Using Printed and Electronic Sources in the Central Library by the Faculty Members of Iran University of Medical Sciences - 2003

Library dynamism is directly related to the use rate of its sources of information. The faculty members of universities constitute a considerable number of library users. Studying the rate of sources used by these members can be a positive step for promoting the quality of services and sources in libraries.. 

TIn this descriptive - survey study , 467 out of 650 full time faculty members of Iran University of Medical Sciences answered the questions of the research (72 percent).

According to the findings, the use rate of printed and electronic sources in the central library by the teaching staff was 18.8 percent and the most important reasons were: getting information form other places, distance from the library, and lack of information about the existence of sources related to their field of study. The highest rate of use was related to printed and electronic magazines and the lowest was related to library internet, audio-visual materials and web sites. Medline has had the highest amount of use among the other bibliographical databases. The most important purpose of using the library has been for preparing articles & and papers..

According to the results of this research and other researches done in previous years, it is concluded that the library acted poorly in providing information on available sources. Thus it is suggested to provide information through faculty and hospital libraries. Preparing Medline in the form of full text articles is another suggestion put forward in this research.