Challenges and Approaches Towards Attracting New- literate Adults to the Public Libraries: Case Study of Azarshahr

The purpose of this study is to identify challenges and providing approaches towards attracting new- literate adults to the public libraries from the librarians’ perspectives. The method is qualitative exploratory case study. The population is public librarians and the sample are 14 librarians employed in public libraries of the city of Azarshahr. Using purposive sampling data were gathered by semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using Glasser & Strauss’ Coding Technique. The participants of this research disclosed some major challenges towards attracting new literate adults to the public libraries including individual, social, physical, publishing and organizational challenges. Also The participants suggested some approaches to deal with the challenges such as cultural advertising, providing further support and facilities for the new literates by the public libraries and library cooperation with the other organizations. Applying the findings of this study would enable the public libraries to provide suitable services with the aim of attracting more new literate users to the public libraries.