JOURNAL OF EPISTEMOLOGY (LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)
Year:2009 | Volume:2 | Issue:4|Papers Count:16

The aim of present research is reviewing research methodology of Master of Library and Information Science students’ dissertations in Islamic Azad University, North Branch of Tehran. Content analysis and bibliometrics are two methods used in this research. Findings of the research including 192 Dissertations with frequency of 243 research methods between 1992 and 2005 demonstrate that survey research method with 66.6 percent relative frequency was the most used methods in dissertations among 11 research methods, while historical, experimental and bibliometric research methods together account for 2.5 percent of total methods. It is necessary to be mentioned that during different periods of time other methods were used sporadically and survey research method was one of them.

Nowadays, epistemology presents a new field in research areas. In this science, statistical and measurement methods are used to determine the criterions of the growth and development of science and levels of their expansion and its effect on research societies. This science appeared in Russia and developed in Eastern European countries especially in Hungary. This method is used for quantitative measurement of science in the national and international levels of governmental and private establishments. Bibliometrics is one of the important methods of epistemology and citation study or analysis is one of the most popular techniques of bibliometrics in which formulas ruling the relation between text and document are studied. Human being relies to credit his work. The path of scientific discovery and thoughts are defined by citations that are rate of referring to former sources like fixed traces. In this article, meanings, definitions and functions of citation analysis from scientists' viewpoint are studied and the relation between aspects is expressed.

The research investigates 47 titles of presented articles during 2000-2006 in Iranian Library and Information Science Association seminars. Using content analysis whole articles have been chosen for analysis. The subjects of articles are classified according to LISA by means of LISTA online thesauruses. The results of this research from the aspect of subject orientation, show that the subject of storage and retrieval have had greatest portion with 24%. Then subject of communication and information technology with 18% and general features of Library and Information Science with 16% are in the next rank. From the time perspective (2000-2003), also the greatest frequency of subjects is related to the first period with 44 %. Among 47 articles, 46 cases have had authorship and one of them had been translated. The portion of men has been 69% and the portion of women has been 31 %. 83% of articles have one writer, 15%, two writers and 2% have three writers. The greatest portion of the experts has PhD with 33%. Rahmatollah Fattahi is the most productive writer by presenting 4 titles. From the aspect of organizational affiliation, the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad has had the greatest portion in presenting the articles. Among provinces, Tehran has had the greatest portion in presenting the articles by 40%. The results also indicate that articles surveyed have no attention to the following subjects: book reviews, conferences, specialized libraries, archive centers, document delivery, book, non-printed material, audio-visual materials, reference services, the cataloging rules and content analysis. So, there is a need to authorize and present articles in these fields. Also, much attention to the co-working and the effort for more participation of women is needed.

In the present research, the role of hospital librarians regarding delivery of information to medical doctors, specialists, and assistant was evaluated. In this descriptive research, the society of medical doctors, specialists, and assistants were studied. To collect needed data, 250 questionnaires distributed based on simple random sampling method among physicians in 5 educational hospitals. Among them, 153 subjects completed and returned the questionnaire. The results showed that %65.45 of specialists refer to educational hospital libraries one day per week, so the hypothesis that specialists refer to this libraries less than any other ones was rejected. The most important problem was limited work hours. Friedman's ranking test showed specialists prefer to get information from their colleague because it is convenient and fast (%6.38). Also using non-parametric Ök2 test, most specialists refer to libraries one day every week. Results concerning relation between educational degree and the time of using libraries show no meaningful differences. But the libraries facilities are important factors for those who refer them. Finally, %75.8 of them agreed that obtained information was useful. %93.5 of medical doctors confirmed that librarians can play an important role in preparing necessary up-to-date information for prevention, care and treatment.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the rate of Internet use by faculty members of Azarbaijan teacher Education University. The method used is descriptive. To gather information, the researcher has used questionnaires including 24 questions. The research community included 128 faculty members of Humanities, Basic Science and Engineering disciplines. Research findings indicated that more than 95 percent of them have access to Internet via university. There was also a significant difference among the faculty members of three disciplines regarding the ability in using Internet facilities such as e-mail. Moreover, there was no relationship between the scientific rank of the faculty members and their Internet use. As a result, the hypothesis of this study wasn’t confirmed. The research activities and accessing update information are the most important purposes of Internet use by subjects. The faculty members have mentioned the fact that they became familiar with Internet by their friends and colleagues. About 60 percent of Internet users spend 30-60 minutes every session they work with Internet. As conclusion, the faculty members believe that the Internet use has a great influence (43%) on their professional and research activities because they can have an easy and quick access to information resources via Internet. The faculty members have also noted that they can have access to original documents by the help of the message sent to their mentioned e-mail address. Finally, attending workshops and instructional classes to improve the faculty members' awareness of Internet use, providing access to Internet with a reasonable cost and improving the quality of connecting lines are suggested.

This research aims to study fire security status of academic libraries in Islamic Azad University, Region 8. It has been done from four perspectives: Library building structure; Flammable materials in libraries; Fire fighting instrument in libraries and users' information about fire. Research method used is survey using a check-list organized from 32 questions, observation and interview. The results show that the Region 8 Islamic Azad University libraries are far from the security standards and fire fighting. These libraries are not equipped with necessary equipments. The users and librarians have no education in this regard.

The comparison of missions and plans of organizations that are led by the same ministry and have similar objectives can result in optimizing their objectives and missions and preventing composition of similar programs and performance of overlapping activities. At the current study, thus, objectives, missions and plans of 'Regional Information Center of Science and Technology’ (RICST), ‘Iranian Information and Documentation Center’ (IRANDOC) and 'Iranian Research Organization of Science and Technology; Office for Information Technology and Scientific Network’ (IROST) have been studied and compared. To accomplish this research, “Multiple Case Study Method” has been used. Furthermore, “Survey”, “istorical” and “Library” methods have employed to conduct “Multiple Case Study Method”. Considering the fact that it is possible to use both quantitative and qualitative data in “Multiple Case Study Method”, both types of mentioned data have been used at the present research. Besides, “comparative method” has been used to analyze data. The results of both quantitative and qualitative findings reveal that in spite of having corresponding objectives and missions with objectives and missions of Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, these three centers consider revising and updating their overlapping objectives and missions as a necessity. However, this revision should not result in the integration, omission or suspension of any of their activities and must only lead to optimization of their objectives and missions.

The aim of this survey is to present the best model for implementation of TQM and evaluate infrastructures of libraries at Shahid Beheshti University using ISO 9000 model and finally introducing the best solution with considering of existing infrastructures. The defined population was the employees and managers of all Shahid Beheshti University libraries (57 subjects). Our tool for collecting information was a questionnaire which consists of 8 parts that was designed according to ISO standard. All collected data have been analyzed using SPSS software. The Findings demonstrate that with existing situation, it is not possible to use TQM at libraries and the score of libraries was below 50% at 8 principles of ISO 9000 of TQM. The observance percentage at 8 principles of ISO 9000 for the following items at libraries of Shahid Beheshti University is as follows:Focus user: 45.6%; Leadership: 38.4%; Involvement of people: 27.2%; Process approach: 46.7%; System approach: 36.5%; Continual improvement: 29.8 %; Factual approach for the decision making: 34.3%; and Mutual benefit in the relationship with supplier: 40.9 %. According to the results, the score of libraries was below 50% at 8 principles. The highest score attributed to “Process approach” with 46.7% and the lowest was “Involvement of people” with just 27.2%. Also, a meaningful difference in items 1, 5, 7 as well as between (1, 3), (1, 6), (2, 3), (3, 4), (3, 8), (4, 6) have been observed. Therefore, with existing situation there is not any possibility to use TQM at Shahid Beheshti University libraries. Furthermore, before using any schedule to implement the TQM, we should modify the infrastructures and fulfill the existing problems so that the basis will be ready to use TQM as a good and effective approach at Shahid Beheshti University libraries management. Finally, some guidelines and suggestions have been offered for the present situation and future.