Assessing the Information Needs of Retirees in Bojnourd Education Office; An Introduction to Design Outreach Library Services

The aim of this study was to identify the information needs of education office retirees of Bojnourd city as introduction to design outreach library services to them.
This survey is an applied research. The statistical population consisted of all retirees in Education Department of Bojnourd city until 2013. Estimated sample size was 130 and cluster sampling was adopted. Data were collected through a researcher made questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 19 statements for assessing four group information needs, including individual needs, educational, cultural-social needs, political and religious needs. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).
Findings: Among the four group information needs, the priority of the retiree's needs was as follows, respectively: individual needs, cultural-social needs, political needs, and educational and religious needs. The retirees met their information needs from television mostly. A small percent of retirees (26/9%) was member of a public library and majority of them (76/9%) had not used public library services. The retirees were using public library rarely. Distance from the library was the major reason for not using the library. Borrowing books was the main reason for using the library. Familiarity of the retirees with public library and its services was lower than the average (2/64%), and necessity of public library services was more than averages (4/20%) from the retiree's perspective.
Originality/value: The findings of this study can help authorities to meet the information needs of a special group, retirees. Since this study makes the identification of the information needs of retirees, public libraries are able to make decisions to overcome the potential shortcomings, define proper collection development policies, and improve channels of access to information.