Determining the Relationship between the Social Marketing and the Users' Reading Culture and Comparing Their Views with Those of Librarians: A Case Study of Public Libraries in Lenjan City

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the social marketing and the users' reading culture and compare their views with those of librarians.

This study is a descriptive survey with a practical purpose. The data were collected by two researcher-made questionnaires. The statistical population consisted of librarians and active users of the public libraries of Lenjan city, Iran. The census sampling method was used for librarians and stratified random sampling for library users. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS 23.

The findings showed that the social marketing activities from viewpoints of librarians and users are more than the moderate level (3). The reading culture was more than average among users (in confidence level of 95%). There is also a significant relationship between the two variables of users' viewpoints about social marketing and their reading culture.

Although librarians and users' viewpoints about social marketing have obtained scores more than the moderate level, it does not mean that the authorities can give up their efforts and activities in this aspect. Findings revealed that librarians feel that it is their duty to promote reading; however, the lack of funding for attracting users and rewarding systems for librarians has the least scores. These items may act as barriers and should be solved by library administrators and supervisors.