نشریه تحقیقات اطلاع رسانی و کتابخانه های عمومی
پیاپی 95 (زمستان 1397)

Knowledge and Information science is rooted in philosophy and its branches are in sociology. This does not impair its interdisciplinary position. In Iran, the name of "LIS" has undergone a little change and called "knowledge & Information Science (KIS)". Through this change, the importance of philosophy in this discipline has reached its highest level. Knowledge science has a great relationship with epistemology and may be derived from it. One store the information in order to retrieve it. Therefore, it seems that this discipline should redefine itself and find its way in both theory and practice. Since it does not make sense to say that KIS discusses the information and knowledge but does not know the meaning of information and knowledge, their processes and how they develop. Recently, many scholars such as Horland search epistemology in order to discover the information's nature, while earlier scholars thought that LIS has its roots in sociology. The present author has proposed a new model.

Identification of the effective organizational culture is one of the necessities of organizational culture management in any organization. This study is intended to design the effective organizational culture pattern of public libraries in Iran.  This is a qualitative study conducted by using the grounded theory method. By purposive sampling, 23 of librarians and managers of public libraries in 10 provinces were interviewed using depth and semistructured interviews. The data analysis was performed by theoretical coding (open, axial and selective coding). In the axial coding, core category was determined and in selective coding, final model was presented. Causes, intervening conditions, contexts, main strategies, and the main consequences of crisis management in libraries was presented in the model.  Based on the data from the research, 6 categories and 16 subcategories were identified as the dimensions and components of effective organizational culture in public libraries. The causal conditions preparing the ground for the explanation of the effective organizational culture in public libraries as the core category include: decrease in the number of users, reduction of employees' motivation, Failure to achieve the goals and roles, and the tendency for cyberspace. Conditions affecting the codification of strategies include: user's diversity, diversity of needs, being cultural, public and non-profit. Finaly, the outcome of the implementation of the said strategies are attracting users and social sublimity. The value of this paper is that it draws the attention of managers and researchers involved in the public libraries management to the fact that they must take into consideration the dimensions and components of effective organizational culture in managing the public libraries.

To investigate the effect of service quality on the loyalty and satisfaction of users of information services in public libraries of Khuzestan province, considering the mediating role of perceived value of services. This is an applied research conducted using a descriptive-survey method. The statistical population of the study includes all users of public libraries of Khuzestan province from whom 383 people were selected as a statistical sample by using the random sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire and the software programs SPSS 21 and PLS. Structural Equation Method (SEM) was used to examine the causal model of the study. The results showed that the quality of information services has a significant effect on the users' loyalty (0.5455) and their satisfaction (0.3361) and on the value of libraries' information services perceived by them (0.941). Meanwhile, the quality of services had a significant effect on the users' loyalty (0.345) and their satisfaction with the information services (0.546) through the mediating role of perceived value of library services. The results also indicated that 34.5% of loyalty changes and 54.6% of the changes of users' satisfaction with the quality of information services is accounted for by the perceived value of services as the mediating variable. Features of service quality, including objectivity, reliability, trust, responsiveness and empathy influence the users' perceptions of the value of information services of public libraries, and directly or indirectly, affect their satisfaction and loyalty.

To draw a scientific map and make a cluster analysis of published articles relating to the field of public libraries using the documents indexed on Web of Science. This research is an applied study using co-word analysis method. The statistical population consists of all articles relating to "public libraries" which have been indexed on the Web of Science, and numbered 1164. Data analysis was performed using three software programs of BibExcel, VosVeiwer and NetDraw. Data analysis showed that the key words of "Public Libraries- University Libraries", "Internet- Public Libraries", and "Library Services- Public Libraries" were the most frequent key words among the studied texts. Moreover, cluster analysis of keywords showed that 11 key clusters were generated from the keywords in question, and "Social Issues", "Social Media", "Information Storage And Retrieval Technologies", "Health Information", "Books and Related Issues", "Library Policies", "Resource Sharing", "Social Interactions of Libraries", "Relationships with Other Types of Libraries", "Development and Censorship in the set", And "Management" were the most important tendencies of researchers in the field of public libraries at the international level. The evolving nature of information sources and the changing needs of the audience as well as social issues and challenges affect the content of research in the field of public libraries. In the present research, these changes were observed while studying the literature during three ten-year periods. Of the most significant findings of this research is that the emphasis of public libraries studies has shifted onto the topic of information behavior of patrons and thence onto social issues. It seems that these shifts have not only been environmental effects but also attempts to realize the global mission of public libraries, i.e. customer orientation. Furthermore, since no similar study has been conducted in this area thus far, the findings of this research can help understand a clear picture of these changes and developments in the field of public libraries.

The present study aims to evaluate the role of advertising in attracting the users to subordinate libraries of Iran Public Libraries Foundation in Tehran, based on the AIDA model. This is an applied research in terms of the purpose and an analytical-survey study in terms of data collection method which is a branch of field studies. The research was conducted based on the Aida model and the statistical population of the study included the members of Iran Public Libraries Foundation in Tehran during the October 2015-October 2016 period. The total number of the public libraries members in Tehran during this period were 39085 of whom 379 people were selected as the research sample based on the Cochran formula. The sampling method was stratified random sampling and the public libraries members were according on to educational level of the members. The data were collected by using researcher-made questionnaires modelling Rabiee, Mohamadian and Baradaranejamili questionnaire (2011). The data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 24 on both descriptive and inferential levels of statistics. The results showed that advertising in Public Libraries Foundation in Tehran has not been able to pass the AIDA model successfully, but it has been effective in lower than average level. In the AIDA four-level model, advertising in the interest level has been better than other levels and the action level has the lowest average (i.e. effectiveness). The results showed no significant difference between the component level of education and the role of advertising. The visibility of online advertising has also been more than any other media. The value of this research lies in its showing the effect of advertisements run in Tehran's public libraries. Furthermore, one of the features of the present research is that it has applied for the first time the AIDA model for evaluating the role of advertising in Iran's public libraries.

The present research aims to explore the role of librarians' social intelligence in increasing the social responsibility of public libraries of Markazi province. This is an applied and survey-descriptive research. The statistical population includes all the librarians of public libraries of Markazi (numbered 184) from whom 89 individuals were selected by using the random sampling method. The instruments used in the research were the Kerri Anne Crowne's questionnaire on social intelligence with 21 items, and Denison's questionnaire on social responsibility with 19 items. The Cronbach's alpha value for the social intelligence questionnaire was 0.83 and for the social responsibility questionnaire was 0.925. The validity of the questionnaires was assessed by the relevant experts in the field. The results showed that the social intelligence of librarians has positive effect on social responsibility. The level of dimensions and components of social intelligence in the librarians was found above average. In addition, with respect to the effect of the components of librarians' social intelligence on the libraries' social responsibility, it was determined that all three components of social intelligence of the librarians had a significant impact on the social responsibility of libraries. The present research which attempts to examine the role of librarians' social intelligence in the increase of the social responsibility of Markazi province's public libraries will expand the knowledge of this area and raises the awareness among the researchers and managers of Markazi province's public libraries. Furthermore, and its findings can inform the relevant managers and experts of the status of the librarians' social intelligence of this province and assist them in planning to improve their social intelligence.

The main aim of this research is to rank the public libraries under Iran Public Libraries Foundation in the West Azerbaijan province using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method according to their information services. This is a survey-descriptive research whose statistical population consists of 67 public libraries in the West Azerbaijan province. Information services of public libraries under investigation were collected by using questionnaires and then ranked based upon the AHP method and Expert Choice software. Findings indicate that among the 67 public libraries in Western Azerbaijan province, Sheikh Shaltoot Mahabad Public Library with 0.060 points ranked first and the Central Library of Urmia with 0.054 points ranked second in terms of the amount of provision of information services. Considering the studies conducted on ranking, ranking public libraries according to information services has a new and different aspect in Iran, and can serve as a basis for other research. The findings also showed that the amount of provision of information services in public libraries has no relationship with the level of libraries nor their being rural or urban, since the provision of good information services is primarily based on the will of librarians and library managers.