Investigating the Effect of Technical Components on the Application of Social Networking in the Iran's Academic Libraries in the Current and Ideal Status

Today, social networks play a significant role in providing services in the libraries because of their capabilities, due to the benefits of using social networks in libraries, examining the factors that increase the use of social networks among librarians can help to provide better services in the library. In various studies, many variables have been identified as factors affecting the adoption and application of social networks, one of these factors is the technical variable. Therefore the present study attempts to investigate the effect of technical components on the application of social networks in the Iran’s academic libraries in both current and ideal condition This research was an applied one in term of target, and methodologically was an analytical survey research. The research sampleconsisted of146librarians who are working at central libraries of 40 state universities in the capital of province subordinated to ministry of science, research and technology. Data collection instrument was a researcher- made .10 items were included in questionnaire such as accessibility, ease of use, fresh and up to date, multimedia capability, structure and presentation of content tailored to the needs of the audience, accuracy, ability to understand the content, appropriate graphical and visual structure, subject coverage (comprehensiveness), communication and interaction (interactivity) which were designed by likerts' five-choice scale. Out of 180 questionnaires, 146 questionnaires were completed and returned, and returned questionnaires were analyzed by using SPSS 22 software package in two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics. To analyze the data, descriptive (frequency, percentile of frequency, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (paired t-tests) were used. To assess the validity of the research questionnaire, the content validity method was used and after designing the questionnaire, some corrective actions were taken with the help of specialists. Also Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure the reliability of the questionnaire.In this method, questionnaires were distributed among 15 librarians to determine the coherence of the questions and to ensure the possibility of repeatability of the test under the same conditions. The reliability coefficient of the test was calculated separately from each component of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole questionnaire was 0,94, which indicates that the questionnaire is suitable for internal consistency. Based on the findings of the research, about the current status of the impact of technical components influencing the use of social networking in the academic libraries, the two items of the ease of use with average 3,47 and accessibility with average 3،38 had the greatest effect. In fact, the ease of use of technological tools will make this tool much better.On the other hand, the two items of communication and interaction (interactivity) with average 3,18 and structure and presentation of content tailored to the needs of the audience with average 3,19 had the least impact on the use of social networks.Also about the ideal status of the impact of technical components, the two items of ease of use and fresh and up to date with average 4،56 had the highest effect on using the social networking in the academic libraries. And two items of the ability to understand the contents with average 4,34 and accuracy with average 4,37 had the least effect on the use of social networks. Therefore, as much as the use of technological tools is facilitated and the up-to-date information is exploited, the positive impact on the use of social networks in libraries is strengthened. Findings showed that the average total impact of technical components on using social networks in the current condition is 3,28 at moderate level and in the ideal condition it is 4,44 which indicates high level of effectiveness. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the effect of technical factors on the application of social networks in academic libraries in the current and ideal status. This situation shows that there is a very good capacity to use social networks in libraries, and in the current situation this capacity is not exploited. Upgrading the status quo can ultimately improve the effectiveness of academic libraries. and managers and librarians can play essential role to reduce the gap between exciting and desired situatin by doing several activities such as: Providing required hardware and software, as well as high-speed Internet and amplifiers in the library, upgrading the technical infrastructure of the library, including the Internet, hardware, software, and library generators to provide better services and determining the budget for building the appropriate technical infrastructure for the library. applying the most important, user-friendly, and best social media to improve services in library, determining the budgeting for building the appropriate technical infrastructure for the library, organizing appropriate training courses for better understanding of librarians with social networking tools, receive feedback from users in order to increase the effectiveness of these networks in the library, participate librarians in conferences related to social networking and Analyzing various social networks with their facilities for library activities