Construction and Validation of Information Overload Tools in the Libraries of Universities of Medical Sciences

Research shows that limited models can design to measure information overflow in libraries; but until now, no valid and reliable tool has been provided to measure information overload in academic libraries. Identifying the factors affecting the overload of information and its proper management in the libraries in question is of particular importance in improving their efficiency and effectiveness and the conclusion of their success and growth. The purpose of the current research the objective was to construct and validate a tool to determine the factors affecting information overflow in university libraries.
In the current research an action task was completed in two separate Segments. Qualitative (super composition and Delphi) and quantitative (survey-analytical). The studied population in the qualitative section was all related articles that were extracted from valid databases and after screening and considering the following. the input and output criteria, and finally, 20 Persian and Latin articles were selected and reviewed. The statistical population in the Delphi section included 20 professors and experts in the field of information and communication technologies and information flow in universities of medical sciences and health care services in Mazandaran province, who were selected in a targeted and accessible way. In the quantitative part, based on Cochran's formula, 375 users of medical science libraries and healthcare services in Mazandaran province were selected as a sample using the stratified verification method. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, and path analysis were used by Smart PLS statistical software.
Based on the findings of the meta-composite section, the number of 7 main components and their items (94 items) were extracted regarding the overflow of information, then it was submitted to the Delphi panel with 20 members for verification, and after three Delphi steps and making corrections and removing irrelevant items, reached a theoretical consensus with the value of Kendall's statistic of three Delphi stages, respectively 0.672, 0.713 and 0.721, and confirmatory factor analysis of 74 items of the information overflow questionnaire in 7 main components including creation with factor load (0.874), individual factors with factor load (0.863), effective factors on overflow control with factor load (0.877), environmental factors with factor load (0.902), adjustment solutions with factor load (0.698), the impact of overflow on users with factor load (0.863), technological infrastructures were identified with factor load (0.789). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the instrument has a good fit. The combined reliability of all factors was higher than 0.7. The positive and significant correlation of the rank of the questionnaire components indicated the convergent validity of the questionnaire.
The built tool provides researchers with the possibility of measuring information overflow. The discovered factors include the factors that cause. There were individual factors, factors affecting control, environmental factors, and strategies for adjusting the flow of information, which were measured in the pilot environment of Mazandaran Medical Sciences while confirming their effectiveness in the academic environment and medical sciences as the desired variable.