University Libraries
Reza Rajabali Beglou; Soamye Sadat Akhshik; Nahid Rostami
Abstract
Introduction: The purpose of establishing academic libraries is to achieve the goals of the university, which is to preserve, disseminate, and promote knowledge. These duties and responsibilities are also a significant issue when dealing with crises in society. Have a look at the researches shows that ...
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Introduction: The purpose of establishing academic libraries is to achieve the goals of the university, which is to preserve, disseminate, and promote knowledge. These duties and responsibilities are also a significant issue when dealing with crises in society. Have a look at the researches shows that the study of how libraries deal with crises has been an interesting topic for researches. In these studies, confronting of all types of libraries has been examined and most of them have been done during and after the crisis to examine the actions, functions and nature of the services provided or changed by these institutions. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify the way academic libraries in the world deal with Covid-19 and analyze their services and activities in this situation.Methodology: The present study was an applied study that was conducted by survey method and descriptive-analytical method. To do this, the World University Libraries website was reviewed based on the Times Higher Education University Rankings. Based on the Cochran's formula, 300 samples were randomly selected from this community. The instrument of this research was a researcher-made checklist.Findings: The research findings showed that academic libraries in the world followed the six main strategies of "creation", "development", "change", "updating", and "reduction or cessation", respectively, and the most common strategies were "creation" and "development". For these main strategies, 34 sub-strategies and 123 actions were implemented by these libraries around the world. In other words, these libraries played an active role in responding to the crisis. Hence, the efforts of the world's academic libraries were significant. The most practical measures were related to the main strategies of "creation" (39 cases), "development" (18 cases), "commitment to social responsibility" (13 cases) and "change" (12 cases), respectively.Conclusion: Academic libraries, instead of accepting strategies to stop or reduce their services and activities in the face of this crisis, have turned to creation strategy and changing services and activities. The contribution of commitment to social responsibility in these libraries was also significant.
Maryam Parsaeian; Nosrat Riahi nia; Somaye Sadat Akhshik; Mohammad Hasanzadeh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The EFQM Business Excellence Model is a valuable management model that plays a prominent role in the excellence of the quality of services provided by various organizations and institutions. Certainly, utilizing this pattern in academic libraries can enhance the quality and ...
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Background and Objectives: The EFQM Business Excellence Model is a valuable management model that plays a prominent role in the excellence of the quality of services provided by various organizations and institutions. Certainly, utilizing this pattern in academic libraries can enhance the quality and service of academic libraries and ultimately cause the growth and development of scientific and research in universities. The main purpose of the present study is to provide an organizational excellence model appropriate to these types of libraries by identifying and accurately weighing the nine criteria of organizational excellence model with Iranian academic libraries. This research was conducted to answer the following questions:
1. What is the weight of the enabling criteria of the EFQM Business Excellence Model in Iranian academic libraries?
2. What is the weight of the results criteria of the EFQM Business Excellence Model in Iranian academic libraries?
3. Does the modified EFQM Business Excellence Model fit into the conditions of Iranian academic libraries?
4. What is the status of enabling and results criteria of the model adapted in Iranian academic libraries?
Methodology: This research was an applied research which used a survey method and a combined approach in gathering data (in two qualitative and quantitative stages) using a Delphi panel and a questionnaire. The research community in the qualitative section included 8 members of Delphi panel. The Results of the two-round Delphi technique was the EFQM questionnaire. Validity or credibility of the questionnaire was confirmed by Delphi technique based on experts' opinions. Also, the Cronbach's alpha for the 9 criteria of the EFQM Business Excellence Model Obtained above. /7. The community of the quantitative part of the research were the managers of Iranian academic libraries. The questionnaire was distributed among 126 of the managers of the academic libraries, in order to comment on the importance of each of the sub criteria in assessing the quality of academic library services in a continuum 1 to 5 points. Finally, 93 questionnaires was collected as the basis for data analyzing. Factor Score Regression with Bootstrap-p method used in AMOS v. 23 to analyze the data.
Findings: The findings showed that the modified EFQM Business Excellence Model in this study is well-suited to the requirements of Iranian academic libraries and can be proposed for all Iranian academic libraries as a qualitative model. All the principles necessary to improve the quality of libraries are proportionate according to the situation and conditions of academic libraries in Iran. Also, according to the findings, the enabling criteria make up a total of 62% of the weight structure of the modified EFQM Business Excellence Model, While 38% of the weight structure of the modified model is assigned to the results criteria. Also, according to the findings, the average status of the enabling and results criteria at 95% confidence level have a significant difference with the average level (3). In other words, the criteria of the EFQM Business Excellence Model are at desirable level and can be used to measure the performance of Iranian academic libraries.
Discussion: The results of the research showed that the modified EFQM Business Excellence Model can be recommended for all academic libraries in Iran as a qualitative model because all the principles necessary for improving the quality of libraries are adapted according to to the status and conditions of the academic libraries in Iran. The results also showed that for quality excellence in academic libraries enabling criteria is more important than the results. Among the enabling criteria, provision of appropriate processes, resources and information services for users can have more value in the quality excellence of academic libraries. Also, among the results criteria, achieving and maintaining excellent results by academic libraries along with their mother organization's strategy is important for managers of these libraries and can be of great importance to the quality excellence of the library services. Finally, the correspondence between the status of enabling measures and results in the modified EFQM Business Excellence Model showed that all the enabling and results criteria are essential for achieving a level of excellence in academic libraries and can be used by managers of Iranian academic libraries. Therefore the modified EFQM Business Excellence model, which is developed by the guidance of the professors and Delphi members comment and is weighted by the managers of Iranian academic libraries, can be considered as a functional and comprehensive model for all types of academic libraries.
Somaye Akhshik
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Subject analysis of the Management Research published in Knowledge and Information Science journals to identify their degree of compliance with management issues and challenges, as well as identifying the research gaps in this area. Methodology: This study is an applied research ...
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Background and Objectives: Subject analysis of the Management Research published in Knowledge and Information Science journals to identify their degree of compliance with management issues and challenges, as well as identifying the research gaps in this area. Methodology: This study is an applied research that was conducted using a mixed method, approach applying content analysis techniques. The research population consisted of two groups: 1. Papers with the subject of management published in the scientific journals in the field of KIS (8 journals). The data collection tool used for this group was a check list; 2. Experts and professionals of KIS with management experience and expertise (7 people) who participated in the survey through a written interview. Findings: The findings showed that only a small part of the scientific papers (17%) had addressed the management field and its related issues. Among the reviewed journals, most of the papers in this field had been published in two journals of Academic Librarianship and Information Research and Studies in Library and Information Science (24.5% and 22.5% of the total papers, respectively). The most repeated topics were Knowledge Management, and the Quality of Services. The discrepancy observed in the subjects addressed in the research in the field of management, the results of which have been published as research articles in scientific journals, and the tendency of these articles to the subject of knowledge management and its related sub-topics seems to be rooted in several issues: The first issue relates to the qualitative shortcomings of research in this field. Most research is done either in the form of theses and dissertations by graduate students, or as part of the requirements of some courses such as Planning in Libraries and Information Centers in the Ph.D. program, and Organizational Knowledge Management in the Master's program. The second issue is the shortcomings of research and writing about Management. Research itself and, in the broader context, writing in the field of Management in Information Science is not only qualitatively but also quantitatively deficient in quantitative terms. The third issue is rooted in the difficulties of research in the field of management. Of the challenge sources are the courses that deal with management of libraries and information centers in different levels of education from undergraduate to doctoral; courses such as: Library and Information Centers Management, Organizational Knowledge Management, Management Information Systems and Planning in Libraries and Information Centers. Regarding the KIS Curriculum, the proportion of courses relevant to Knowledge Management is greater than other courses. This can be an important reason for boosting of the research in this field. From another point, however, the limited period of time allocated to post-graduate studies (normally 2 to 4 years) provides students with just the opportunity to familiarize themselves with managerial issues superficially, let alone the have the chance to grasp profound proficiency in theoretical and practical aspects of management, whether generally or specially in different levels of management. The fourth problem stems out from the continuous adherence of new findings to the wealth of knowledge available in this area, especially that which can be marked as managerial fads. Unfortunately, not only in this field, but also in many other areas, a large amount of research appears to have been undertaken due to following the momentary management modes as well as adherence to systems, models and styles that are almost entirely tailored to the needs and requirements of other countries. In experts' views, the most important issues in this area are: Inadequate skills, ill-managerial knowledge and expertise due to problems such as the paucity of employment of knowledgeable managers, unfamiliarity of managers with modern management in theory and practice, neglecting management as an important specialization and the need for considering knowledge, expertise and personal capability of applicants for management jobs; organizational problems such as problems and deficiencies that exist in the organization chart against the demands of clients for their diverse desired services; decision-making issues in institutions that usually are rooted in deficiencies such as lack of stable and sustainable management and lack of strategic view towards the challenges of technology development in these centers. In experts’ views, other challenge areas are: the issue of libraries' competition with other organizations, centralization and decentralization in library management, manpower management and interaction with library staff, service quality management approaches, creativity enhancement strategies, and, staff and teamwork. Review of numerous articles and comparison of their contents with research priorities as pointed out by experts indicates that, apart from the quality of services which is the most frequent subject discussed in most of the reviewed journals, there’s almost no agreement among the trio aspects, i.e., these articles, the important research topics suggested by management experts, and, issues set forth by experts in science and information science. Discussion: The priorities of research in the field of management in experts’ views are related to issues such as specialization in management theories, management techniques, planning for the development of services, and managers' attitudes towards management challenges; however, there is little consistency between these topics and the duplicate topics of papers in this area. It seems that the most important reasons for this come from the qualitative and quantitative shortcomings of research and writing, the complications of research in this field, and following management fads.
Somaye Akhshik
Abstract
Purpose: This article demonstrates how students experience reading in printed and electronic formats and what factors are involved in selecting reading materials.Methodology: This study was performed by quality approach and interpreted with phenomenological method. Participated populations were M.A. ...
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Purpose: This article demonstrates how students experience reading in printed and electronic formats and what factors are involved in selecting reading materials.Methodology: This study was performed by quality approach and interpreted with phenomenological method. Participated populations were M.A. students (17) of Kharazmi University. In order to gather information, non-structural interview was implemented and this process continued until data saturation. Data analysis was performed using ground theory followed by triangulation method. Findings: This analysis showed that cause factors (instrumental and value believes), field conditions (cognition and perception, access and comfort) and intervening condition (feeling) have basic rules in selecting reading formats. It was realized that these people used approaches based on subject and context value for selecting format and the results of these approaches were pleasure and behavior which will create for readers.Originality/value: This is the first study that makes an attempt to draw field model of lived experience, causal factors, field and intervening conditions of reading in printed and electronic format.
