Designing health information services model in Tehran’s public libraries

Considering that health information has a fundamental role in increasing the level of health of people in todayʼs societies, it provides a suitable platform for the growth and development of health systems in different countries. This study aimed to investigate the health information needs and how to access health information among those referred to public libraries in Tehran.

The research is an applied study in terms of purpose that were conducted with a qualitative approach. In the qualitative phase, by using the method of content analysis of semi-structured interviews of three groups of health information specialists, librarians working in public libraries and researchers in the field of health information, the components of the service model based on health information in public libraries were obtained.

The proposed model for providing services based on health information in public libraries has five categories, which are: “Identifying user needsˮ, “Planningˮ, “Evaluationˮ, “Barriersˮ, “Promoting factorsˮ. The results of the qualitative part showed that the librariansʼ expectations from the countryʼs public libraries in the field of services based on providing health information are the following: the cooperation of the public libraries with organizations in the health fields, needs assessment and planning approach in the field of health information, use of extensive information methods, evaluation, organization of health information resources, infrastructural barriers, barriers related to librarians, and barriers related to library resources. The proposed model of health information-based services in the public libraries has five categories, namely: “Identifying the userʼs needsˮ, “Planningˮ, “Evaluationˮ, “Barriersˮ, and “Leading factorsˮ.

Originality/value: 

This article draws the attention of public library service managers to the issue of identifying health information-based services based on the proposed model and providing them with various facilities for using public libraries leading to the precise and optimal use of health information-based services in the society, which may cause the advancement of libraries in delivering reliable health information services to clients.