Prioritizing and Feasibility Study of the Provided Services in Mashhad Public Libraries to Reduce Divorce

As a social power, public libraries can play an effective role in resolving individual and social problems and harms. However, according to statistics, divorce is one of the most important social harms in Iran, especially in Khorasan Razavi province. Therefore, the aim of this research was to prioritize and assess the feasibility of services in public libraries of Mashhad city provided to reduce divorce.

This study was an applied research that has been conducted through a survey. The data gathering tool included two researcher-made questionnaires. There were two research populations in this study. The first involved some experts (including Ph.D. students and faculty members of the Departments of Knowledge and Information Science, Psychology (Family Consultation) and Sociology of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad). The second included the librarians of Mashhad public libraries and staff of the General Directorate of the Public Libraries of Khorasan Razavi Province and Mashhad. The sample size of the first population consisted of 30 experts and the sample size of the second population included 86librarians and staff. The sample members of both populations were selected by the random sampling method. The statistical methods were Friedman test and one sample T-test.

From the experts' point of view, there was a significant difference between the priorities of providing services in five categories: educational services, information services, consultancy services, resources-related services and extension services (to reduce divorce). Thus, the "educational services" were at the highest priority and "information services" were ranked as the lowest priority. The services were also prioritized in each of the five categories so that the highest priority in each of the categories was as follows: “holding workshops and life skills classes for families”; “setting up social networks (such as a Telegram channel) and providing information to the families through this to empower the family and acquire life skills”; “the presence of a family counselor or a psychologist at certain times in the library to provide advice and assistance to couples in need of consultation”; “providing visual and audio resources related to the family domain for clients to improve their knowledge on successful family life strategies”; “holding book reading sessions at specific times with the presence of volunteering and interested couples in relation to family issues”. From the perspective of the librarians and staff, the possibility of providing all five categories of above-mentioned services had a significant difference with the optimum level and was less than it.

This research determined the priorities of the services from experts’ viewpoint, which can be effective in reducing the divorce rate. It also showed that the possibility of providing these services in the public libraries of Mashhad was less than the optimal level. Therefore, the results of this research can lead to the awareness of the managers and authorities of the Public Libraries Foundation to provide effective public library services for reducing the divorce rate by planning to provide such services in the public libraries. Doing so, they may help to reduce marital problems and consequently, divorce in the society