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This study uses forecasting approach based on key driving forces and their interactions in order to identify important driving forces affecting the future of academic libraries in Iran. The study is a combination of literature review, experts' opinions and cross impact analysis. In order to analyze the data, SPSS and MicMac applications were used. This is an applied study and the study population consisted of a group of stakeholders with dynamic roles in the future of academic libraries or those with clear pictures regarding the current trends in academic libraries worldwide. Experts were selected using purposeful sampling and included faculty members and researchers in the field of information science and scientometrics, as well as managers and librarians of academic libraries. After literature review, 70 driving forces were identified and categorized in 9 categories. The interaction between these driving forces was evaluated by experts selected from the study population. After evaluating direct and indirect interactions between these forces using MicMac software, 13 key driving forces were identified. The findings of this study indicated that driving forces of "systemic and creative thinking of library management", "consistency between library managers expertise with information and scientometrics fields", "development of strategic plans for libraries", "welcoming of changes by the employees", "place as one of the bases of educational system", "electronic publishing", "preparation of curriculum books", " online citation resources", "nature of information and access methods", "development of information and communication technologies", "knowledge management in library planning", "electronic content creation", and "documents management", had the largest effects on future of academic libraries. Also the findings of this study indicated that driving forces of "systemic and creative thinking of library management" and "consistency between library managers' expertise with information and scientometrics fields" had the highest frequency related to being in a suitable situation with average of 1.92 and total of 25 positive scores. Key driving forces of "Development of strategic plans for libraries" and "welcoming of changes by the employees" with the average of 0.69 and total of 9 positive scores had the next places and had the largest effects on future of academic libraries. The analysis of the results indicates two facts regarding academic libraries. The first fact is that, through a small amount of effort, academic libraries are able to retain their traditional position in educational institutes. The second fact is that distancing the general process of academic libraries from critical and undesirable results, requires four main activities including "development of strategic plans for libraries", "using employees who are enthusiastic regarding change", "compatibility between managers' specialties and information science and scientometrics" and "systemic thoughts and creativity of library managers". The results of this study can be used for decision making and planning of higher education managers and authorities. Identifying the driving forces and their interactions can be used for decision making and planning for the future of academic libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses forecasting approach based on key driving forces and their interactions in order to identify important driving forces affecting the future of academic libraries in Iran. The study is a combination of literature review, experts' opinions and cross impact analysis. In order to analyze the data, SPSS and MicMac applications were used. This is an applied study and the study population consisted of a group of stakeholders with dynamic roles in the future of academic libraries or those with clear pictures regarding the current trends in academic libraries worldwide. Experts were selected using purposeful sampling and included faculty members and researchers in the field of information science and scientometrics, as well as managers and librarians of academic libraries. After literature review, 70 driving forces were identified and categorized in 9 categories. The interaction between these driving forces was evaluated by experts selected from the study population. After evaluating direct and indirect interactions between these forces using MicMac software, 13 key driving forces were identified. The findings of this study indicated that driving forces of "systemic and creative thinking of library management", "consistency between library managers expertise with information and scientometrics fields", "development of strategic plans for libraries", "welcoming of changes by the employees", "place as one of the bases of educational system", "electronic publishing", "preparation of curriculum books", " online citation resources", "nature of information and access methods", "development of information and communication technologies" "knowledge management in library planning", "electronic content creation", and "documents management", had the largest effects on future of academic libraries. Also the findings of this study indicated that driving forces of "systemic and creative thinking of library management" and "consistency between library managers' expertise with information and scientometrics fields" had the highest frequency related to being in a suitable situation with average of 1.92 and total of 25 positive scores. Key driving forces of "Development of strategic plans for libraries" and "welcoming of changes by the employees" with the average of 0.69 and total of 9 positive scores had the next places and had the largest effects on future of academic libraries. The analysis of the results indicates two facts regarding academic libraries. The first fact is that, through a small amount of effort, academic libraries are able to retain their traditional position in educational institutes. The second fact is that distancing the general process of academic libraries from critical and undesirable results, requires four main activities including "development of strategic plans for libraries", "using employees who are enthusiastic regarding change", "compatibility between managers' specialties and information science and scientometrics" and "systemic thoughts and creativity of library managers". The results of this study can be used for decision making and planning of higher education managers and authorities. Identifying the driving forces and their interactions can be used for decision making and planning for the future of academic libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infopreneurship is the art of entrepreneurship using information and helps infopreneurs to struggle and stand in an arena called fair (bazaar) and make benefits with once they succeed. Hence, this research was conducted with the aim of providing a model for online Infopreneurship in Iran. The present research is an applied one in terms of its purpose, and carried out through quantitative approach and analytical survey method. The statistical population of this study included1835 directors and experts of websites and online businesses across Iran. Sampling was done randomly in through stratified simply class and 320 people were selected using Krejcie and Morgan table. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. Data were analyzed using one-group T-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, analysis of variance and factor analysis. The findings of this study showed that structural, behavioral, field, strategic, and consequential factors are correlated with the correlation coefficient of 0.74, 0.73, 0.75, 0.68 and 0.18 with the variables of Infopreneurship, and were significant at p <0.05. The high middle or high level online business companies include these factors. Eventually, a model of Infopreneurship was represented in relation to online businesses in Iran. Based on the suggested model, it can be concluded that the more the online information businesses in Iran enjoy the identified factors, the more the amount of infopruneurship and its consequences will be, and that such a model can be used as a comprehensive road map for individuals, organizations and online information businesses interested in infopruneurship in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tries to investigate the rate of meeting goals of Public Libraries 2025 Vision and compare this situation in 2025 with that of in 2010 and 2015. So, different situations in three different years, namely, 2010, 2015, and 2025 have been compared by taking into account the indicators regarding 2025 vision document using related data taken from public libraries in each province separately. The findings show that the current situation of the five indicators studied in 2025 has significant difference compared with that of in 2015. Also a comparison between the current situation in 2015 and a past one in 2010 shows a significant difference and an increase in them in terms of three indicators, space, resources and employee. It should be mentioned that there are not a significant difference between these two years, 2010 and 2015, regarding two indicators, book borrowing and membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the Components of International Social Cataloging Sites in users and expert's perspective by exploring the wourlds most visited populer social cataloging sites.This is an applied research and the research method is library and descriptive scrolling. First, by reviewing the scientific literature and resources, a list consists of 14 criteria (display features, screen organization, search facilities, links, options and visual icons, text customization, user help and guidance, error messages, The possibility of interaction and feedback, user interface language, user control, template types (format), resources available on the site, the possibility of studying the source retrieved from the site, and other facilities), which included 73 extracted components, then finalized in Delphi and evaluated was used. The results of this study showed that all of the components examined in this study are important. The ability to provide regular advice to readers with an average of 4.52 has the highest significance from the perspective of users and experts, and then, the access to the site and the rest of the main sectors from the homepage and vice versa is at the second rank with a score of 4.42. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to provide criteria for native model of social cataloging sites based on the world's most visited, popular social cataloging site's components. Social cataloging sites are a kind of web-based social media that allows users to interact. This is an applied research and the research method is library and descriptive scrolling. First, by reviewing the scientific literature and resources, a list consists of 14 criteria which included 73 extracted components, then finalized in Delphi and evaluated was used. The community studied also includes three social cataloging sites, which have the most visitors on the Alexa ranking. The results of this study showed that the total score for the fourteen criteria considered in this study was173/31points. The average of observance of criteria in all social cataloging sites(58.10%)is above the average and is in a favorable situation. Goodreads ranked first among the sites listed in the study list with 46 points(63.01%).after that LT is ranked second by the score of45points(61.64%) and anobi reached third rank with36.25points(49.65). All of the components examined in this study are important and the search facilities with an average of 9.70have the highest importance and error messages with an average of9.24are ranked second. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advancement of technology and changes made in the scientific communication model, changes have been made in scientific evaluation methods. New technologies offer indicators that measure all the actions and interactions of scientists in the digital environment and create new aspects of scientific communication. This work has some purposes; first, mapping profile of scientific activities of faculty members of Sharif University of Technology (SUT) in “ResearchGate" (RG), second, intend to test the correlation h-index between the RG and Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus and Google Scholar (GS). Third, investigate SUT faculty members' top h cited research RG in WoS, Scopus, and GS. Fourth, investigate Altmetric score of SUT faculty members' top h cited research RG with Altmetric Explorer (AE). For this purpose, the SUT faculty members were searched in RG. Information was noted for those who were members in RG. Then, all their h index and the number of citations of top h cited research were extracted from WoS, Scopus and GS. Altmetric scores of Top h cited research of SUT faculty members was obtained by using AE. The degree of correlation between RG h index and WoS h index was higher than the h index of other citation databases. Also, the results indicate that there are errors in the calculation of the Almetric score by AE. Only 3% of the top h cited research of SUT faculty members had Altmetric score. While 95.72% of them had been read at least once in Mendeley and 78.7% of them had been cited in Mendeley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to serve the Islamic researchers, providing a web site is inevitable for Islamic Universities which are in transition from the real to the virtual world and. Today, almost all the major universities in Islamic community have websites. But, in the realization of their mission, it is not clear to what extant these universities were successful in terms of information dissemination. The aim of this paper was to determine the core web sites and evaluate the effectiveness, ranking and collaboration rate among these websites. The formulas of core website determination, co-links and in-links analysis and revised web impact factor were used beside cluster and multidimensional analysis methods in this study. Results showed that "King Saud University" website in Saudi Arabia had the highest visibility and the most authoritative website among all university websites. Also, co-link analysis showed that major Islamic university websites had collaboration in 12 clusters based on clustering analysis and in 11 clusters based on multidimensional analysis, where two of them (Iran and Turkey) were national clusters in cluster analysis method. Results analysis indicated that web designers in these universities must identify how to attract links and web traffic in order to promote the quality and content of websites. However, the ultimate success of a website was dependent upon factors such as quality, size, language, and the approximate age of a website which was not limited to one or two factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to evaluate Iranology CD-ROM databases using survey method. Data were collected using a researcher-developed checklist which is composed of four main criteria namely storage, search and retrieval, software design, and indexing. The study sampled all Iranology CD-ROMs recorded by the Iranian High Council of Informatics (IHCI). As a result, 35 CD-ROMs were identified for final evaluation. It was found that the most critical point of Iranology CD-ROMs which its defined indices have been less observed by the softwares is related to criterion "search and retrieval", while the most observed indices belonged to criterion "software design". Findings of this study may assist related bodies improve the status of information flow especially in the field of tourism as this resource has a variety of information about different aspects of Iranian history, literature, art and cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about a study done at Iran's Islamic Azad University regarding the decay of valid URL (uniform resource locator) web addresses or abbreviations on the internet. It focuses on looking at every issue of "Journal of the Medical Library Association" (JMLA) from 2002-2008, trying URLs from each issue to see if they work, and reporting the results from the trials. It then discusses conclusions of the study which show a correlation between the age of the website's URL and its half-life.

The article presents content analysis of caricatures and cartoons whose themes are library science and information science. Positive and negative attributes of topics including books, reading, libraries and librarians depicted in the caricatures are considered. Particular attention is paid to the negative characteristics of librarians and libraries portrayed in the caricatures, and it is noted that the concept of library silence is one of the most frequently presented topics. It is recommended that librarians address some of the issues raised by the negative caricatures presented.

The article presents research on the content analysis of caricatures with library and information science (LIS) theme. It analyzes the negative and positive points about books and reading as well as discusses the library, librarian, and factors affecting book acquisition. The article also asserts that librarians can treat the issues reflected in caricatures in a way that enhances their jobs, and suggests establishing information resources such as caricature-based blog for opinion exchange.

This paper aims at evaluating and comparing search features of Web metasearch engines (MSEs). To do this, a total of 64 MSEs were identified and examined on the basis of first observations. However after examining them, about 70% of these MSEs were discarded and 19 cases, which were free of charge, accessible and compatible with the research objectives were kept for further analysis. A researcher-made checklist, composed of 50 items under five search engines' general criteria (search operators, restrictors, result presentation, search help options and others) was used for data collection. It was found that AND, Phrase, Number of results per page, Keeping query searched, and Help were features that have been fully included in all 19 MSEs, while the features Anchor search and Size have been neglected by the MSEs examined. It should be also added that features Truncation, Keywords in title, URL, and Brief text have been highly supported by 18 cases (94.7%). The features Date, Cached, and Also try were observed only in one case (5.3%). It is suggested that the checklist used in this study be restructured for studying search features of Web search engines, digital libraries and other Internet search tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research aims to assess the performance of libraries at the Islamic Azad University, Sciences and Research Branch (IAUSRB) through gap analysis. To do this, a researcher-developed questionnaire which is based on available standards and quality assessment tools including ACRL standards, LibQUAL and ISO 11620, and some criteria included in the related literature was designed and distributed among users of IAUSRB libraries. Five service quality categories, were included in the questionnaire: "Environment, equipment and physical facilities", "Public services", "Non-book materials", "Staff (librarians and their co-workers)", and "Information literacy and user education". Based on research findings, the most expected library services prioritized by users are "operation time" (mean = 4.2300), "staff" (mean = 4.1461), and "circulation" (mean = 4.1208), while the least expected library services which are of lower importance from users' perspective are "press" (mean = 3.9734) and "audiovisual materials" (mean = 3.8796). The findings also indicate that services offered by the libraries surveyed had a relatively quality performance and average success (perceived quality is 2.9635≈50%). In other words, such a finding emphasizes an average performance of IAUSRB libraries. In addition, confirming five research hypotheses concerning gap analysis, there was a significant difference between expected quality of five service categories and their perceived quality based on users' viewpoint. It was also realized that the categories with better performance or perceived quality from users' perspective are "staff" (mean = 3.2240), "information literacy and user education" (mean = 2.9998), and "environment, equipment and physical facilities" (mean = 2.9871), and the two libraries "Theology and Philosophy" (mean = 2.2639) and "Medical Engineering" (mean = 2.4507) have offered poor services than the other IAUSRB libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of web-based databases (WBDB) in information retrieval. It provides a background of computerized database, which is an organized data collection for easier access. It explores the functionalities of WBDB and the components of developing and maintaining them. It notes that WBDB are becoming popular as they are easy to use, can be accessed from anywhere, and have a lower total cost of ownership.

One of evaluation studies examining web search tools is ranking algorithm area. Accepting the idea that different search tools do use different ranking algorithms, the present research aims to confirm such an idea using a statistical approach. To do this, five metasearch engines (MSEs) namely Ez2find, Dogpile, MetaCrawler, Info and WebCrawler along with their four common underlying single search engines (SEs) - Google, Yahoo!, Msn (currently called Windows Live Search) and Ask - have been applied. To conduct the research five queries have been utilized. For comparing ranking algorithms of these web search tools, statistical tests "Kruskal-Wallis" and "Tukey HSD" were utilized. The findings indicate and confirm that different search tools on the web make use of different ranking algorithms. In other words, this research supports findings of previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigates the perception of students on the impact of user education on their literacy on the use of reference information in Iran. It notes that students at Qom Islamic Azad University (QIAU) were surveyed in the study. It mentions that the study found that familiarity and proficiency of students on the use of reference resources is in medium level and user education should be offered to faculty for its better use.