نشریه تحقیقات اطلاع رسانی و کتابخانه های عمومی
پیاپی 114 (پاییز 1402)

Although virtual services have been developed in libraries, they are still considered as third places as they provide facilities for community meetings and programs. The COVID-19 pandemic caused closure, delay and change in library services around the world. The news and statistics confirm that the total working hours of public libraries per week decreased compared to the pre-COVID-19 years; The number of in-person visits to these centers dropped; and the number of resources checked out declined. However, the pandemic caused a greater attention to electronic books and virtual services. Public libraries in the cities and villages of Iran were also content to rapid changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. For a considerable period of time, the libraries were closed for visits and in-person services in compliance with health protocols. Iran Public Libraries Foundation coordinated over 3000 libraries around the country by organizing the employees telecommuting, providing digital resources and encouraging the librarians to provide useful content on social media. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic led the researchers to explore the various aspects of the spread of this disease on information services and library programs. A variety of topics have been investigated including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of digital resources, collection making priorities and budgeting, virtual reference services, health literacy etc.; However, despite the sinking of this pandemic, the research on COVID-19 impacts on libraries is still increasing. The current issue of the Journal of Research on Information Science and Public Libraries (RISPL) is dedicated to new studies conducted on the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on the public libraries in Iran. The participation of librarians in social networks and the analysis of the content produced by them, the factors affecting the audience's tendency to view and use the virtual pages of public libraries, the experiences of librarians in providing online and in person programs and services during the pandemic, the readiness of libraries and use of virtual platforms are the main topics of the articles published in this issue.

The spread of Corona and the closure of public libraries caused the activities of libraries to continue in the virtual space and librarians to seek to create content for their libraries. The library staff started providing content for their websites, weblogs and social media. The purpose of this research is to analyze the online content created by the librarians of public libraries affiliated with the Iran Public Libraries Foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic on Instagram in order to gain knowledge about their experiences.

The current research is descriptive and applied and was carried out using the documentary method, in which the pages of Iranian public libraries on Instagram were carefuly watched for their contents and topics. The research population included 2700 branched of public libraries affiliated to the Iran Public Libraries Foundation, from which a sample of 336 libraries was selected using Morganʼs table. The sample was categorized in a way to include representatives from 31 provinces. The data about posts, followers and subject tags was extracted and entered into the Excel software. For this purpose, the posts were separated according to the publication date of each post (before the COVID-19 pandemic, during the closure of libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, and after the COVID-19 pandemic). In order to test the research hypotheses, the Pearson correlation coefficient and regression tests were used.

The results showed that the contents provided by the librarians on the official pages of Iranian public libraries mostly refer to four thematic classes: library workshops, training courses, announcements of the upcoming cultural-literary events, and news on calendar events. In case of the workshops, Tehran province had the highest number of posts (with 804 posts) and Qom province had the lowest number of posts (with 98 posts). For training courses, Tehran province showed the highest number of posts with 75 posts and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province showed the lowest number with 3 posts. In the case of announcements of cultural-literary events, Tehran province had the greatest number of posts with 112 posts, while the lowest number of posts belonged to East Azarbaijan province. In the case of calendar events, Tehran province has the highest number of posts with 121 posts, while Kurdistan province and Kahegiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province had the lowest number with 11 posts. The results for Spearman test revealed a significant correlation between the degree and the number of followers, and the number of posts. There was also a significant relationship between the degree of library and the time lapse between the published posts.

Originality/value:

 The conditions of Corona and quarantine during the pandemic forced the librarians of public libraries to continue their activities and services such as lending, reference services, events on social networking platforms, particularly Instagram. The findings of the current research showed that smaller libraries have offered more and more diverse content on Instagram. It seems that there is a closer connection between the local communities and the librarians of smaller libraries, and the audience of these libraries is more interested in following their library pages, and this in turn can lead to more content and news related to libraries. The experience of online content creation during the Corona pandemic can be used to expand the range of offline services of libraries, manage crisis situations and motivate librarians to create content.

The widespread and surprising spread of the Covid-19 led to an unprecedented closure of public libraries, and this closure showed that public libraries have little preparation and anticipation to deal with and adapt to the special situation caused by the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The aim of this study is to determine the level of readiness of librarians and public libraries in Isfahan province in the face of COVID-19 disease.

The current research is a cross-sectional, descriptive-survey study with an applied purpose that was carried out using the field method. The statistical population included all the librarians of the public libraries of Isfahan province in the year 1400 SH, numbering 357 people, from whom 185 librarians were selected as the research sample using a simple random sampling method. In order to collect people’s views, a researcher-made questionnaire was used; The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by several experts in information and Knowledge science, and the construct validity was measured and confirmed by second-order factor analysis using Smart-PLS3 software; The questionnaire’s reliability was measured using Cronbach’s alpha, which was found to be 0.95. For data analysis, SPSS software (version 22) and descriptive statistics methods such as mean, and standard deviation, and inferential statistics tests such as variance analysis, one-way t-test, one-way variance analysis test, Duncan’s post-hoc test and factor analysis were used.

The results showed that the level of preparedness of librarians and public libraries of Isfahan province in facing the COVID-19 disease with an average of 3.81 is significantly higher than the average, which is at an acceptable level and close to optimal. Preparedness for remote work with an average of 4.19 was the highest, and preparedness for job performance in cyberspace with an average of 3.36 was the lowest component of the readiness of librarians and public libraries of Isfahan province; There is no significant difference between respondents’ perceptions in terms of gender, age, work experience, field of study, and organizational position. Furthermore, there is a significant difference between the perceptions of the respondents regarding the readiness of public libraries in Isfahan province in facing the COVID-19 disease according to their educational qualifications and marital status. Respondents with associate degrees, as well as married respondents, have evaluated the level of preparation of libraries at a higher level than other groups. It is suggested that administrators train librarians and strengthen information technology infrastructure to strengthen the performance of cyberspace. Libraries need to formulate appropriate policies in order to increase the level of preparedness while facing crisis and infectious diseases, these policies and rules should be determined in the form of general principles before the occurrence of the crisis and at the time of the beginning of the crisis, and in crucial times, they should be used by adding minor items.

Originality/value: 

The results of the current research are important due to the emergence of the COVID-19 virus and the small number of researches conducted in this field, and it can lead to a greater understanding of the level of preparedness of public libraries and librarians and help library managers to get the necessary preparations against the risks affecting the optimal service to the audience through making appropriate policies and plans.

The COVID-19 pandemic, as an unforeseen phenomenon, brought about many changes both in the services and the way service organizations provide services. Public libraries and their services also faced many challenges as a social and service center. The purpose of the current research is to identify the experiences of the librarians of Tehran City Park Central Library during the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, while examining the changes in the activities and services of different departments of the library due to the spread of the coronavirus, the new approaches used, and the necessity of their application and continuation in the post-corona period were investigated from the perspective of the librarians of Tehran City Park Central Library.

This research is applied and was conducted using a qualitative approach and the content analysis method. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview that was conducted face-to-face. The research population included 13 librarians of Tehran City Park Central Library, who worked in different sections of the library during the corona and post-corona periods. The interviews were conducted in the winter of 2023 and the data analysis was done in the spring of 2023. In order to analyze and code the research data (interviews), MAXQDA 2020 software was used.

By coding the interviews, 436 concepts were obtained, which were categorized into a total of 103 categories. Finally, by re-examining, the core categories were identified and shown in the form of models resulting from the analysis. The creation of technological infrastructure, the need to improve the specialized and technological abilities of librarians, the need to mechanize library processes and the continuity of library activities in cyberspace, were 4 categories that were obtained from the analysis of the research data. These four categories are the necessary measures and infrastructure to prepare as much as possible for critical conditions in order to improve the performance of the library. Although the lack of conditions for providing services due to the spread of coronavirus caused the complete closure of Tehran City Park Central Library, the need to provide services in special conditions along with acquiring the necessary capabilities to be present in the virtual space, led to the use of new methods in providing services. Holding virtual cultural events, providing cyber reference services, book courier services, i.e., homebound book delivery, were among the services that had not been specifically addressed before the outbreak of COVID-19. The findings also indicate the need to deal with measures and infrastructures to prepare as much as possible for critical conditions in order to improve the performance of the library. The effectiveness of these measures and methods in the post-corona period from the point of view of librarians and their emphasis on the need to strengthen these methods shows that their continuation has provided an acceptable situation for the provision of services and cultural events and educational programs of the library.

Originality/value:

 The strength of this research is the examination of the changes made in the way of providing services during the outbreak of COVID-19 and their application in the post-corona period, which has shown that the threat of coronavirus has created an opportunity to change and improve some library activities from the point of view of librarians, since according to the special position of this library and its new approaches, it can be a model for other public libraries in Iran.

The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the level of participation of public library librarians in Tehran in online social networks to provide services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This research is applied in terms of purpose and was conducted using a survey method. The research population at the time of the research (July and August 2023) included all the librarians of public libraries in Tehran (152 people) from whom a sample of 109 people was selected according to Morgan’s table, and 105 questionnaires were analyzed in the final analysis. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. Data analysis was done at two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS (version 26). In order to check the average difference between the main research variables, one-way analysis of variance parametric test was used.

The results showed that the librarians had the greatest knowledge about “Bale” messenger and the lowest knowledge about “SoroushPlus”. The level of knowledge of librarians regarding social networking tools and the level of influence of the organization on their knowledge of tools has been lower than the average level. The level of necessity and acceptance of social networking tools is “high” and the level of use of these tools by librarians is “moderate”. There was a significant difference between the average opinions of librarians about knowledge and acceptance as well as acceptance and use of these networks, while no significant difference was observed between the average opinions of participants about the two variables of knowledge and use of online social networks.

Originality/value: 

Although according to the results of this research, the level of influence of the organization in the librarians’ knowledge of social networking tools is reported to be lower than average, and the level of influence of the organization in the knowledge of content production tools in these sites is reported to be small, the role of the organization in the librarians’ knowledge cannot be ignored. Therefore, the results of this research, by determining the attitude of the research population towards social networking sites, the extent of acceptance and use of these sites by them and identifying the weaknesses and strengths of public libraries in using social networking sites, can be applied by managers and planners of public libraries in order to provide a suitable platform for using the social networking sites, remove barriers to using them, and improve information service.

Instagram pages of public libraries were a suitable platform to establish and maintain communication with users and provide services and information they needed, especially during the epidemic of diseases such as COVID-19. The aim of the present study is to identify the factors affecting the willingness of users to continue using the Instagram pages of public libraries in West Azerbaijan province during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey of correlation type in terms of the data collection method. The research was carried out in 1399-1400. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose face validity was confirmed by experts in this field, and its reliability was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient at 72%. The statistical population of the research included all the followers of the Instagram pages of public libraries in West Azerbaijan province during the COVID-19 pandemic, from which 20 active pages were selected, and the questionnaire was provided to them privately by the managers of the pages, and finally 212 questionnaires were returned. Descriptive statistics were used to determine frequency, frequency percentage, standard deviation and mean in SPSS software, and the structural equation modeling by partial least squares method in SmartPLS software was used to investigate the relationships between variables and test hypotheses.

The findings of the analysis of path coefficients showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between perceived usefulness, responsiveness, social benefits and satisfaction with the desire to continuously use Instagram pages of public libraries in West Azerbaijan province. Satisfaction with the path coefficient (0.446) was the strongest factor in predicting the continued use of Instagram pages of public libraries in West Azerbaijan province during the COVID-19 pandemic. After satisfaction, responsiveness, usefulness, and social benefits, respectively, had the greatest impact on the desire to continuously use these pages. Interestingly, no significant relationship was observed between the variables of ease of use, expectations, perceived enjoyment, type of post uploaded, post upload time, content, social influence, and correlation with the tendency to continuously use Instagram pages of public libraries. The results related to the path coefficients of the factors of type of uploaded post, time of uploading post, ease of use and content on the perceived usefulness of users from the Instagram pages of public libraries in West Azerbaijan province showed that there is a positive and significant relationship and the type of uploaded post with the path coefficient (0/290) was the strongest predictor of perceived usefulness. Furthermore, the analysis of path coefficients showed that the relationship between perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness on user satisfaction is not significant, but the coefficients of the effect of ease of use and expectations on user satisfaction from Instagram pages of public libraries in West Azerbaijan Province is positive and significant. In general, the value of the goodness of fit was 0/641, which indicates the appropriateness of the overall fit of the model.

Originality/value:

 Considering that the desire and intention to continue using social media sites is an act after their admission and so far, few studies have identified the factors influencing the desire to continue using social media, especially Instagram pages in public libraries, the results of this study can have valuable scientific and practical implications for managers and policy makers in this field.

The aim of the current research is to investigate the factors influencing the acceptance of the use of e-learning systems by the librarians of Tehran Province libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the effects of computer self-efficacy, diversity of skills, organizational support, teacher’s characteristics, and quality of course content on the technology acceptance model (TAM) variables, including the subjective perception of the utility, and subjective perception of convenience, attitude toward use technology and the intention to use e-learning systems were examined.

The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of data collection and analysis. The statistical population included librarians of public libraries in Tehran province. The statistical sample size was 217 based on Cochran’s formula. The main data collection tool was a questionnaire which was validated by six experts. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) by SmartPLS software.

The findings indicated that the mental perception of usefulness and mental perception of ease of use affect the intention and desire of employees to use e-learning systems. Furthermore, the external variables studied in the research, namely computer self-efficacy, diversity of skills, organizational support, teacher’s characteristics, and course quality have a positive and significant effect on the acceptance of e-learning systems in the organization.
The highest total effect is related to the variable of skill and quality of course content and the lowest total effect is related to the variable of organizational support and behavioral intention.

Originality/value: 

E-learning plays an important role in education and development in the organizational environment, and e-learning systems have become a popular tool to facilitate teaching-learning processes that provide flexible learning-oriented education. Since the development and deployment of technologies is not enough to enjoy their benefits, and in order to achieve the potential benefits of a technology, its acceptance by users should be considered, the findings of this research can provide practical implications for organizational managers, trainers and developers of educational systems.