نشریه تحقیقات اطلاع رسانی و کتابخانه های عمومی
پیاپی 112 (بهار 1402)

Today, achieving sustainable development in various economic, political, social, and cultural sectors is the main concern of all countries. The importance of development in Iran can be seen in the Iran government’s strategic plans such as the five-year development plan, the main focus of which is economic development. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the role of public libraries in the economic development of society from the point of view of specialists, librarians, and managers of public libraries in the country.

The current research is an exploratory-applied study with a qualitative approach and with the method of foundational data theory, which is an attempt to deeply study the role of public libraries in the economic development of society. The sampling method of the research was purposive sampling and the purpose of its application was to reach a diverse sample of individuals. The main criterion for selecting participants in the interview was to have a work experience of more than 5 years and to have an education related to information science, philology, sociology, and economics. In this research, 26 university faculty members, librarians, and managers of public libraries in the provincial centers of the country were subjected to a semi-structured interview. The Strauss-Corbin method was used to analyze the interview data, which includes three stages: open, central, and selective coding.

Based on the data obtained from this study, 6 main categories and 36 sub-categories were conceptualized according to the nature and potentials of the public libraries of Iran as strategies that will lead to economic development in the society. These strategies were components of economic development including job creation, quality of life, human resource development, purchasing power, sustainable development, and tourism development.

Originality/value: 

Economic development as a multidimensional phenomenon is the result of a set of economic and non-economic factors in society. Public libraries are considered to be very practical for economic development and increasing the welfare of the people. In this way, in the presented model, as the output of this research, public libraries have the power and influence to influence a set of components including education, culture, employment, quality of life, human resource development, purchasing power, tourism development and Development, and sustainable income are considered, and through these components in public libraries, we can witness “knowledge-oriented society”, “growth of existing jobs”, “flourishing of new entrepreneurs”, “helping Ghana and Community vitality”, “Development of knowledge-based economy”, “Development of local economy”, “Lifelong learning”, “Economic saving”. and "Development of construction of public libraries", which shows the development of society. Therefore, it is necessary to take advantage of collective wisdom and financial support, as well as the serious determination of all managers, planners, and experts in the field of public libraries to attach more importance to economic development through the activities and services of public libraries and try to improve their strengths and overcome their weaknesses.

The purpose of the present study is to briefly review the current status of the required spaces for the public libraries in Iran and identify and redefine the architectural needs of these spaces to achieve a new pattern for contemporary libraries.

The study approach is a qualitative study based on the grounded theory method. The data were collected by applying library and field methods, using an analytical review, interviews with users, librarians of four selected libraries, researchers, architecture and their users. By analyzing the interview and data, codes were identified and named. In the axial coding stage, the primary categories and phenomena, including “demographic composition of the audiences”, “form of resources, facilities, and facilities”, “quality of the collection and resources”, “conditions of the library to utilize the services”, “quality of services and facilities, and programs to achieve the establishment of social and spatial justice”, “level of social interactions by knowing the cultural context of the target society”, “relationship with sustainable development”, and “library space including four components of necessary standards, functional planning, customization and configuration, and physical planning” were identified. In the selective coding, given the study objectives, three categories of “standardization”, “socio-cultural dimension” and “physical-environmental model” were selected.

Public libraries have changed rapidly due to technological developments and the communication revolution, and have overshadowed the service and mission, planning and functional design, physical, and even the perceptual and aesthetic aspects of libraries. Convincing and diverse perspectives have been presented on public libraries and their future, their goals, services, and space in the 21st century. They range from doubting their functional existence owing to the nature of new technologies and communications, to their becoming significant due to the nature of preserving the documents of human civilization and the interaction make possibe in society (unlike the new communication technologies that insist on isolation). The diversity of these views emphasizes that it is not possible to present a single form for design, but there is a possibility of some kind of design interaction. The analysis of the libraries under study showed that the architecture of the libraries makes certain functional/behavioral models possible. One of them is the “collection-oriented” model, which aims at emphasizing the traditional role of the library as a place for providing resources. The other is an “interaction-oriented” model, which stresses the socio-cultural role of the public library as a venue for interaction that emphasizes, on the one hand, the preservation, publication and development of knowledge and information, and on the other hand, the connection with society and the improvement of the level of cultural and social interactions.

Originality/value: 

The findings of this study redefine the role of public libraries relying on the relevant components of the library architecture to create and develop a suitable platform for the social capital from this space. By changing the library strategies from the complex-oriented pattern to the interaction-oriented model, and redefinition of the spaces, in addition to preserving, publishing, and presenting various sources of knowledge, contemporary libraries should be the custodians and publishers of collective memory and participate in the relations between people and civil institutions. A good architectural design of library spaces should reflect their intentions and mission in our times. More importantly, the designed space should enable achievement of development goals.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of public libraries in the social and economic empowerment of housewives, with an emphasis on the capacities of virtual space, especially social network sites.

This is an applied research that was conducted with a qualitative approach using thematic analysis method. The study population included librarians and officials of public libraries affiliated to the General Directorate of Public Libraries of South Khorasan. A nonprobability (non-random), and a snowball sampling procedure was used and 21 persons were interviewed by telephone. The type of interview used was semi-structured.

Subjects requested by housewives from public libraries were categorized into practical (health, agriculture and art) and theoretical (literary-religious and educational) categories, and the results showed that theoretical subjects were almost as much as practical subjects of interest to housewives. Specifically, the findings of the research indicated that cooking, novels, raising children, psychology and tailoring are among the main interests of this group. The programs through which public libraries play a role in empowering housewives in social and economic areas were also grouped into two categories of educational programs (educational-social and technical-economic) and cultural-promotional programs (educational, book-oriented, consultation-referral and employment-oriented). Cultural-promotional programs were more frequent. The educational programs of public libraries in this field are mainly in the form of user empowerment workshops, among which workshops on social harms and handicrafts were more frequent. Cultural-promotional programs of public libraries were also mainly book-oriented in this field. The services that can be provided to housewives in the virtual space were classified into two categories of information (educational and resource-finding) and promotion (information and resource expansion), and the category of promotional services with 20 primary codes was in a better position than the category of information services. Incentives for the use of virtual space by public libraries to empower housewives were also classified into two promotional and functional categories, and the functional incentives for using virtual space in the field of empowering housewives with 15 primary codes were in a higher position than the promotional incentives. Obstacles in this area were divided into three categories: socio-economic, personal and technological, with more primary codes attributed to personal obstacles. The findings of the research indicated that the obstacles to using virtual space to empower housewives are much more than the existing incentives in this field.

Originality/value: 

The value of the problem of this research is that public libraries can use the facilities of virtual space, especially virtual social networks, for the social and economic empowerment of housewives. In this case, in order to implement the library’s programs related to the empowerment of this group, there will be no need for their physical presence in the library environment, and the desired programs can be implemented remotely using the facilities of virtual space. Of course, there are serious obstacles in this area that require serious attention from public libraries. In order to remove these obstacles, it is suggested that public libraries implement programs to improve their media literacy and information literacy before implementing empowerment programs for housewives.

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the status of ancillary services in the children’s department of public libraries in Khuzestan province, and in this regard, the sub-objectives of the research are as follows: identification of the ancillary services of the children’s department, investigating the status of providing ancillary services, investigating the level of satisfaction of the members of the children’s department, and investigating the relationship between satisfaction with the ancillary services provided and the loyalty of the members of the children’s section of the public libraries of Khuzestan province.

The research method is of mixed type (qualitative and quantitative) and has a combined mode. In the qualitative part of the research, by referring to the public libraries of Khuzestan province and reviewing the regulations, a checklist including ancillary services for children has been presented. Then in the quantitative part of the research, using the customer loyalty evaluation questionnaire (Moghimi and Ramadan, 2010, Moon Q and Lawrence, 2001), the studied variables were measured, and the research questions were answered using quantitative methods. The statistical population of this research includes all the 7-11-year-old members of public libraries in Khuzestan province in 2019, out of which 380 people were determined as the statistical sample of the research population by the cluster sampling method. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.

The results showed that according to the checklist of the research, 27 secondary services should be implemented in the public libraries of the province, and among the services listed in this list, three services are not being implemented, which are: providing services to special groups, holding national and religious festivals, and inviting actors and artists to the libraries. In the field of descriptive information about the knowledge of the library’s ancillary services, only 32% of the respondents were aware of the library’s ancillary services. Furthermore, regarding the purpose of participating or using library services, it was found that 33% of the respondents used these services for the purpose of entertainment and 23% for the purpose of academic progress. Moreover, 16% of the respondents used these services with the purpose of getting used to extracurricular studies, 15% with the purpose of participating in group work and socialization, and 12% for the purpose of personal development. The most important services implemented in the children’s section of the libraries, which were at the top of the list, are sending resources in absentia with an average of 3/69, book exhibitions with an average of 3/67, providing educational and cultural brochures with an average of 3.55, a list of new books for teenagers with an average of 3/52, introducing books and Storytelling with an average of 3/47, joint cultural programs with schools with an average of 3/36, inter-library loan with an average of 3/38, educational assistance classes with an average of 3/31, poetry reading and criticism sessions with an average of 3/24, and allocating space for holding private classes with an average of 3/29.

Originality/value:

 It was found that the level of satisfaction of 7-11-year-old members of public libraries in Khuzestan province with the ancillary services provided in these libraries is in a favorable state and there is a significant correlation between the satisfaction of these children and all dimensions of loyalty examined in this research.

What justifies the investigation of the effect of information literacy and information technologies on the sharing of knowledge by different sections of society is the widespread use of public and scientific media among different sections of society, different understanding of information literacy and the importance of sharing knowledge in different strata of society. Information literacy and information and communication technologies are the determining factors in today’s constantly changing conditions. This study has investigated the role of information literacy and information technologies in knowledge sharing among public library staff.

The current research is an applied research that collects information in a descriptive manner. The statistical population of the research includes 149 librarians of the public libraries of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces in the year 1400 SH. 108 people were randomly selected as the research sample using Cochran’s formula. Hosseini and Ghasemi (2019) questionnaire was used to collect data. The independent variable in this research is information literacy, which includes the components of identifying information needs, finding and evaluating the quality of information, storing and retrieving information, effective and ethical use of information, and creating and communicating knowledge. The dependent variable of the research is knowledge sharing and the mediating variable is information technology. The validity of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability. The value of Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability was greater than 0/7. In this research, partial least squares (PLS) method was used to investigate the relationship between variables. Using this method, the relationship between the variables and also the strength of the relationship between them were obtained.

The examination of the research hypotheses revealed that the standard factorial value of the effect of identifying the need for information, finding and assessing the quality of information, storing and retrieving information, effective and ethical use of information, and creating and communicating knowledge on knowledge sharing, was respectively 0/378, 0/517, 0/566, 0/566, and 0/493. Therefore, in all cases, the mentioned indicators have a positive and significant effect on the knowledge sharing of public library employees. Moreover, the standard factor loading value of the effect of identifying the need for information, finding and evaluating the quality of information, storing and retrieving information, effective and ethical use of information, and creating and communicating knowledge through information technology on knowledge sharing was calculated to be respectively 0/679, 0/93, and 0/639, 0/842, and 0/832. According to the calculated factor load, all the mentioned indicators have a positive and significant effect on knowledge sharing through information technology. Accordingly, the mediating role of information technology in influencing information literacy on knowledge sharing was confirmed. In general, according to the value of the standard factor of information literacy on knowledge sharing value of 0/870 and the value of t statistic (t = 46/144>1/96), one can conclude that the index of information literacy through information technologies has a positive and significant effect on the process of knowledge sharing among public library staff.

Originality/value: 

This research has investigated for the first time the effect of information literacy and information technology on knowledge sharing in the public libraries of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces. In this regard, the present research is considered innovative. Research findings indicate that information literacy affects knowledge sharing either directly or through communication information technologies. Thus, the impact of all dimensions of information literacy on knowledge sharing has significantly increased under the influence of information technologies.

People who have a sense of trust in the leadership believe that they are treated fairly and with fairness and sincerity in the organization. These people are honest and transparent in their business communication, and their ability to listen to the opinions of others is more and better. Among the other factors that contribute to the increase of organizational quality and maturity, especially in organizations with information technology, is the quality of information systems and knowledge sharing. These three factors can be the basis for creation of creativity, motivation and promotion of knowledge in the organization. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of trust in leadership, knowledge sharing, and the quality of information systems on innovation and employee motivation in public libraries.

The current research is practical in terms of its purpose, and is quantitative-descriptive in terms of the type and method of collecting research data, and is based on the structural equation model (SEM) that was conducted using the survey method. The statistical population of the study included all the employees of the public libraries of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province in the year 1400 in the number of 148 people, which was sampled using a simple random sampling method and finally 113 complete questionnaires were analyzed. To collect data from the leadership trust questionnaire (Seo et al., 2016), information systems quality questionnaire (Delon and McLean, 2004), employee innovation questionnaire (Scott and Brath, 1994), employee motivation questionnaire (Bakhshi et al., 2004) and knowledge sharing questionnaire (Lee, 2001) was used. The content validity of the tool was verified by experts and its reliability was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha.

In order to achieve the purpose of the research, eight sub-hypotheses were defined to fully evaluate and examine all aspects of the research. The findings showed that trust in leadership has a significant effect on employee innovation and motivation. In addition, the quality of information systems affects the innovation and motivation of employees. On the other hand, trust in leadership and the quality of information systems affect knowledge sharing, and knowledge sharing is also effective on employee innovation and motivation.

Originality/value: 

The current research has investigated the effect of trust in leadership, knowledge sharing and the quality of information systems on innovation and motivation in all active public libraries in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. This research is the the first study based on the combination of internal and external reference questionnaires that have dealt with the determining role of these factors in increasing the service quality of public libraries in Iran. In addition, the results of this research can help library managers to move the atmosphere of collaboration within the library towards more favorable conditions in the interaction between employees and provide more creativity and motivation for colleagues with appropriate policy making and planning. This policy itself can lead to a more appropriate response from library staff to clients.