Identifying the strategic position of Iran's public libraries in the encounter of the closure of face-to-face services due to the outbreak of Covid-19 virus by the SWOT method

The purpose of this study is to analyze the situation of Iran’s public libraries in the face of closure of library services due to the outbreak of Covid-19 virus. The present study is an applied research in terms of purpose and a descriptive-survey research in terms of data collection and a quantitative research in terms of the nature of the data. The population of this study included all librarians of public libraries in Iran. Considering that the total number of public library librarians at the time of this research was 5245; According to Krejcie and Morgan (1970), 382 samples are sufficient, however, due to the diversity and differences in conditions such as the level of facilities and services of public libraries in the provinces, was tried to collected more data. For sampling, the quota method has been used separately by provinces, and finally 625 questionnaires (12% of the total population) have been returned. Ability to search for books through the integrated public library management system, not providing free internet to users during the closure of face-to-face services, more opportunities to study due to home quarantine, and considering the book as a carrier of the virus, respectively, the most important points Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of Library Services Closing. Also, after preparing the internal and external matrix, based on the internal factors evaluation matrix (2.21) and the external factors evaluation matrix score (2.379), it was determined that the strategic position of the country's public libraries are in the strategic area of "defensive strategy". And based on that, strategies were presented. It seems that the new conditions of public libraries can be a driving force for the movement of public libraries in the country from the "automatic" to the "digital" stage. As Tammaro (2020) showed, Covid-19 has forced libraries to transform and provide new services based on new relationships with their communities. The importance of this issue is such that the texts (including Jones, 2020) refer to the post-Covoid-19 era as a paradigm shift in the role of the world's public libraries.