A survey on the manuscript and lithography status of the cultural center attached to the Foundation of Public Libraries of the Country regarding desired guidelines

This research aims at investigating the conditions of manuscript and lithography collections in cultural centers affiliated to public libraries foundation and providing optimal solutions for the existing conditions. The research is descriptive-survey study and to collect data questionnaire was used. To determine the validity of the questionnaire the content validity and the reliability was estimated using retest. To analyze the data Excel software was used. The population consists of 27 public libraries which have manuscripts and 25 public libraries which have lithography collections. There are 5883 volumes of manuscripts and 17029 volumes of lithography in these libraries. There are 51 employees (Associate، BA and Master degree) who work in manuscripts and lithography sections of these libraries along with other duties in various sections. Only 7 percent of the libraries have had In-service courses. Concerning the conservation، heat and light were controlled in 19 percent of libraries and in 11 percent of them humidity has been controlled، and in 11 percent of libraries temperature and humidity control systems were investigated. About 68. 74 percent of manuscripts and 52. 31 percent of lithography has been cataloged. Only 7 percent of libraries are digitalizing their resources. Considering dissemination، about 80 percent of libraries distribute their manuscripts and lithography manually and they are available only in the libraries. In 88 percent of libraries، For certain individual under special conditions there is availability to access manuscripts and lithography. Considering retrieval، manual cataloging has been used in 76 percent of libraries. Based on the results of this study، the conservation status، management، and dissemination of manuscripts and lithography in public libraries in the country were not in suitable conditions and require authorities’ more effort. Restoration، digitalizing the content، cataloging and preparation of databases، providing In-service courses، and use of specialists were the most important guidelines.