Feasibility of Implementing the Standard of Marketing and Public Relations in the Public Libraries

Considering the importance of marketing and public relations in libraries and the lack of an official position on the one hand and the compilation of the new standard of public libraries in Iran on the other hand, the aim of this research was to investigate the view of public library managers of Isfahan province about the feasibility of implementing the Standard of Marketing and Public Relations of Iranian Public Libraries (2020).

This research was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of method. The statistical population consisted of 196 public library managers of Isfahan province. 127 managers were selected as a statistical sample by the Krejcie and Morgan table and stratified random sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, and SPSS V.26 statistical software was used to analyze the data.

The results showed that the average feasibility of implementing the Standard from the view of public library managers of Isfahan province is lower than the average (x=3) and the observed average difference is also significant. The average of the components of planning, evaluation and support were all lower than the hypothetical average, which shows the poor condition of the feasibility of these components in the public libraries of Isfahan province. There was also no significant difference between the view of the public library managers based on the demographic variables of gender, age, education degree, discipline, city and work experience regarding the feasibility of implementing the Standard.

Conclusions: 

So far, there has been no research on the Standard of Marketing and Public Relations of Iranian Public Libraries (2020). The results of the present research can achieve the desired situation in the field of marketing and public relations in order to attract the audience and facilitate relations with the actual and potential audience community.