Evaluating the Provincial Websites of Iran Public Libraries Foundation: A Webometric Study

Through analysis of different types of web links, it is aimed in this study to evaluate the status of links in provincial websites of Iran Public Libraries Foundation. Link analysis as a webometric method was used in the present research. Data collection was accomplished by LexiURL software and Yahoo search engine. The population under study included the Provincial websites of Iran Public Libraries Foundation (30 websites). The collected data was put into a database in Excel software. According to the questions, the data were subsequently enumerated, ranked, and sorted for further analyses. According to the results, the websites of public libraries in the provinces Khorasan Razavi, East Azerbaijan, and Qom have the highest number of inlinks and so the highest level of visibility. Regarding the number of webpages, being actively present in the web environment and the number of self-links, the websites of public libraries in the provinces Khorasan Razavi, Mazandaran and East Azerbaijan had a better status compared to other websites. Concerning domain type of the received links, 61.21% of the received links were the “ir” domain. With regard to impact factor, the websites of public libraries in the provinces Tehran, Kurdistan, and Qom were assigned the first to third ranks with impact factors of 0.422, 0.362, and 0.345, respectively. Regarding the link exchange, collaboration was made among only 8 of these websites (26%).Originality/Value: No separate research has been so far conducted concerning the analysis of links in websites of public libraries or websites of Iran Public Libraries Foundation. It has great advantages for libraries to evaluate their websites by means of webometric tools in order to identify the status of websites’ links, evaluate their presence in web environment, and impact of the websites, as this can lead to recognition of their strengths and weaknesses and assist their effective presence in internet and improvement of internet services.