have been published as a scientific paper.

The results will be led to knowledge of how to carry out research and publish works in this area, also explore the opportunities and fill the gaps in the acquisition area, and can design a practical map for researchers, authors and publishers.