RESEARCH ON INFORMATION SCIENCE AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES (PAYAM-E-KETABKHANEH (LIBRARY MESSAGE))
Year:2020 | Volume:25 | Issue:4 (99) |Papers Count:7

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of the classification of the Divine Names mentioned in Qur’ an, Nahj al-Balagha and Mafatih al-Jinan according to their forms and meanings. Method: The present research is a basic, library-based research whose instrument consists of critical thinking and a comparison of religious texts. Findings: Results indicate that so-called microcosm and macrocosm are not two separate worlds. Classification of the Divine Names and the ontological manifestations of divine blessings and emanations on the created beings (creature) can be served as a guide to discovering and understanding the truths in the world for those who believe in God. Of these kinds of classifications proposed by the current research is classifying the Divine Names into positive and negative attributes/names of God, classifying according to divine generation (or creation or genesis) and legislation, classifying the Divine Names/Attributes into God-specific attributes and common attributes between God and human, classifying them into simple (noncompound) Names and compound Names, and into entity-denoting Names and process-denoting Names. Originality/value: There are many studies on the Divine Names in mysticism, Sufism, and sometimes ethics, but there is yet no classification of the Divine Names according to their attribution to knowledge and science factors. This paper can be regarded as a beginning for further research in this area.

Identity is very important for anything and everybody without which no definition can be provided. Naming is the first step, but the real identity depends on how one introduces himself by acts a and practice. Disciplines, like human beings, must have identity and definition. LIS/KIS has tried to find and develop its identity. Nowadays some believe that LIS/KIS is information-based while others maintain that retrieval as a result of information storage constitutes the definitional characteristic of LIS/KIS. Here, a new definition is given as follows: LIS/KIS is a science of retrieval and dissemination of information and knowledge which discusses briefly the information and knowledge through considering the horizontal and vertical relations between the specialized terms in any disciplines, in order to help individual and collective users in terms of relevance, accuracy, speed and benefit.

Purpose: The main purpose of the present study is to assess the quality of services in the West Azerbaijan public libraries using the gap analysis model, based on the Users' Perspective. Method: This study is an applied research that was conducted by survey Method. The research population includes the members of West Azerbaijan public libraries from whom 450 people were randomly selected. The data collection tool was the last version of LibQual questionnaire. To analyze the data, T-student and Levine tests were used. Findings: The results indicate that from the viewpoint of the users of the public libraries in West Azerbaijan Province, the quality of services of these public libraries are below the expected level. The comparison of the real status of the components of LibQual model showed that the "effectiveness of services" component lies at the least distance from the expected level and the "library as space" component lies at the greatest distance from the expected level. Originality/value: The great distance between the real status of the users of public libraries for the "library as place" component and their expected status suggests that the public libraries under study have failed to meet the required services and expectations of users in the multicultural society of West Azerbaijan. Thus, it is essential that public libraries reconsider and define their space and services in parallel with this change of approach.

Purpose: To determine the effect of teaching approaches to foster book reading and on the increase in the motivation for reading and the amount of non-curricular reading among the elementary students in Zahedan county. Method: This research was carried out by using a half-experimental design consisting of a pretest-posttest on an experimental group and a control group. The statistical population included all the sixth-grade male and female students. The research sample included 100 students from four classes (two male and female classes (consisting of 50 students) as the experimental group and two male and female classes (consisting of 50 students as the control group) who were selected by the purposeful sampling method. To gather data, two researcher-made questionnaires were utilized which were: 1) Questionnaire on Motivation for Reading, 2) Questionnaire on Non-curricular Reading. The experimental plan was implemented in ten 45-minute sessions (at least every two weeks) within five weeks in the classrooms. Immediately after sessions, the post-test was performed and a month after the sessions ended, the follow-up test was performed. The data analysis was carried out by using the two-way analysis of Covariance. Findings: Results of the Covariance analysis showed that teaching approaches to foster book reading have an effect on the increase in motivation for reading and the amount of reading non-curricular books among the students during the post-test stage. Originality/value: In the current research, teaching approaches to foster book reading were designed and applied to a group of elementary students. The abovementioned process can provide a framework for implementing teaching schemes of reading in order be used by teachers and lead students to achieve higher efficiency and have more motivation for reading non-curricular books while putting greater effort into scientific and research activities.

Purpose: Considering the important role of Information Sciences and Knowledge Studies agents in scrutinizing and evaluating the quality and quantity of science development at various institutional and individual levels, one of the competencies required for them is research competencies. Thus the purpose of the present study is to investigate the role of Islamic mentoring in developing the research competencies of graduate students of Knowledge and Information Science. Method: This study is a descriptive-survey study in terms of the data collection method and a correlational study in terms of the data analysis method. The research data was collected from the graduate students of Tehran universities. Then, 102 cases were selected as the research sample using the stratified random sampling method. To measure the students' research competencies, the subscales of "performing & managing research" and "interpreting & transferring knowledge of student" in the = questionnaire of development of students were used, and to collect the data related to mentoring, the Islamic mentoring questionnaire (Khaghahanizadeh, Taqavi & Ebadi, 2019) was used. Findings: According to the results, the mean of Islamic mentoring and student’ s research competencies are 3. 78 and 3. 84, which is indicative of the favorable situation of the students. Results of the correlation analysis indicate that the correlation coefficients of all factors of Islamic mentoring with research competency except "challenging", "counseling" and "networking", were significant and positive. The Regression analysis results are indicative of significance of research model and show that a considerable amount of variance of research competencies is explained by mentoring. Originality/value: The present study investigated the status of future KIS professionals and its predictability based on one of the educational strategies compatible with the prevailing cultural conditions.

Purpose: To examine the effect of using smart phones on the positive behavioral outcomes of employees with a mediating role of social capital. Method: This study is considered an applied research in terms of purpose and a descriptive-correlational study in terms of the data collection method. The statistical population of the research includes all the staff of Tehran's public libraries, who numbers 394 from whom 200 individuals were selected by using the random sampling method. Cochran formula has been used to determine the sample size 200 participants. Due to the small size of the population and the appropriate volume for the modeling of structural equations, the entire population was studied. The instrument for collecting data was the standard questionnaire by Shir et al. (2017) whose reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0. 914. To verify the suitability of the data for factor analysis, KMO test was used. Furthermore, the research validity was examined by a factor analysis and finally the Amos software was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings: The examination of the fit indices of the research model showed its good fit. Furthermore, findings indicated that using smartphones has a significant and positive effect with the path coefficient=0/45 on the positive behavioral outcomes of library staff. Moreover, the role of social capital as a mediator in this effect was confirmed with the indirect path coefficient = 0/48. Originality/value: The current research has been the first one that has studied the positive outcomes of the librarians' use of smart phones and its consequences in public libraries through the mediating role of social capital. This research reveals the advantages of using smart phones in organizations and its results contribute to the empirical and theoretical development of this area of study. Therefore, considering the importance and efficiency of smart phones in providing information, reference, information technology and educational and research services, it is suggested that measures be taken to be used appropriately in the development of public library services with the help of smart phones.

Purpose: This study systematically reviews the original research works in the field of public library services to ethnic and minority groups from various aspects. According to this goal and based on the relevant literature, the barriers of library services to ethnic and minority groups as well as the strategies to address those barriers have been presented. Method: This is an applied research in terms of purpose which has been conducted based on the Prisma guidelines. To collect the relevant literature, subject keywords were searched into several known scientific databases, through which 314 documents in English were retrieved. By applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, all documents were examined, from whom repeated or irrelevant ones were omitted. Finally, 40 original research works were chosen for further analysis. Findings: The review of literature showed that most studies on the provision of public libraries services to ethnic and minority groups have been carried out in the Western world using various tools and users’ surveys. Totally 17 barriers were identified, which fall into 4 main categories including: “ management-related Barriers” , “ perceptual and communication barriers” , “ environment-related barriers” , and “ barriers related to the nature of minority communities” . To address these barriers, 20 strategies have been suggested in the reviewed research works. Recruitment of staff who are familiar with the culture and language of ethnic and minority groups, professional development of staff, developing collection which is culturally sensitive, and library marketing and publicity are the most important strategies to achieve success in providing services in a multicultural society. Originality/value: The review of internal and external information resources showed that no systematic review has already been conducted on the public library services to ethnic and minority groups in multicultural societies. Therefore, in order to have a general picture of the services offered in multicultural societies, a systematic review of original research works is essential, which the current research has embarked on.