نشریه تحقیقات اطلاع رسانی و کتابخانه های عمومی
پیاپی 105 (تابستان 1400)

Identifying key issues in an area is the first step in the public policy process. The purpose of this study is to identify the national policy issues of Iranian public libraries from the perspective of policy makers and experts in this field.

This research is an applied and qualitative research that was conducted using the grounded theory method. Furthermore, in order to reach a consensus in results, the focus group method was used. The research population consisted of experts and specialists in the field of public policy, cultural policy, as well as experts and specialists in the field of public libraries. The research sample included 27 members of the research population, who were selected using theoretical sampling method. In the final stage, six people were selected from 27 experts to form a focus group. The data required for this study were obtained from semi-structured interviews with members of the research sample, which were coded and analyzed using MAXQDA (a qualitative data analysis software) and Excel. In order to insure accuracy and reliability of this study, the criteria of validity, reliability, verifiability and transferability were used.

The research findings indicated that ‘lack of a common meaning of public libraries in the country (between experts, policymakers and the public)’, ‘the imbalance between decision-making and national policy-making and local policy-making’, and ‘the capability of weak managers in the field of public libraries (policy-making, decision-making and execution)’ are the national policy issues of Iran’s public libraries. Moreover, by examining the relationships between categories and considering the central categories, the issue of ‘conflict between national policy and local policy of public libraries’ was identified as the main issue of national policy of public libraries in Iran, on which the members of the focus group reached a consensus.

The positive point of this research is in that it made use of the views of both public policy makers and public libraries’ experts to identify key issues. It is one of the first studies to examine public library issues in the national policy of public libraries in Iran by using a qualitative method. Furthermore, it is original in subject and research method.

The purpose of this study is to identify the opportunities and threats of using social networking sites to create interaction in public libraries.

This is an applied research that was conducted with a qualitative approach using thematic analysis method. The study population included librarians and officials of institutional public libraries affiliated to the General Directorate of Public Libraries of South Khorasan. A non-probability (non-random), and a snowball sampling procedure was used and 25 persons were interviewed by telephone. The semi-structured type of interview was incorporated.

Excessive use of social networking sites to create interaction between librarians and users was made on Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp, respectively. Types of requests from public library users on social networking sites are divided into two main categories: information requests and promoting requests. For the main category of information requests, 36 codes were obtained, 26 of which were related to the subcategory of ‘sourcing’ and 10 of which were related to the subcategory of ‘loaning and membership’. In the main category of promoting requests, the subcategory of ‘educational-consulting’ with 28 primary codes was higher than the subcategory of ‘informing’ with 19 primary codes. Opportunities for interaction through social networking sites in public libraries were grouped into three categories: social, communication, and advertising, with promotional opportunities having the highest frequency with the first 30 codes. Threats for interaction through these networks were also grouped into three categories: functional, cultural, and content, with the most initial code being related to the category of cultural threats. Barriers to interaction through social networking sites were also categorized into two categories: human barriers and infrastructural barriers. Human barriers have two subcategories: the category of ‘socio-economic barriers’ with 24 primary codes is more abundant than the category of ‘individual barriers’. ‘Infrastructural barriers’ were also categorized into two subcategories: ‘functional’ and ‘technological’, with more initial codes devoted to technological barriers.

Use of social networking sites can help improve public libraries services, especially reference services. Social networking sites also seem to provide good opportunities for public libraries to interact, which can even lead to improvement of the position of public libraries in society. Although the threats in this area are less than the opportunities, the existing concerns about them are sometimes significant, and it is necessary to plan properly in order to reduce them.

Today, it is not possible to try to create positivity in organization by relying on traditional approaches to human resource management. Rather, it requires the adoption of an authentic leadership style which not only recognizes the importance and necessity of positivity in organization, but also can be a promoter of positivity in the organization in order to use the abilities and skills of employees to develop the organization. On the other hand, organizational mentoring is an important factor in terms of ethical competence and organizational voice and paying attention to it can directly and indirectly create the positive effects of moral competence and organizational voice for the growth and development of the organization. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to monitor the impact of authentic leadership and organizational mentoring on organizational voice with the mediating role of moral competence in public libraries of East Azerbaijan province.

The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of correlation and structural equation modeling. The statistical population included all employees of public libraries of East Azerbaijan province, which numbered 205. The sample size was estimated, based on Cochran's formula, to be 133 people who were selected by stratified random sampling. The research instruments included four questionnaires: ‘authentic leadership questionnaire’ (Avolio, Gardner and Valium, 2008), ‘organizational mentoring questionnaire’ (Gholipour, Ostadi and Naghavi, 2010), ‘organizational voice questionnaire’ (Hams, 2012), ‘moral competency questionnaire’ (Martin, and Ashtin, 2010). To measure the validity of the research tool, face or symbolic validity and convergent validity were used, which were approved by a group of professors and experts. In order to analyze the reliability of the research tool, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and combined reliability were used. The collected data have tested using SMART PLS3 software and structural equation method (SEM) to examine the causal model.

Examination of model fit indices indicates that the structural model of the research has a good fit. The results showed that authentic leadership has a significant effect on organizational voice (0.198) and moral competence (0.514). In addition, organizational mentoring has a significant effect on organizational voice (0.299) and moral competence (0.459), and moral competence has a significant effect on organizational voice (0.386). Moreover, at the level of 95% of moral competence, organizational mentoring plays a mediating role in the impact of authentic leadership on organizational voice and in the impact of organizational mentoring on organizational voice.

The present study can provide practical information for management of public libraries in East Azerbaijan province in order to improve the status of moral competence, based on the mentor-disciple relationship and the dimensions of authentic leadership and organizational voice.

The purpose of this study is to determine the role of additional book reading programs (‘Ketabkhan’ reading sessions, school reading sessions, and group reading sessions) on metacognitive awareness of reading strategies (global reading, support reading, and problem-solving reading) of high school students in the city of Sahneh, located in Kermanshah, Iran.

This research is a semi-experimental study using pretest-posttest design with three test groups and one control group. The research population included all female high school students (first to fourth grade) in the city of Sahneh in the academic year 2017-2018 )1397-1396(, whose total number was 1098. In this research, cluster random sampling was used to determine the sample size. 60 students who had criteria for entering the research were selected. The data collection tool was a metacognitive standard awareness questionnaire drawn from the reading strategies of Mokhtari and Richard (2002). Validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a group of psychology and Knowledge and Information science professors. The reliability scores of the questionnaire for the subscales of the global reading strategies, support reading strategies, and problem-solving reading strategies were 0.733, 0.829 and 0.771, respectively.

The findings of this study showed that in the ‘Ketabkhan’ reading session group, the mean score of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies in general and its components after intervention was significantly higher than before. In the school reading session group, the mean scores of meta-cognitive awareness of reading strategies in general and its components before and after intervention were not significantly different. In the group reading session group, the mean score of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies in general and its components after intervention was significantly higher than before. The findings also indicated that both methods of ‘Ketabkhan’ reading session and group reading had significant positive effect on the components of global reading, support reading, and problem-solving reading.

Book reading additional programs can make students’ metacognitive awareness of reading strategies more effective and efficient. With regard to these programs that can be applied in educational centers (at all levels), educational and cultural institutions of the country should have a thorough and coherent planning in this area.

One of the challenges facing public libraries is the use of staff tacit knowledge. In this study, the effect of organizational trust (calculus-based trust, knowledge-based trust, and identity-based trust components) on the transfer of tacit knowledge of staff of Fars Province public library in Iran was investigated.

The present study is an applied research that has collected information by using a descriptive method. The statistical population of this research included all employees of public libraries in Fars province in 2021 (350 people), from 184 individuals were selected as the statistical sample of the research through using simple random sampling method. A questionnaire taken from Fuller’s research (2018) was used to collect data. The independent variable in this research is organizational trust, which includes calculus-based trust, knowledge-based trust, and identity-based trust components. The dependent variable is the transfer of tacit knowledge, which includes two components: the desire to share and the desire to use tacit knowledge. The validity of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha and combined reliability. In order to investigate the effect of organizational trust on the transfer of tacit knowledge, confirmatory factor analysis and partial least squares technique were applied. Furthermore, SPSS and PLS software were used for statistical analysis.

The results show that the value of t-statistic, in relation to the effect of calculus-based trust on the willingness to share and use of tacit knowledge, is 2.39 and 2.87, respectively. Therefore, calculus-based trust has a positive and significant effect on the transfer of tacit knowledge. Regarding the effect of knowledge-based trust on the tendency to share and apply tacit knowledge, t-statistics are 4.94 and 6.35, respectively. Therefore, knowledge-based trust has a positive and significant effect on the transfer of tacit knowledge. Moreover, regarding the effect of identity-based trust on the tendency to share and apply tacit knowledge, t-statistics are 7.11 and 4.38, respectively. Therefore, identity-based trust has a positive and significant effect on the transfer of tacit knowledge. Furthermore, identity-based trust has a stronger effect on the tendency to share knowledge than sensory and knowledge-based trust. Calculus-based trust, knowledge-based trust, and identity-based trust have a positive and significant effect on employees’ willingness to use tacit knowledge.

The transfer of tacit knowledge is an interactive process that is basically based on trust between the parties. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the role of organizational trust in the transfer of tacit knowledge in a comprehensive and accurate manner in order to identify and remove potential barriers in this area. The results of the present study help the managers of public libraries to establish organizational trust in the relations between individuals and groups of employees, and provide the ground for the transfer of tacit knowledge in public libraries.

Disability is a biosocial reality that is defined as an obstacle to a person’s ability in doing an activity in a natural position. People with disabilities are the largest minority in the international community, and more than two-thirds of the world’s disabled people are living in developing countries. The present study aimed to identify and prioritize the most important needs of the disabled in order to design and plan suitable services for Iranian public libraries.

The present research is an applied study in terms of purpose, a descriptive-analytical one in terms of nature, and a survey in terms of the method of implementation, and was conducted during a particular period. The statistical population of this study consisted of all physically disabled, blind and visually impaired, deaf and hard of hearing people aged 15 and over 15 who were under the auspices of the Welfare Organization. Using sample power software, the sample population for every group of disabled consists of 82 people that were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling among 10 provinces of Iran. The data gathering tool was 3 researcher-made questionnaires which were used in two print (paper) and online formats. Two questionnaires related to the deaf and physically disabled, in addition to the paper questionnaire, were designed in the online format using WordPress. The questionnaire for the blind was designed by Google Form due to the need to coordinate with screen reader software. To analyze data, SPSS version 23 was used.

Friedman statistical test was used to rank the needs. The result of the study showed that expert librarians with proper behaviors, having Elevator or Lift if the library is multi-storey building, and supporting the need of disabled by managers and other responsible people were the most important needs for physically disabled persons. In the blind and visually impaired group, having elevator with a braille button if the library is multi-storey building, allocating suitable budget for providing related resources and providing access to full catalogs of audiobooks in Iranian public libraries via the Internet, were in the top priorities. Among the deaf and hard of hearing people, holding group programs and recreational trips, presence of translators familiar with sign language skills and holding sign language classes were among the top third high-priority needs.

Up till now, no research has been conducted on a population as wide-ranging as the population of this research to consider diverse needs of three groups of the disabled. Public libraries can help empower the disabled people and provide them with equal access to information by considering various needs of them, thus providing a better life conditions for them.