Search

Purpose: This article examines characteristics of the external environment of library and information centres of Islamic Azad University in Iran, focusing on perceived environmental uncertainty and perceived source accessibility and quality, and their impacts on the amount of scanning and the frequency of information source use. Methods: This research surveyed the library managers of ninety-four units of Islamic Azad University. Data were collected by a mail questionnaire with a response rate of 90.42%. Findings: Results show that there is a positive correlation between respondents' perceived environmental uncertainty and the amount of scanning. Additionally, perceived source accessibility and quality are associated more with frequency of information source use in environmental scanning than with perceived environmental uncertainty; and managers mostly rely on personal and internal information sources. Conclusion: This research shows that: libraries as organizations are sensitive to their external environments, and variable, complex and important events occurred in it; managers of academic libraries feel uncertainty and complexity in their decision making and rely on information sources; and the use of library and electronic information services as information source in environmental scanning ranked in a high level compared to other sources.

The synergies for the Iranian regional and national innovation systems among the geographical, technological and organizational distributions of firms were measured. Among the data of 87934 active industrial firms (December 2015), merely 46150 firms could be classified using NACE codes into high-tech, mediumtech and knowledge intensive sectors which in turn geographically divided into five regions. Accordingly, both the T0 and ΔTGTO of Iran at the national level had negative signs (-480.6 and -5.14 mbits, respectively), however all the ΔTGTOs in each separate region was highly positive denoting that national agglomeration significantly adds to the synergy in the system and a highly integrated national innovation system was proposed in Iran. Regions 1 (including Tehran as the capital) as well as region 4 (including Khuzestan which contains enormous oil and gas resources and industries) caused less disturbance to the national synergy compared with the other three regions (ΔTGTOs= +18.1 and +22.2 mbits, respectively). The decomposition of sectorial technologies showed that in contrast to many other countries, especially for west European countries, high-tech manufacturing and knowledge intensive services were the main drives of knowledge-based configuration in the regional economy of Iran, while mediumtech manufacturing tend to uncouple the economy from the regional configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the implementation of sustainable management, libraries move towards sustainability and are converted into green libraries. The present study aimed to propose a model for sustainable management in Iranian libraries. This research was a qualitative and applied study. In order to obtain the required data and information, deep and semi-structured interviews with twelve experts in the fields of information and knowledge science and sustainable development were used. The interviewees were selected by a purposeful sampling method. For data analysis using grounded theory methodology, the topics raised by interviewees were coded and categorized in three steps. Fifty-five concepts from the coding stage were classified into six subcategories. In the final paradigm of sustainable management, these subcategories were classified into context, intervening and causal conditions, strategies, and consequences, which act in relation to the main category of sustainable management in order to establish a green library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays people are seeking health information to raise their awareness. They use many ways to get this information. This study examines the health information channels used by users of public libraries. The population of the present survey consisted of 461 users of public libraries throughout the country, randomly selected in a two-stage cluster sampling method. The questionnaire data were analyzed using SPSS. Cronbach's alpha value was obtained as 0.89. Friedman test showed that there is a significant difference between the preferred channels of women and men for getting health information. Most health information was obtained through TV and the Internet channels. Most of the health knowledge was gained by users through parents, family members and self-study. Libraries played a second role after parents, schools, experiences of visiting doctors and self-study. Users preferred printed materials in the libraries to get health information. Television and the Internet were the most-used information channels. The public library as one of the channels of getting health information can provide reliable updated information to the users. Strengthening the print resources in the health field and introducing and evaluating scientific updated databases must be performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The present paper aims to compare the awareness and ability of medical students in using the electronic resources of the Integrated Digital Library (IDL) portal of Iran. Design/methodology/approach – The current research involves a comparative applied survey. The survey was conducted through a structured questionnaire circulated among 300 medical students sampled from three major Iranian universities. A stratified random sampling method was used. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, average and so on) have been used to analyze the data using the Microsoft Excel software. Findings – The awareness and utilization level of students in the three universities were lower than the average and those who are not aware of the existence of the IDL portal used general search engines to meet their information needs. The respondents admitted that their lack of awareness about the IDL was their most significant problem. Among the investigated universities, students of Tehran University of Medical Science (TUMS) used the End Note, Elsevier, Thomson, Scopus and Proquest databases most. All the students expressed the effect of the IDL on the academic activities as much as 64 percent in Iran University of Medical Science (IUMS), 72 percent in Tehran University of Medical Science (TUMS) and 66 percent in Shahid Beheshti Medical University (SBMU). The mean scores for utilization of searching strategies were 2.43, 2.89 and 2.87, respectively, for IUMS, TUMS and SBMU. Originality/value – A few attempts have been made to investigate the awareness, use and research ability of students in universities but this is the first of its kind to compare universities within the Integrated Digital Library. The paper will be useful for those in decision-making roles and provides insight for the people responsible for IT application. It is hoped that this paper will assist administrators of the university libraries in developing a more complete understanding of students' electronic information needs and barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The present paper's purpose is to review the literature related to quality assessment and performance evaluation in academic libraries, whether empirical or theoretical, and to extract key issues. It aims to explore which criteria exert a significant relationship with the academic libraries' performance quality; identify a set of criteria that appears to be useful for assessing the quality of academic libraries ITBS; and use these criteria to develop an instrument or evaluation checklist for evaluating the quality of academic libraries ITBS. Design/methodology/approach - Related keywords such as "academic libraries research", "academic libraries evaluation", "academic libraries assessment" were searched on the web as well as some leading databases. In addition, available library resources as well as online book databases were consulted. Key issues were identified, categorized and discussed to develop the evaluation checklist suggested by the paper. Findings - A number of indicators have been developed and tested in quality assessment studies debated in the paper. The literature reveals that evaluating ITBS in academic libraries should be considered to a greater extent and thus, more evaluation studies on the basis of validated tools are needed. Research limitations/implications - The review does not claim to be comprehensive. Originality/value - The paper can serve as a research roadmap concerning quality assessment of ITBS in academic libraries for researchers, managers, academic authorities and users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of IFLA Journal is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)