Assessing Iranian Public Librarians' Perspectives on implementing EU plans in accordance with Iran's public libraries

Utilizing the experience of leading countries in the field of public libraries can create beneficial developments in the field of public libraries in Iran. The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of implementing European Union programs related to public libraries in Iran from the perspective of Iranian public library professionals. This research is part of the commitments related to the Jean Monnet International Joint Project conducted by Allameh Tabataba'i University. The project titled “European Union Plans and Experiences for Public Libraries: Applicability for Iran." The proposal of the project was submitted by Allameh Tabataba’i University to the European Union’s Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency in the form of a Jean Monnet Programmed grant proposal.  In September 2019 it was judged and announced as the sole grant winner from Iran. This project was the first joint project with the European Union in the Knowledge and Information Science disciplines in Iran. The topics studied in this research, which are based on the review of specialized texts that were identified and compiled, include changes in public library structure, organization, policies and management, library collections and selection of resources, as well as clientele and needs assessment and training.

In this survey study, 378 librarians in public libraries across the country were selected through stratified random sampling and were asked to respond to a researcher-designed questionnaire after confirming the content validity and reliability.  The dimensions of the questionnaire, which was identified and compiled based on a review of specialized texts, include five areas: 1. Structure, organization, policies and management, 2. Collection and selection of resources, 3. Clientel and needs assessment, 4. Services and dissemination of information, and 5. was training. First, the questionnaire was distributed among 25 librarians and professors of Knowledge and Information Science and who were familiar with the issues of public libraries in Iran and amendments were made to it.In order to identify the main factors or structures of the questionnaire, the components related to the use of EU programs were identified using exploratory factor analysis methods. The Varimax rotation method has also been used to ensure the independence of the agents. To confirm the adequacy of the sample, KMO index (Kaiser-Mir-Olkin test) and Bartlett test were used to identify the correlation between items.  In order to evaluate the fitness of the measurement model, three criteria of Cronbach's alpha coefficients, combined reliability and explained mean variance were used. In this study, the Fornell-Locker index was used to evaluate the divergent validity.

In this study, 60.7% of the respondents were women and 39.3% were men. Up to (.96 %) of the respondents had a postgraduate education and were at least 31 years old. The distribution of participants in terms of work experience was in the categories of 5-10 years and 25-16 years.  Iranian librarians believed that to a large extent it was possible to implement programs similar to those of the EU public libraries. Findings showed that the greatest possibility of implementing new programs related to services and information dissemination, and training. Multiple analysis of variance test showed that there was no significant difference in the scores of different domains according to age, sex and education.

It can be concluded that changes to such matters as public library collection and selection of resources, as well as clientele and needs assessment and training, services and dissemination of information are applicable in Iran. In this study, services and information dissemination obtained the highest average scores related to public libraries, which shows the growing importance of information and the need to save cost and time for users.