LIBRARIANSHIP AND INFORMATION ORGANIZATION STUDIES (JOURNAL OF NATIONAL STUDIES ON LIBRARIANSHIP AND INFORMATION ORGANIZATION)
Year:2012 | Volume:23 | Issue:3 (91)|Papers Count:10

Purpose: This research studies and compares the electronic reference services in the websites of central university libraries of the central region of Iran. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research method was descriptive. The standard checklist for evaluating electronic reference services was used for data collection. The research population included the websites of the central libraries of state universities in the central region of Iran. Findings: The websites function best in navigation services and linking to electronic resources; 79.16 percent provide navigation services and 63.33 percent provide linking to electronic resources. None of the websites provide a synchronous transaction service. The websites of the central libraries of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, University of Isfahan, and Isfahan University of Technology are ranked first to third respectively. Conclusion: The digital reference services that the libraries studied provided were better than average, but they are still a considerable distance away from matching the websites of libraries in developed countries.

Purpose: Clustering bibliographic couplings is one form of document clustering. The purpose of this research was to measure the precision and recall of this type of clustering for patents. Design/Methodology/Approach: 717 US patents cited in patents related to the class 977/774 of the US Patent Classification were clustered using bibliographic couplings and the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm. Findings: Clustering patents using bibliographic couplings performs well and produces a high recall rate. Conclusion: Considering the desirable performance of clustering based on bibliographic couplings, using bibliographic couplings may also perform well in the process of organizing and retrieving patents.

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to evaluate the services of the National Library and Archives of I.R. Iran on the basis of the EFQM excellence model and to predict the satisfaction of users with the services using an artificial neural network. Design/Methodology/Approach: This is an applied research project, carried out as a survey and with a quantitative approach. Questionnaires were distributed among a sample population of users; an artificial neural network was applied to evaluate the quality of the services of the National Library of Iran; and the most and least effective factors were identified through sensitivity analysis. Findings: Sensitivity analysis in the network showed that the most effective component and subcomponent were accordingly «products and services» (Mean Square Error - MSE=0.0613) and «up to date information» (MSE=0.1225). The least effective component and subcomponent was accordingly «fidelity» (MSE=0.0089) and «interest in introducing the library to others» (MSE=0.0132). Conclusion: From the viewpoint of library users, the «products and services» component was the most important component and «fidelity» the least effective component. Up to date information has a high priority from the users'' viewpoint.

Purpose: This research aimed to study the use of the INLM by faculty members of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences. It also attempted to identify the problems and barriers the faculty members face in accessing the databases. Design/Methodology/Approach: This research was by survey and a questionnaire was used to collect the data. The findings were presented using descriptive statistics (frequency and percent) in tables and charts. From a total of 114 questionnaires distributed among faculty member of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, 81 were filled in and returned. Findings: 89 percent of the faculty members use the INLM. They use the digital library mostly for conducting research (67%), writing articles (65%), and teaching (56%). The most highly used databases are Science Direct, ProQuest, and Springer, respectively. The top reasons for being satisfied with INLM were up to date information, availability of subject field information, and easy access in some fields. The status of the Internet in the campus, unawareness about the availability of databases, lack of skills in searching databases were among the most important barriers the faculty members encounter. Conclusion: Some suggestions are provided in the paper for solving the existing problems and improving the use of databases available in the INLM.

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to study the adaptation of the National Library and Archives of the I.R. (NLAI) Iran to the dimensions of learning organizations from the viewpoint of the librarians working in the NLAI. Design/Methodology/Approach: The data collection tool was a demographic properties’ questionnaire with six questions and the 43-question Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (Marsick & Watkins, 1998). Descriptive statistical methods (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation) were used for analyzing the data. Findings: The NLAI was at an average level in terms of adaptation to the dimensions of learning organizations. The strongest dimension of the NLAI was «creating systems for acquiring and sharing learning» with a mean of 3.003 and the weakest dimension was «the communication of the organization with the environment». Conclusion: Considering the importance of the NLAI in terms of the scientific and cultural efficiency of Iran at both national and international levels, providing the facilities required for optimizing the dimensions of a learning organization can play a key role in the NLAI''s improvement.

Purpose: This research aimed to study and analyze the content of virtual reference questions at the National Library of Iran. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research population included all the questions sent to the virtual reference section of the National Library of Iran during a one-month period (258 questions in 178 web forms). Findings: 54.55 percent of the users of the virtual reference service of the National Library were men. The highest percentage of the questions was sent by undergraduate students (46.02 percent). The education of 55.68 percent of the users was in humanities (highest percentage) and 1.70 percent studied basic and medical sciences (lowest percentage). Among different types of questions, research questions were most frequent (32.28 percent) and guidance questions were the least frequent (20.08 percent). According to the findings of this research, generalities and philosophy were respectively the highest and lowest subject fields for questions. The highest percentage of research questions were asked by users studying in the humanities (36.73 percent); engineering students asked most of the searching questions (36.36 percent); and the largest portion (33.33 percent) of guidance questions were asked by users with a medical science background. Conclusion: Since most of the users use the virtual reference service of the National Library of Iran for putting research questions, there need to be expert librarians who have the necessary information literacy skills to provide optimal responses.

services in the libraries and information centers of Iran and presents an appropriate model for this purpose. Design/Methodology/Approach: First, the process of providing selective dissemination of information services was identified through literature review and criteria for it were extracted. Then a questionnaire including the extracted criteria was prepared and information about the method of presenting these services in 16 libraries and information centers was collected. Data analysis was carried out by SPSS software. Findings: Selective dissemination is semi-electronic in 13 centers, fully-electronic in 2 centers and completely traditional in 1 center. In all of the centers, on average 20.8 percent of the process is traditional and 49 percent is electronic. Conclusion: Expert staffs provide services to users with the help of electronic tools. Due to the supervision of expert staff, the best method for providing services is the one existing now.

Purpose: With the many problems that public libraries face, using e-books is nowadays an inevitable necessity. The present research aimed to measure the capability of public libraries to deploy e-books for 7-14 year olds. Design/Methodology/Approach: This research was carried out in 2009 and librarians working in public libraries of Fars Province participated. Since the research population was geographically scattered, a questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. The research used a descriptive method and frequency distribution tables. Findings: The findings of the research show that from a total of 123 libraries studied, only 24 (19.9 percent) have e-books in their collections. These libraries have purchased 85.5 percent of their e-books and 14.5 percent of the e-books have been donated to them. A majority (67.4 percent) of the e-books available in the libraries studied are reference books, among which dictionaries and atlases were the most common. Most (97.2 percent) of the libraries loan their e-books and only 2.8 percent of the librarians believe that their e-books must only be used inside libraries. Among the priorities presented for selecting children's e-books, having proper content has the highest point (2.9 out of 3). In contrast to the viewpoint of authors such as Londoni who believe that e-books will lead to the dissolution of libraries and will change the role of librarians, the participants in this research believe that e-books will reinforce public libraries and the role of librarians will be highlighted. Running courses that familiarize librarians with e-book technology and obtaining the facilities required for using such resources are among the factors that can encourage children to use libraries more often. Conclusion: From the viewpoint of librarians, e-books will become more widespread in the future, but they cannot substitute for print books completely. They also believe that e-books and the facilities required for using them will change the role of librarians; however, they are not displeased with this change.

Purpose: This article argues that local concepts in library and information science are in line with human nature and needs rather than being a product of western or eastern viewpoints. Design/Methodology/Approach: Relevant literature has been reviewed and analyses have been carried out. Findings: Many concepts are rooted in the culture of Islam, the Quran, and the Hadith. Researchers can use these concepts in their research, especially in theoretical foundations. Conclusion: No analysis similar to this has been carried out before. There will hopefully be stronger foundations in this field for localizing research. This research introduces some basic concepts in the field of library and information science that are rooted in Islamic thoughts in Iran; hopefully similar research will be carried out for other fields in humanities.

Purpose: Through a comparison of the past and present of the National Libraries of Canada and Australia with the National Library of Iran, this paper presents a critical understanding of the development process and the programs of the National Library of Iran and assists better planning for its future. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research method was a comparative study. The comparative librarianship checklist (Simsova, 1970) was used for data collection. The collected data was used for comparing the three libraries from general aspects such as status, structure, management, services and programs. Findings: The National Library and Archives of Canada was more successful than the other two due to privileges such as accurate planning, wide support of library services, techniques for safeguarding national heritage, harmony with archival services and efforts for encouraging people to use information for national development. Conclusion: The following suggestions have been made for improving the conditions of the National Library of Iran: revision of the statute, reconsideration of the management style, revision of the way of integrating the national library and the national archives, and reconsidering planning methods.