Public Libraries
sedigheh raeisi; Fahimeh Babalhavaeji; fatemeh nooshnfard; zahra abazari
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The growing trend of increasing information in today's world has doubled the need for public libraries to pay more attention and accuracy to the resource collection process. The annual increases in the prices of books and periodicals and budget and space shortages have caused ...
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Background and Objectives: The growing trend of increasing information in today's world has doubled the need for public libraries to pay more attention and accuracy to the resource collection process. The annual increases in the prices of books and periodicals and budget and space shortages have caused a scarcity of libraries, no matter how large they can offer the full range of library materials. Collection maintenance is one of the most important and basic tasks in libraries and means collecting materials, including information and data, based on a plan that meets users' needs. Therefore, selecting information resources is one of the most significant steps in collection development, and libraries must devote their limited financial resources to provide materials that are prospective to meet the greatest needs of their users, which require the presence of librarians. Library users are an integral part of any library. Thus, their opinions, perception, and feelings are essential in achieving the library’s primary goals. In addition, public libraries are designed solely to provide free or low-cost information services to the public regardless of status, occupation, gender, or age. Public libraries are expected to play a dynamic role in the community's life. Among them are promoting reading culture, providing excellent information, creating collections relevant to local interests, and providing various services to users such as references, audio and video services, and training. Regarding the creation of collections of local interests, public libraries need to collect and make available information resources on a wide range of subjects to meet users' information needs. This is arguably the biggest challenge facing public libraries. The public library is thus special and requires special attention because it is the only type of library that has the most access. Collection development is a set of processes and activities related to reviewing information needs, selecting, preparing, and making available various information resources required by the library community, both printed and non-printed, based on a specific policy through purchase, donation, exchange, evaluation, and weeding, by performing dynamic, efficient, and up-to-date processes, as well as using the most economical methods to provide information and the possibility of users accessing information.
Methodology: The current research aims to provide a model of public library collection with a grounded theory approach. This research is of an applied type, conducted with a qualitative approach and as a grounded theory method. The studied population to reach theoretical saturation were 10 (out of 15) experts and professors in the information science and epistemology field. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview. The analytical method "Strauss and Corbin" was used to analyze the interviews, which included three stages of open, central, and selective coding. During the central coding phase, the main categories were identified, and after selective coding and determination of relationships, the model of resource collection in public libraries was presented. This study used the criteria of validity, verifiability, reliability, and transferability to validate the study (Creswell, 2011).
Findings: The research findings showed that 5 main categories and 15 sub-components were conceptualized as the dimensions and components of the collection model in public libraries. The five primary categories are causal conditions (structural and administrative factors, cultural and ethnic factors, and financial factors), intermediate conditions (users, librarians, and professionals’ needs), and background conditions. (Space, homogeneity factors and errors in policymakers' halos, cost control that governs policy maker mindset), resource pool model strategy (user voice and equity in resources provision, education structural and financial (reflecting lack of concentration). The consequences of using the resource collection model in public libraries will lead to the satisfaction of users, officials, and librarians, increasing the productivity of the country's public libraries, as well as the popularity and reputation of this institution.
Discussion: Based on the findings, it can be concluded that it is necessary to continuously use the opinions of users and librarians, to use new information technologies, and to modify the structural rules regarding the provision of resources. In addition, to paying special attention to the provision of information-based resources. Based on the users' culture, ethnicity, and religion, it is one of the necessities of collection building in the country's public libraries.
Public Libraries
Mahdi Deramnesari; Fahimeh Babalhavaeji; zahra abazari; Nadjla Hariri; fatemeh nooshnfard
Abstract
Background and Objectives: A public library is a non-profit library, which is maintained for public use and funded by the government or the public sources. Unlike other libraries, public library satisfies general public information needs by providing all kinds of knowledge and information available to ...
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Background and Objectives: A public library is a non-profit library, which is maintained for public use and funded by the government or the public sources. Unlike other libraries, public library satisfies general public information needs by providing all kinds of knowledge and information available to all segments of the community regardless of race, nationality, age, gender, religion, language, disability, economic and employment status. It may also provide other services to their communities such as, storytelling for children, after-school programs, language learning, seminars, workshops and other community services. One of the benefits of this research is to offer proposed solutions and lay the groundwork for developing a model for playing a strategic role of public libraries in geopolitics of information as a tool to measure the performance of libraries in this regard and the results can be used in public libraries and other relevant trustees, so, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the strategic role of the public libraries in the Iran Geopolitics of Information This is an applied research with a mixed method (qualitative-quantitative) approach.Methodology: To collect qualitative information, a semi-structured interview has been used. In the quantitative part, a researcher-made questionnaire Based on the result of the qualitative part, has been used. The statistical population of the research in the qualitative section includes 13 experts and university professors who were selected by a purposeful method based on criteria and has been analyzed using qualitative content analysis method. The findings of quantitative part has been analyzed using factor analysis. The population of the quantitative part, included the head managers and deputies of the general administrations of the Iran's public libraries (70 people) and the librarians of the provinces that have main and central public libraries from five clusters of north, south, east, west and center of Iran, including 10 provinces & 160 librarians. 201 complete questionnaires were received.Findings: Findings shows that, libraries have an implicitly role in strengthening cultural identity and increasing public awareness, especially in terms of strengthening Iranian-Islamic identity, as one of the three main components of geopolitics, but this role is not designed for a specific mission and It is also not clearly explained in upstream documents. Also, based on the findings, the centralized resources acquisition by the Iran Public Libraries Foundation for all public libraries in an integrated manner that there is not any clear role of users need in the selection process is inconsistent with the Free-Flow of Information approach.Discussion: Centralized system of providing resources and public libraries materials, i.e. centralized purchase and distribution of resources by the public libraries of the country to all public libraries in Iran in an integrated way that users do not have an obvious and effective role in the selection process, is somewhat inconsistent with the definitions of free flow of information. Preserving and strengthening identity is one of the basic components in geopolitical issues. Information is considered as the main source of power. Governments have focused mainly on identity to develop their boundaries of geopolitics of information. Obviously, in order to prevent cultural interference and the infiltration of foreign identities in order to change the behavior and culture of a society and make it more consumer-oriented, people should to be well aware of their national identity and thus power as Soft defense power. Public libraries are one of the most important general databases, which can strengthen the soft defense infrastructure by disseminating information about the identity and national values of a community by raising public awareness. Therefore, national policymakers should consider the role of public libraries as a public discourse space in transmitting culture and information and a base for strengthening the power of soft defense, training and explaining the specific role for librarians, developing technological infrastructure of libraries, providing resources based on local needs and the audience needs, continuous and purposeful monitoring of activities and increasing the number of service recipients from public libraries. In order to achieve these goals, it is necessary to consider a few basic points: First, due to the geographical dispersion of public libraries in Iran, it is necessary for more people to use the services of libraries. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive audience attraction program is needed. Design and implement public libraries in a purposeful and mission-oriented manner. It's also necessary for librarians to receive targeted and necessary training to provide appropriate counseling and guidance services so that they'll can, in addition to general librarianship services, perform their duties as advisors to guide users in the right direction. The third important point is to pay attention to the information resource system required by libraries, in which the diversity of ethnic and cultural needs should be considered in order to gain more power through the saturation of cultural information in the community memory.
soudabeh derakhshandeh; Fereshteh Sepehr; zahra abazari; neshaneh neshaneh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Image indexing based on search engines in retrieving text-based and content-based indexed images using the Delphi technique.
Methodology: This research is applied in terms of classifying research according to the method of data collection (research design), using the Delphi ...
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Background and Objectives: Image indexing based on search engines in retrieving text-based and content-based indexed images using the Delphi technique.
Methodology: This research is applied in terms of classifying research according to the method of data collection (research design), using the Delphi technique, and in terms of classifying research according to the purpose. The statistical population of the qualitative stage of this research included all the specialists who worked in the offices of national newspapers in Tehran and had sufficient aristocracy and mastery in all five search engines studied. Most of them, depending on the type of activity and field of work, work with a maximum of one or two search engines and are aware. Therefore, only 16 specialists were selected as the available sample for Delphi panel members. In the present study, the experts reached a general consensus with twenty questions in four stages, which were indexed based on a range of five Likert options (from very weak to very good). Given the low Kendall coefficient in the fourth round, the low agreement of the panel members, and the significance of the third round, it is concluded that there was no increase in agreement in this round, and the polling process should be stopped. In this study, after reviewing the existing texts and sources by documentary method (library study), 150 specialized questions in the field were collected. After discussion and exchange of views with experts and professors in this field, 31 questions were approved for implementation, which with 3 main components separately [image search engine evaluation criteria (nineteen questions), image retrieval based on text-based indexing (six questions), And image retrieval was performed based on content-based indexing (six questions). In the meantime, Hamshahri newspaper, with its various publications as well as provincial special issues, magazines (My Land, 24, Children, Health, Youth, Stories, Knowledge, Clues, Story Books, Advertising Brochures, Exhibition Brochures, etc.) [In addition to the 5 selected image search engines, there were other very good image search engines in this field that even ranked very well on Alexa (the international website for ranking sites and blogs); However, due to the lack of use of this language and inefficiency in Iran and the lack of a specific audience, we have ignored their choice in this study]. The results of 9 experts showed that the questionnaire's relative validity coefficient of 32 items out of 40 items was higher than the critical coefficient value of 0.78. However, the relative validity of the eight-item content was less than the critical coefficient and was omitted. Therefore, in the relative coefficient index, the content validity of 32 questionnaire items was confirmed. Also, the content validity index of the other 31 questionnaire items was higher than the standard value of 0.79. As a result, 31 questionnaire items were approved in terms of two relative content validity coefficients. In addition, Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the reliability of the questionnaire with 31 items on 16 experts showed that it is equal to 0.916, which is a high coefficient.
Findings: Google's search engine showed a higher image retrieval rate based on their evaluation criteria. There was no significant difference between the studied search engines from the perspective of experts in the field of image retrieval based on text-based indexing at the level of P <0.05. Yandex search engine has a higher content indexing based on indexing based on more content at the level of P <0.05. Also, the Google search engine is significantly more efficient at the level of P \u003c0.05 in terms of retrieving images based on the areas under study. The results of the present study indicate that: 1. In the search engines, from the point of view of experts in the field of image retrieval based on text-based indexing, there are more or fewer differences, so the highest average, in this case, belonged to the Google search engine, and the lowest average belonged to the Pinterest search engine. 2. Experts in image retrieval based on content-based indexing see some differences between the search engines, so the Yandex search engine showed the highest average in this case, and the Yahoo search engine had the lowest average among the surveyed search engines. 3. Regarding image retrieval based on evaluation criteria, there are some differences between the average search engines from the perspective of experts. Hence, the average Google search engine is higher than the average of other search engines, while the Yandex search engine, in this case, is the lowest. Has had an average. 4. From the experts' point of view, there are differences between the studied search engines regarding the most efficient search engine in retrieving images based on the researched areas. The results show that Google's search engine has a much higher average than other studied search engines and the lowest average. Has been to the Pinterest search engine.
Discussion: Google's general search engines perform better than other search engines (Yahoo, Bing, Pinterest, and Yandex) in retrieving images; web image searchers can also choose the search engine that suits their needs and interior designers for better design. In addition, these results can be generalized to similar areas, and search engine designers will find out which indexing method to use to retrieve images better. In conclusion, it is suggested that to pay more attention to the indexing and retrieval of images in search engines; designers should consider such features based on the main components identified separately: A. Criteria for image search engines (add a special code for image copyright, apply all components of this research as a menu and submenu in image search engines, notify the owners of the email (images) when uploading images for support) B. Consider image retrieval based on content-based indexing (possibility to combine multiple colors simultaneously, searchable image edges to be able to draw shapes, simultaneous searchability of image content information).
mahdieh momenabadi; zohre miehossini; Nadjla Hariri; zahra abazari
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The objective is search behavior analysis and evaluation of relevance judgment of the users of information retrieval in the web hyperlink environment. In this regard, the pattern of the web information retrieval behavior of these users were explained and the rate of satisfaction ...
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Background and Objectives: The objective is search behavior analysis and evaluation of relevance judgment of the users of information retrieval in the web hyperlink environment. In this regard, the pattern of the web information retrieval behavior of these users were explained and the rate of satisfaction with information retrieval system, the rate of the user trust on the results and effectiveness and ease of using the results and the rate of results relevance from user’s viewpoint was investigated. Also, the significance of the difference of the mentioned factors between the students of the field of information science and other fields was statistically assessed.
Methodology: This research is applied / fundamental which has been performed with combined method. The research population included 5784 students of master's and doctoral degree of information sciences and other different domains of sciences in Shahid Bahonar University from 2017-2018, that with purposeful sampling method, 50 students were selected. From this, 37 persons participated in the research process and the rest was omitted due to lack of cooperation in some stages of the study. This study was performed with the aid of a two-question scenario, one question relating to the academic field and one question in their specialized field. This study began through observation, searches and recording them with the aid of Camtasia Studio version 9. Then, the searches were observed and turned to text with the aid of word software. The text files were coded with MAXQDA version 10. The categories obtained from text analysis were used in explaining the users' pattern of information retrieval.
In the quantitative stage, for assessing the satisfaction rate of information retrieval system, the rate of users trusts in the results and ease of using the results and rate of relevance of the results from these user’s viewpoint, the structured interview (5 factors in the form of 15 questions in Likert scale) was performed and the data was collected and analyzed using SPSS software version 23. For evaluation of the variables, single sample t-test and for investigation of the statistical significance of the difference between two groups of information science and other fields, independent two-sample t-test was used and the average of the variables scores was compared with the mean and theoretical rate of 3. If the considered sigma score is more than the theoretical rate, it may be said that that criterion is in a desirable level. In assessing the reliability, the internal consistency coefficient above 0.7 was confirmed. Also, the validity of the interview (internal and external) was confirmed by 5 experts.
Findings: Investigation of the search behavior analysis in completing both tasks in the qualitative section showed that among the browsers, Firefox and among the search engines, Google was more commonly used. Users completed each search in a 5-stage pattern: beginning of search, keyword codification, search navigation, retrieval and results evaluation, information extraction. In the beginning stage of more searches search engine has been used and using electronic address of the database or considered website is in the next ranks. The greatest frequency was related to simple search. In completing the first task, scienceDirect database and in the second task completion, Sivilika had the greatest use frequency. In keyword codification, the general to specific technique had the greatest frequency and after that keyword change, changing the number of words of the search term (including omission, addition and replacement), specific to general technique, simultaneous use of both general to specific and specific to general technique have been used respectively. In the search navigation, following links and menus had the greatest use. After that, following the results in the same tab, following the results in the new tab, using return key for going to the results tab and using back and forth keys are placed. In the fourth stage, often people only investigated the title of articles and congresses and reviewing the title and abstract of the papers are in the next stages of use. In the fifth stage, the subjects downloaded and saved as PDF and or their complete text could be accessed through DOI code.
The qualitative findings showed that most of the students were studying in the department of humanities and after that the group of basic sciences, technical engineering, agriculture and veterinary department. Also, the average of all investigated variables in both groups of information science and other fields has been more than average and in a desirable status. Among the variables, ease of search and achieving the results, the average scores of the information science group is in a lower level than other fields and the average score of satisfaction rate and results relevance among the students of information science is in a higher level than other fields. Also, the results showed that there is no statistically significant difference between two groups of information science group and other fields.
Discussion: Explaining the different patterns regarding the user features and the texture they are in will help the information media in responding the clients' requirement. Also, designers empower the search engines to design more interactive and user-friendly interface and instruments. Increasing the efficiency of information retrieval systems and user’s skill optimizes the search process. Intelligent retrieval systems have a considerable role in information interaction. In more and better interaction of the user with information systems, meaningful and relevant information may be obtained and this depends on perception of information systems of the users' needs and behaviors.
Zahra Rezazadeh; Zohre Miehossini; Zahra Abazari; Fahimeh Babalhavaeji
Abstract
Background and Objectives: This study aims to identify the factors and challenges of library and information science research from the perspective of field specialists in Iran. This study examines their experiences to explain the conditions and strategies necessary for the success of educational ...
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Background and Objectives: This study aims to identify the factors and challenges of library and information science research from the perspective of field specialists in Iran. This study examines their experiences to explain the conditions and strategies necessary for the success of educational planning. This research, on the other hand has tried to clarify factors that effect on the problems of the field.
Methodology: The method of the study is grounded theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect information from 13 library and information science experts selected by purposed sampling. After three steps of coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), the central phenomenon of the study was identified as: “Research issues in library and information science”. Then paradigmatic model was developed.
Findings: The results show that human resource challenges, lack of time management, financial crisis, lack of research popularity, weak research structure, lack of commitment, problem making, duplication, lack of strategic planning are the most important challenges affecting the phenomenon.
Discussion: Four main outcomes of this phenomenon is Implementation, localization, empowering information consultation and research empowerment
