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.