Designing a Model to Evaluate the E-Readiness of Academic Libraries

Purpose - Activities of academic libraries, like other institutions, have been greatly influenced by new technologies; then they need to be at the suitable level of e-readiness to act and offer useful services according with present era. In this research, a primary conceptual model was developed for evaluating the e- readiness of academic libraries.
methodology - documentary research and analytical survey were the methods used in this study. The population was 330 persons of LIS experts and the data was ghaterd by quastionaire with random sampling.
Findings - the model of evaluating electronic readiness, including 4 dimensions, 12 factors, and 64 indicators, which was developed based on the research literature and expert opinions. The proposed model was launched for evaluating the electronic readiness of the libraries of one of the largest Iranian universities. The analytical report of digital gap is also presented.
Originality – A literature review revealed that there is no comprehensive model with various dimensions for evaluating electronic readiness of academic libraries and determining their digital gap. Developing such a model is the result of the present study. Determining digital gap through this model makes it possible to discover the reasons of this gap and to plan for developing and enhancing the indicators of electronic readiness in academic libraries.