Information Organization in Iran: Opportunities and Proposed Solutions to Solve Challenges

To discuss challenges, opportunities and strategies to improve  practice in Iran based on the views of experts. Thematic and Delphi analysis methods were employed .First, transactions  from five Iranian Information Specialists  Annual Congresses between  2015 and 2019 ) were reviewed and categorized. Then, within two rounds of Delphi technique, the relevance and signinficance of each category and theme was determined.  The Delphi panel in th efirsty roeund consisted of 27, and the second round of 24 individuals.To identify challenges, opportunities, and strategies for improving the practice in Iran based on the views of experts. Thematic and Delphi analysis methods were employed in two steps. In the first step, transactions from five Iranian Information Specialists Annual Congresses held between 2015 and 2019 were reviewed. In the second step, the relevance and significance of categories and themes found in the first step were determined within two rounds of Delphi technique. The Delphi panel in the first round consisted of 27, and the second round of 24 individuals. With regard to training and education, the challenges were found to be mainly due to unbalanced syllabi od library schools and lack of up-to-date programs for on the job training.  Also, lack of educational documentation, inexperienced academic educators, uncertainty in teaching new topics, not sufficiently equipped labs. The panels suggested that experienced professionals be given roles in the education of information organization courses in schools and labs be equipped for teaching and research on new approaches, concepts and tools. With regard to research, challenges were identified to be shortage of professionals with up-to date knowledge of recent developments in the field and scattered nature of research. Up-to-date research in this field and the existence of basic professional tools provided by experienced experts in the past are also among the major opportunities. In terms of "professional cases", the main challenges were to the problems of specialized software, the lack of up-to-date professionals, and the disregard for the needs of users.Regarding the "strategic cases", the main challenges are related to the weakness of influential institutions and the lack of coordination at a national and international levels. The panels proposed to form a national committee to review education, to set up laboratories for implementing new models and increase communication among specialists and related sections. developing people-centered information organization. Paying attention to the increasing volume of data with a long half-life in social networks as well as the considerations about the Iranian-Islamic context in the information organization field are among the strategic opportunities that should be considered.In order to solve educational, research and professional challenges, in addition to other measures recommended in this research, it seems necessary to pay attention to strategic issues such as forming specialized committees and organizations and making strategic decisions at the national level.