Providing reference services through mobile social networks: Evaluating the viewes of clients of the National Library and Archives of Iran

A review of the National Librarychr('39')s clientschr('39') viewes on receiving reference services through mobile-based social networks.

First, through the documentary-library research method, the components of reference services were identified, then, by using a researcher-made questionnaire, the perspective of members of the National Library, was surveyed. Based on the average number of daily visitors to the National Library, the sample size of 217 people was selected based on Morganchr('39')s table as a simple random sampling and finally 147 returned questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS software. The Reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbachchr('39')s alpha and its Validity confirmed based on the opinion of 6 experts in library and information science.

98% of the members of the National Library are users of mobile social networks, and in addition to gaining news and family communication, 63% use it to retrieve scientific information. The average total component of reference services showed that subjects were willing to use this platform to receive reference services.

Mobile social networks have a scientific function for clients of the National Library, and they have already started using social networks for research purposes. From the userschr('39') point of view, these networks are a good communication channel for providing reference services, especially information literacy training and answering research questions.