Investigating the administrative structure of the board of trustees of the United States of America Public Libraries in order to provide a model for use in public library associations of Iran

The purpose of this study is to investigate the administrative structure of the board of trustees of the United States of America Public Libraries in order to provide a model for use in public library associations of Iran.

The present study is an applied research and is a quantitative and qualitative content analysis in term of metodology. To answer research questions about US public libraries, the laws and guideline of the board of trustees of the United States of America Public Libraries were used. www.publiclibraries.com, and www.ala.org websites, and search engines and social networks were used to identify the libraries under study and the persons, authorities and structures of each library.

The findings show that US public library board of trustee's members, focus more on financial, administrative, human, and policy issues; Topics related to community relations, formal and legal social assemblies, participation, coordination and cooperation between boards, associations and assemblies, educational and workshop topics, monitoring contracts, etc. have also recently been added to this type of tasks; In the composition of their members, there is a variety of duties and responsibilities in different geographical areas; Their duties and powers are more detailed and realistic and represent the local face more vividly; There is no defined procedure for appointing or electing their board of trustees, and the procedure for appointing board members of public libraries in each state is almost different from other states; Most of their members are real members; Most of their members work in non-profit organizations; Most of their members are women; The average age of their members was 47 years.

Finally, it was suggested that the administrative structure of public libraries in Iran be changed based on the administrative structure of public libraries in other countries in such a way that they have a balanced mix of local and state support, and Iran Public Libraries Associations emphasize more on Demographic, gender, age, occupation of their members. Also, new duties and functions should be defined for Iranian public library associations and their powers should be increased. Finally, it is predicted that by taking advantage of the experiences of other countries and consequently increasing the duties and powers of Iranian public library associations, the local aspect of Iranian public libraries will be strengthened and the decision-making process will be accelerated.