RESEARCH ON INFORMATION SCIENCE AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES (PAYAM-E-KETABKHANEH (LIBRARY MESSAGE))
Year:2011 | Volume:17 | Issue:3 (66)|Papers Count:8

Purpose: It is aimed in this study to determine the satisfaction level of public libraries’ users in North Khorasan Province regarding the architecture of libraries, as well as to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in the libraries’ architecture.Methodology: This research is a descriptive survey in which data collection was achieved by questionnaire. The population under study included all citizens of North Khorasan Province who use public libraries and also the librarians and managers of these public libraries. Sample size was estimated to be 140 persons and stratified random sampling was used. In addition, data analysis was performed by the statistical software SPSS 16.Findings: According to the results, out of the nine criteria studied, the satisfaction level of users is lower than medium (3) in five criteria. Therefore, it seems that the satisfaction level is relatively low in total, regarding the general criteria for evaluation of libraries’ architecture. According to the responders, the existence of welfare places in the libraries was described relatively important. Mean weights of the questions related to problems and weaknesses in architecture of main environment of libraries (3.17 to 4.03) indicated that according to the responders the internal architecture of the main environment in libraries has in total undesirable and suffers from many problems. Furthermore, a significant and direct relationship was observed between “the total satisfaction level regarding the library environment” and other general criteria for evaluation of library architecture. On the other hand, no significant difference was observed regarding “the total satisfaction level regarding the library environment” among the three groups of responders, i.e. library managers, librarians, and users.Originality/Value: The findings of this research can assist the officials and managers in the related fields in identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the library environment architecture and therefore in decision-making for related policies. Additionally, it can help the programmers, consultants, designers, and architects of libraries in appropriate programming and efficient designing which would be consistent with the needs of users.

Purpose: This research was conducted with the aim of determining the information seeking behavior in web for higher education students of Razi University (Kermanshah).Methodology: In the quantitative and qualitative parts of the research, survey methodology and Grounded Theory were followed, respectively. In the first part, data analysis was performed using SPSS 11 for the survey, while in the qualitative phase it was conducted by Grounded Theory as proposed by Meho and Tibbo pattern.Findings: Concerning the familiarity of university students with searching methods and tools as well as types of web resources, and information seeking behavior of students of different fields at levels of information search, retrieval, and processing, the present study obtained significant results. Also, data resulted from Lown test showed that the level of information seeking behavior among engineering students is high, whereas it is low among students of agriculture and human sciences departments. In the qualitative part, the results indicate that appropriate information seeking for students comprises eight steps: the three steps of starting, pursuing, and reviewing are at search level; the two steps of filtering and updating are at retrieval level; and the three steps of information filing, archiving, and organizing are at processing level.Originality/Value: Based upon studies of this kind, it is possible to predict the information needs of users and facilitate the main ways through which the users access the information resources, and also to help the users to gain their necessary information with less time loss and higher efficiency.

Purpose: This study was carried out to assess the information seeking behavior among nurses and to recognize their information needs through analysis of research papers published in this field in international journals.Methodology: Citation analysis was used. The population under study included the articles in the field of nurses’ information seeking behavior, which were indexed in databases of Pubmed, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, MedLine, ProQuest, Emerald, EBSCO, and the search engine Google scholar during 2000-2009.Findings: The obtained results indicate that nurses make use of human resources and medical texts for the purpose of gaining specialized information, making their personal knowledge up-to-date, meet the clinical needs of patients such as prevention, identification, treatment, and obtaining drugs information. Consulting their colleagues and physicians and analyzing the patients’ profiles are the most important information resources for nurses. Evidence-based nursing pattern is the common information seeking pattern among nurses. The nurses’ motivations for information seeking are answering the patients’ questions and resolving the ambiguities in specialized texts and patients’ profiles. The most significant barriers against nurses’ information seeking include lack of time, unavailability of resources, being too much busy, lack of necessary information seeking skills, and unfamiliarity with information resources. Relying on the information given by colleagues, as well as paying insufficient attention to specialized texts in their field and electronic information resources are among the major challenges of information seeking behavior in this field.Originality/Value: Information flow and its desirable use in an information society are dependent on the adaptability between information and users. Furthermore, a main challenge for nurses is to make immediate and precise decisions in emergency. The findings of this study can be informative in future programming for meeting the information needs, efficient use of information resources, and identification of common pattern of information seeking among nurses.

Purpose: To investigate the scientific collaborations (for the papers indexed in ISI web of knowledge) among researchers from type-1 universities of medical sciences during 2004-2008, the present study was conducted.Methodology: Webometrics based upon the co-authorship index was used. The population under study included the Tehran, Shahid Beheshti, Iran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Mashhad, Tabriz, JondiShapour (Ahvaz) and Kerman Universities of Medical Sciences. To collect data, all documents related to each of these universities were initially retrieved from the ISI web of knowledge database. Then the statistical methods of abundance distribution and abundance percentage in form of table and graph, and Spearman’s correlation coefficient for analysis of the relations among the variables were used.Findings: Considering the results, highest ratio of national scientific collaborations to total scientific publications with descending order was assigned to the Kerman, Iran, and Shahid Beheshti Universities of Medical Sciences. Most international scientific collaborations were made with researchers from the US, UK, and Canada. Pharmacology and pharmacy were the fields with highest rate of scientific collaboration, both at national and international levels. Results of Pearson’s correlation test indicate a significant relationship between scientific publications of the universities and their national scientific collaborations, between scientific publications of the universities and their international scientific collaborations, and between their national and international scientific collaborations.Originality/Value: In addition to providing an overview of the status of scientific collaborations among researchers in type-1 universities of medical sciences, the present study has identified the fields which have received attention from researchers in their scientific collaborations.

Purpose: This research is devoted to study the consistency between keywords extracted from abstracts of theses by the experts in the related fields and descriptors provided by the indexers in database of “Iran’s theses abstracts”.Methodology: This research is an applied study based on content analysis. A checklist which consisted of 32 criteria was used. In addition, we consulted the experts in the studied fields. The population under study included the records in database of “Iran’s theses abstracts” (74, 500 records) during 1989-2006. By using the sample size formula, 100 records were chosen from each of the fields of human sciences, basic sciences, engineering, and agriculture, by random stratified sampling.Findings: According to results of the research, there are significant relationships between the number of keywords in theses abstracts and their consistency with the descriptors, as well as between the number of keywords in theses abstracts and the number of descriptors. Also, there is significant relationship in different fields and different time intervals in consistency between the extracted keywords and the descriptors. Higher rate of retrieval through descriptors in comparison with the keywords extracted from abstracts revealed the efficiency of works which have been performed in this database in order to increase the relationships between descriptors of the same subject.Originality/Value: The findings of this research can assist the indexers and managers of the database of “Iran’s theses abstracts” for identification of strengths and weaknesses in indexing the theses and collaboration with fields experts in documents indexing.

Purpose: This research tries to study the information needs of hearing-impaired students in exceptional schools in Shiraz from their teachers’ viewpoint and evaluate the role of libraries in these schools in meeting these needs.Methodology: This is a survey in which the opinions of 44 teachers of the exceptional schools for hearing-impaired students were collected by a questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software.Findings: As data analysis revealed, information needs of hearing-impaired students in exceptional schools in Shiraz include general information, supplementary information resources, and amusement. According to the teachers, the most appropriate form of providing the information resources is the books accompanied by CD or DVD and sign language. The teachers believe that the existing information resources have low effect on development of social skills of hearing-impaired students and such students are incapable of purchasing and use of current information resources.52.2% of the teachers think that proper communication devices (such as teletex and written chat) are not available to the students. Also, the students rarely use the libraries in their schools and have insufficient familiarity with the existing information resources in the libraries. Besides, quality of the schools libraries is low.Originality/Value: The findings of this research can be useful for related officials in identification of the information needs of a specific group of the society’s individuals and in trying to meet such needs. Furthermore, the present study can assist the parents and teachers of hearing-impaired students to satisfy the information needs of such specific group of students.

Purpose: This study was performed to investigate the status of building and facilities of Tabriz central library, to compare it with standards of public libraries, and to evaluate the satisfaction level of users regarding the library environment.Methodology: The research was performed as a descriptive-survey study. The population under study included Tabriz central library and users who were chosen by random sampling. To analyze the data, Microsoft Excel software was used. Also, descriptive statistics such as abundance and abundance percentage was used for data description.Findings: According to the findings, 92.53% of the users have easy access to the library and 69.69% of them believe that the necessary places outside the library are obvious when entering the library. Also, 87.09% of users think that ramps have been made properly for handicaps’ use. In addition, 68.57% of users have easy access to computer list and among them 74.24% use it without difficulty.75.47% of the users have easy access to the reference unit and are satisfied by the existing facilities there. Besides, 60.65% and 81% of the users believe that the light and humidity of different parts of the library are desirable, respectively. Nevertheless, 62.29% of the users have mentioned the hygienic facilities of the library are insufficient. In total, it can be concluded based upon the findings that the status of building and facilities of Tabriz central library are much consistent with IFLA standards concerning public libraries.Originality: Since promotion of services quality in public libraries and their standardization always requires the recognition and analysis of needs and demands of users, the present research has in this regard identified and analyzed the users’ expectations in order to make a contribution in promotion of services provided by this library and thus enhancing the satisfaction level of users.