leila maktabifard

This research is dedicated to assessing information behaviors of children and adolescents’ interaction with print and digital books. To reach this goal، digital books of Iranian virtual library for children and teenagers، have been used as sources of research. The purpose is assessing the influence of participants’ gender، age and graphical effects of books، with their preference in choosing type of books. A mixed method was used; qualitative method to investigate the information behaviors and quantitative statistics to answer some of questions. Samples were selected based on members’ availability، which ultimately thirty-two of them have been chosen equally between boys and girls. Data were collected using observation and semi-structured interviews and recording speech data. The findings showed that %70 prefer print format to digital one. The gender of children and graphic effects of books did not influence on members in choosing the format. As children age، their desire in choosing print type gets stronger، while younger children approach digital book as entertainment. Print books caused more enthusiasm in children to continue reading. It seems that browsing print books is much easier and pleasant for children than digital books. Print books are least succeptable to distractive factors، thus، they are more suitable for long reading.

Aims to estimate feasibility of funding a national archive for Iranian documentaries as one of the most authentic and reliable information resources for researchers. Data is gathered using interviews and from archival and library resources. As documentaries emphasize reality and generally do not have imaginational elements, documentary makers need to do extensive research before they start shooting. Also, there are some similarities between a peer reviewed article and a documentary. However, Problems of copyright and distribution has banned researchers from access to documentaries in Iran It is suggested that the Iranian National Library and Archives, develops an comprehensive archive of Iranian documentaries to overcome the problem of lack of access.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the additional services offered in public libraries of Tehran affiliated to the Iran Public Libraries Foundation. The study also sought to determine the role of these services in promoting library membership and reading among the youth. The study was a mixed-method one. The research population comprised 38 public libraries in Tehran. Using a questionnaire, a 150 young children were selected and interviews were conducted with the managers of 38 libraries. A checklist was also used to collect the data concerning the type of services offered in libraries. The results showed that different types of additional services were offered in the public libraries including teaching Qoran, reading and painting competitions, story writing, book fairs, film and cartoon screening, music performance and storytelling. Most of the advertising were done through the schools. The most popular services were teaching Qoran, film screening, music performance and painting competitions. The most satisfactory services were teaching Qoran. Some of the barriers in offering these services were the lack of trained staff, lack of budget and facilities. Most librarians maintained that additional services were effective in absorbing children to libraries. Overall, the level of additional services in public libraries was not satisfactory

The present study examines critical thinking skills in novels for young adults، published in 2000s. The corpus of the study consisted of twelve novels for young adults، which were selected purposefully and as advised by 26 experts in children’s literature. The research used qualitative-inductive content analysis. The novels were analyzed based on Facione’s critical thinking skills، namely interpretation، analysis، evaluation، inference، explanation، and self-regulation. The acts and dialogues of characters were examined using the six critical thinking parameters described by Facione. The characters in the novel “the Persians and I: The Fortress of the Dragon 1”، had applied critical thinking skills more than those in other novels. Moreover، in all the examined novels، interpretation skill was used more than other skills of critical thinking. Next were analysis and explanation، respectively. Self-regulation and inference were both in the fourth rank with regard to their frequency. The skill of evaluation had the least frequency in the novels. The results of the study revealed that ordinary stories، when of proper literary quality، can be used for educational purposes.

Stories play a vital role in the formation of critical thinking. The aim of this study is to pin down the potentials of ordinary stories in the formation and promotion of critical thinking in children. The skills under investigation include [the provision for and drawing attention to]:aims, questioning, data and information, evidence, experience, inferences and interrelationships, presuppositions, implications, consequences, ideas, fairness, courage, cooperation, firmness, mental perseverance, confidence in thinking, control of self-centeredness, and abilities for moral judgments. In this study by use of content analysis method and by utilizing Richard Paul’s views as a basis, the skills and features involved in critical thinking were explored in the stories approved and designated by the children’s Books Board for children in the Age Group C, published in the time span of 1342-1385. the findings show that the features of implications and consequences, information, data, evidence, experience, aim, moral reasoning abilities enjoy a better status [i.e. are dealt with more adequately] than others. The weakest features include: presuppositions, faith in thinking, ideas, inferences and interpretations. It should be noted that as far as critical thinking features are concerned the main sustained growth belongs to recent stories published in 1380’s. of course, a limit growth seems to have taken place in 1340’s.

This article aimed to study National Library Websites (NLW) using webometric methods. The in-links and co-links to national library websites were analyzed to study: firstly, the visibility of these National libraries on the web. Secondly, the collaboration on national and international level amongst the studied national library websites. This study found that according to the in-link count of 38 national library websites, 3 were extremely popular and we can call them the most visible national library websites as they come below:1. United States of America (http://www.loc.gov)2. Australia (http://www.nla.gov.au)3. United Kingdom (http://www.bl.uk)The results of the study also showed that, there were 5 clusters (2 cross continental and 3 international) in the studied national library websites. On the other hand, the multidimensional scaling map showed 7 major collaboration clusters: 2 cross national (both European) and 5 international (European, Asian, American, Australian). African national library websites were not seen in these clusters. It means that, African national libraries have a little collaboration with others through their websites. An interpretation on causes for collaborations between these national library websites are provided in this study. Webometrics offers an evaluation measurement that is not available in bibliometrics when an institution is the analytical unit. Nevertheless, webometric research must be conducted with caution because both the data source (i.e., web-based data) and data collection instrument (i.e., web search engines) have obvious deficiencies.