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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.

Purpose: This study aimed to present a model for open-data management for developing innovative information flow in Iranian knowledge-based companies (businesses). Design/methodology/approach: The method was mixed (qualitative-quantitative) and data collection tools were interview and questionnaire. The qualitative part was done to identify the influential components in open data management (ecosystem) using the grounded theory method. A questionnaire was developed based on the results of the qualitative section and the theoretical foundations, and the quantitative section was conducted by analytical survey method and the model was extracted using factor analysis and the integration of the qualitative section. Findings: Seven categories of entrepreneurial incentives, sustainable value, innovative features, challenges and barriers, actors, business model and requirements are the main categories that should be considered in open data management (ecosystem) with all categories of research have a significant relationship with open data management. Originality/value: The study focused on open data management from an innovation paradigm perspective and its role in developing innovative information flow. The study aimed to identify the key components of the open data ecosystem, open-data value creation, and the need to use the "open data" approach to develop data-driven and knowledge-based businesses in Iran–an emerging approach largely ignored. [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]

The present study was conducted to provide a suitable model for book distribution in Iran. This research is applied in terms of purpose, and the research method is mixed (qualitative: grounded theory; and quantitative: analytical survey). The data were collected through a series of semi-structured interviews at the qualitative stage. The population of the qualitative section consisted of 10 book distribution experts who were selected by using the snowball method; for the second population, 118 book distributors were purposefully selected, and the research questionnaire was distributed among them. The MAXQDA software was used to determine the qualitative section's concepts, categories, and subcategories. Then the paradigm of book distribution in Iran was identified. The model was determined using PLS software in the form of descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling in the quantitative section. In the qualitative section, the five cultural, economic, legal and political, substructural, and professional factors were identified; the results of the quantitative section showed that the cultural dimension had a weak relationship with distribution factors, and the relationship was vital for other dimensions. It can be said that the cultural dimension has the lowest intensity of the relationship, and the substructural dimension, economic dimension, professional dimension, and legal and political dimension have the highest intensity correlation with distribution factors, respectively. The most influential factors influencing book distribution were the lack of reading culture, inadequate distribution, unprofitability, weak rules, and unprincipled publishing support. The most effective way to improve the distribution was to strengthen the professional distributors. Distribution channels of goods and cultural services in Iran are mainly traditional. Moreover, the traditional distribution network, lack of use of new technologies, the long flow path of goods, the minimal share of bookstores in the distribution system, weakness of distribution substructures, lack of manpower skills in the distribution sector, and lack of capable public and private distribution networks cause inefficiency of the book distribution network and result in consumer dissatisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses library and information science in Iran as of April 2012, with a focus on the external environments of academic libraries and environmental scanning performed by managers of central libraries from non-profit Islamic Azad Universities (IAU). Topics include determining the role of the library within its environment, incorporating rules of evolutionary biology into organization studies, and perceived strategic uncertainty (PSU). Additional information is presented on mail questionnaires and the rate of change in environmental sectors.

The purpose of this study was the investigation of managers of private publishers of Tehran (MPPT) in using at information source to acquire information about their organization's external environment and to use it on decision-making. Research methods were analytical survey and statistic population 260 managers for research was selected by random sampling methods from Morgan table. Questionnaires were used as an instrument for data collecting and sent to publishers by email. In this study, environmental scanning, information source, information source accessibility selected as dependent variable, and measured with MPPT as independent variable. Binomial test and Pearson correlation analysis test were used for analyzing questions and hypothesis. The investigation results showed that findings from research questions results indicated significant relationship among independent variables (MPPT) with the dependent variables- environmental scanning, information sources, source accessibility of information. In the external environment, the sectors of economic, customers and competitors were the most important environmental sectors, and information sources were also available under subordinate staff, internal memoranda, circulars were most important source of information and television and radio, government publications and periodicals periodic rate also have been used less. There was relationship between the source accessibility of information and the frequency of its use in environmental scanning statistically significant between levels of less than (P) based on Pearson's correlation analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article studies factors that affect knowledge sharing among Library and Information Science (LIS) faculties in Iran. The study found that LIS educators with different teaching experiences tend to have different ways of sharing, while LIS faculties working in the same governmental universities and those working in Islamic Azad universities have similar behaviors when it comes to knowledge sharing. It also reveals that attitude towards knowledge sharing is correlated with intention to share.

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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 main purpose of this study is to analyze the strategic role of public libraries in Iran's Geopolitics of Information. This is applied research adopting a mixed-method (qualitative-quantitative) approach. A semi-structured interview was used to collect qualitative information. In the quantitative part, a researcher-made questionnaire was designed based on the results of the qualitative part. The statistical population of the research in the qualitative section included 13 experts and university professors who were selected purposefully based on a set of criteria. The qualitative data were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method. The findings of the quantitative part were analyzed using factor analysis. The population of the quantitative part included the general managers and deputies of the general administrations of Iran's public libraries (70 people) and the librarians of the provinces that had the central public libraries from five clusters of north, south, east, west, and center of Iran, including 10 provinces and 160 librarians. Some 201 completed questionnaires were received. The findings showed that libraries had an implicit role in strengthening cultural identity and increasing public awareness, especially in strengthening Iranian-Islamic identity, as one of the three main components of geopolitics. However, this role is neither deliberated for a specific mission nor clearly explained in the upstream documents. Moreover, based on the findings, the acquisition of the centralized resources by the Iran Public Libraries Foundation for all public libraries is managed in an integrated manner such that there is not any clear role of user needs in the selection process. This is inconsistent with the Free-Flow of Information approach. The findings also suggested that national policymakers should pay attention to 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]