Evaluating the Quality of the Services of the National Library and Archives of the I.R. Iran and Assessing the Satisfaction of its Users by Neural Network

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the services of the National Library and Archives of I. R. Iran on the basis of the EFQM excellence model and to predict the satisfaction of users with the services using an artificial neural network. Design/Methodology/Approach: This is an applied research project، carried out as a survey and with a quantitative approach. Questionnaires were distributed among a sample population of users; an artificial neural network was applied to evaluate the quality of the services of the National Library of Iran; and the most and least effective factors were identified through sensitivity analysis. Sensitivity analysis in the network showed that the most effective component and subcomponent were accordingly «products and services» (Mean Square Error - MSE = 0. 0613) and «up to date information» (MSE = 0. 1225). The least effective component and subcomponent was accordingly «fidelity» (MSE = 0. 0089) and «interest in introducing the library to others» (MSE = 0. 0132). From the viewpoint of library users، the «products and services» component was the most important component and «fidelity» the least effective component. Up to date information has a high priority from the users'' viewpoint.