Ali Hossein Ghasemi; Sayed Javad Ghazi Mirsaeed; Zivar Sabaghi Nejad; amal saki malehi; Maryam Zahedian
Abstract
Background and Objectives: This research is aimed at determining the required factors essential for “acquisitions and collection development” section of Library software in the Iranian Medical Sciences Libraries. Using software in the acquisitions section prompts expedition and precision ...
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Background and Objectives: This research is aimed at determining the required factors essential for “acquisitions and collection development” section of Library software in the Iranian Medical Sciences Libraries. Using software in the acquisitions section prompts expedition and precision in the performance of recurrent and time-consuming library functions. In addition, it further facilitates the interaction among librarians, publishers and end users. Therefore, using library software is an essential requirement for the management of the library collection. In the meantime, it should be noted that the use of acquisitions and collection development section of the library software is still far from being widespread. This could result from different reasons like, the experts’ lack of familiarity with proper models of selecting efficient library software, as well as the lack of compatibility between the available software’s specifications and the library’s requirements related to acquisitions and collection development. Identifying the due components and elements relevant to the library needs and also evaluating the available library software could help to resolve this issue. Therefore, this paper, examining the technical views of the experts in acquisitions departments identifies the elements worth-considering in acquisitions and collection development section of a library software, meant to be used in the libraries of medical sciences all over the country; then, the selected software (Azarsaa, Mavaa and Sanaa2.0) are comparatively examined to determine if they contain these elements and if yes, how much.Methodology: current research is of survey type, conducted by using a researcher-made questionnaire and a checklist. The questionnaire comprised of 210 questions, in the form of 38 primary features and 172 secondary features, grouped under 9 elements (general capabilities, searching for resources, acquisition of resources, broker and publisher, budget, invoices, following-up for resources, registering resources, and management). The questionnaire’s coefficient of reliability was determined (at 0.977) by Cronbach’s Alpha. The checklist was also prepared based on the questionnaire and its conceptual validity was confirmed by the experts. The analysis of the gathered data was done by SPSS V.23. Statistical population of this research had two sections: three selected library software, and 53 people including all the staff responsible at acquisitions and collection development departments of the central library of the country’s Medical Sciences Universities. Out of 53 distributed questionnaires, 51 (96.23 %) were completed and returned to the researcher. Questionnaire and checklist were used to determine the essential elements studied in the research and to evaluate the studied library software, respectively.Findings: The gathered data indicated that 24 libraries (45.3 %) had a section of “acquisitions and collection development” in the software they used. The software used included Azarsaa (16 libraries), Sanaa 2.0 (4 libraries), Koha (3 libraries) and Mavaa (1 library). 96.1 % of the staff at acquisitions and collection development departments believed that it is essential to have a section for their departments in the utilized software. These experts stated that almost all 9 studied elements are of high importance. In the meantime, out the 9 introduced elements, “invoice” scored 4.37 and was placed highest in ranking while “general capabilities” scored 4.21 and was placed at the bottom of the ranking. Out of the total points of 173 which was considered for “acquisitions and collection development” section of a library software, Azarsaa scored 139 (80.34 %) as the highest ranking software; Sana 2.0 (with 58 points equal to 33.52%) and Mava got second and third places respectively.Discussion: Based on the research findings, 38 primaries and 172 secondary features grouped under 9 major elements, were studied. According to the concerned experts, all the elements are almost of the same importance and they are all significant for the purpose of acquisitions. Selection “invoice” as of a high-importance element and noticing its features (including “registration of invoices”, “following up with invoices”, and “automatic calculation of invoices”) indicate that performing financial functions by a software has become more important- than ever- for the experts. Since “acquisitions and collection development” section is part of a library software and considering that “general capabilities” is actually an essential and inevitable part of any software, its being placed on the lowest place of the ranking could be attributed to the fact that other elements are specifically related to the process of “acquisitions and collection development” and hence they have been more interesting for the experts. Therefore, apart from “general capabilities” element which naturally should be available in all library software, we can propose that “acquisitions and collection development” section of each library software should contain at least 8 elements with 32 primaries and 118 secondary features. It is obvious that these elements and features are subject to change or addition by technological advancements, as well as new needs and requirements by libraries and information centers.
raana kousari; Ali Hossein Ghasemi; Firoozeh Zare-Farashbandi; Sayed Javad Mirsaeed
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Indexing texts are one of the important tools that help researchers, scholars, students, searchers, and others who need documents with complete information in them researches. One of the benefits of credible indices is the high number of international referrals to these indices, ...
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Background and Objectives: Indexing texts are one of the important tools that help researchers, scholars, students, searchers, and others who need documents with complete information in them researches. One of the benefits of credible indices is the high number of international referrals to these indices, which increases the visibility of these papers globally. As a result, it is possible to be cited with other papers and provide the opportunity to solve the content of the papers in the epistemological body of the scientific field related to their subject. The highest indices in the current division of the Ministry of Health are ISI, PubMed and Scopus. Given that valid indices have indicators for evaluating journals and accepting them, so the possibility of accepting various articles in indices based on the indicators that these indices apply can be different. Identifying the status and composition of papers indexed in the indices, while presenting an image of the orientation of the researchers in the methodology used in the research, can be an introduction to the study of the orientation of the incident in the content composition of the indices under consideration. Methodology: The population of this analytical cross-sectional study was all papers indexed at ISI, PubMed and Scopus bases with organizational affiliation of Ahwaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences and the 2015 publish date. The research sample was determined using a census method and 281 papers were included in the present study. Then, the status of the articles studied was studied with three factors: "type of study", "aim of the study" and "field and subject area", as well as the relationship between the methodological tend of the papers in the three factors mentioned with the probability of accepting papers in valid indices. The relationship between the methodological orientation of the two "aim" and "type of study" factors with the "field and subject area" was also examined. The descriptive statistics such as charts & etc were used andChi-square test by SPSS software was used for analyzing the data. Findings: Of the 281 entered papers in this research, the most papers were cross-sectional analytical (86 articles, 30.6%), and the smallest papers were case report (0 articles, 0%), the cohort (0 articles, 0%) and then systematic review (1 article, 0.4%). Also, the 3 international indices examined in terms of the type of study papers were oriented toward papers of a cross-sectional type. The highest number of studied papers were in the field of public health (37 studies, 13.2%), and the smallest number of studies were in the field of medical history, hospitals and health centers, medical profession (0 studies). Chi-square test determined the relationship between descriptive cross-sectional studies and general public health topics in the present study. Also, there was a meaningful statistical relationship between descriptive cross-sectional studies and the subject area of contagious diseases. A direct relationship between the aim of treatment and the subject area of the pathology in the studied papers was also confirmed by this test. Also, the Chi-square test between the papers aimed at treatment and the subject area of pharmacology has also shown a direct relationship. Finally, this test showed that there was a direct relationship between the prevention objective and the public health subject in the studies. Discussion: Assigning the most types of studies to cross-sectional studies can have many reasons, including the fact that researchers are more familiar with the stages of these studies, doing cross-sectional research is possible in many disciplines and groups at the university. On the other hand, each type of study has its own advantages and very few reports of cases, narrative review and systematic review, and the absence of a cohort study in the studied papers is not justified. In reviewed studies, the high number of studies aimed at treatment in the studies papers in this study itself is a strength point, however, the low number of articles aimed at prevention is one of the weaknesses of the university. One of the reasons that a large number of papers have been in public health subject area, is the multitude of related groups in the field. Also, in these groups, the number of professors and students is high and the research topics are very diverse. One of the reasons for the direct link between "public health" studies and "descriptive-cross-sectional" studies in the studied papers can be the nature of research in this regard. However, the public health area has received the largest number of articles in studied papers, the lack of systematic reviews and reviews in this subject area is unexpected. The results showed that the acceptance of clinical trials in international profiles was lower than other types of studies. Perhaps the credible international indices, due to the importance of clinical trials, would have a more rigorous line-up than other studies in accepting these studies.
