The Feasibility of Creating a Digital Library of Public Libraries in Kerman City

A digital library is a collection of digital objects, such as books, magazines, audio recordings, video recordings, and other documents that are accessible electronically. Public libraries also use digital libraries in their activities to improve the quality of services. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of establishing the status of the digital library in Iran Public Libraries Foundation, based in Kerman city. The present survey research methods a descriptive-analytic, statistical population consisting of 62 members of managers and staff working in 9 the public libraries of Kerman city. Due to the limitation of the size of the community, Sampling has not been done and all the people were considered as statistical samples. Data was collected using a researcher-made checklist with confirmed structural and content validity. The checklist questions were prepared and organized according to the objectives of the research and by the basic questions. The validity of this checklist was confirmed through the opinion of the subject experts and the examination of the dimensions of the research components and compliance with similar texts and research. TOPSIS method has been used to check research hypotheses. As well as for the implementation of information architecture using similarity to ideal option (TOPSIS) among the public libraries of various attributes, including the city of Kerman (the skills of librarians, technical equipment and facilities available in the library, the library's budget situation and telecommunication infrastructure) were studied, so the weight of the rating criteria to the libraries on a five-step were explained. The results showed that the findings showed: Central National Library with a coefficient of 0.590 is close to the ideal coefficient in comparison with other libraries, and Yazdani Far Library is ranked ninth with a coefficient of 0.248. Strengthening digital technology, explaining the nature, function, advantages, and disadvantages of digital libraries, digital protection, and information security, user privacy protection, resource sharing methods, and educational programs are among the important issues in creating digital libraries. According to the results of the research, it was found that public libraries in kerman are not in a favorable situation in terms of telecommunication infrastructure, Therefore, it was suggested to provide the necessary infrastructure for the use of information technology. Teaching the use of related technologies, increasing the speed of the Internet, providing the necessary infrastructure, and providing the necessary equipment are among the suggestions of the research.Originality/value: Creating a digital library is very beneficial in the effective use of information resources. Paying attention to the essential infrastructures and basic components in the digitization of public libraries of Kerman for the use of information technology is one of the benefits of this research.