Shahid Behshti Uni. , mhd.shaghaghi@gmail.com
Abstract: (211 Views)
Purpose: This article aims to extract the components, sub-categories and main dimensions of social responsibility of public libraries and examine how much these components have been realized in public libraries.
Methods: This research was conducted in a mixed method methodology and in qualitative and quantitative phase. In the qualitative phase, by reviewing the English language research articles, the components of social responsibility of public libraries were extracted and categorized under 11 sub-categories and 5 main dimensions, and a conceptual model was designed using the concept sorting method. In the quantitative stage, these 5 dimensions and 11 categories and their components were converted into a questionnaire and validated. The validity of the tool was checked by CVI method and this coefficient was estimated at 0.8 for each item. Reliability was checked by split-half method and the Spearman-Brown reliability coefficient for the questionnaire was estimated at 0.891. The research community was the active users of Hosseinieh-Ershad and Park-e-Shahr public libraries in Tehran. The sample size of 160 people was estimated by Cochran's formula, and the data was collected by validated questionnaire. Binomial test, U-Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis test and structural equation modeling method were used to analyze the data.
Findings: The findings showed that the social responsibility of public libraries includes 11 sub-categories and 5 main dimensions, namely critical rationality (critical intellect, historical Consciousness), accountability rationality (reasonable expression, seeking justice), dialogic rationality (de-censorship, dialogism), social inspiration (social art, social literature), and socialization (privacy, sociability, awareness). Also, the findings showed that the five dimensions of social responsibility have not been realized in Iranian public libraries, and there was no significant difference between the responses of users of Hosseinieh-Ershad public Library and Park-e-Shahr public library. Also, the findings showed that the age group of 31 to 40 years evaluated the realization of social inspiration weaker than the others, as well as the income group of 100 to 150 million Rials per month, the realization of critical rationality, social inspiration, community building, and the overall social responsibility of public libraries much weaker than other income groups. The findings of structural equation modeling showed that the path of “critical rationality”, “social inspiration”, and “community building” is the only meaningful path in the model, that is, the factor influencing social inspiration is conversational rationality, and the total effect of these two factors on community building factor is statistically meaningful. Also, dialogic rationality had the greatest indirect effect on community building, and therefore it seems that the most important social responsibility of public libraries is to promote dialogic rationality.
Originality/Value: this article seems valuable because of showing the categories, dimensions and components of social responsibility of public libraries. Also, this article is innovative in examining and showing the importance of dialogic rationality as social responsibility of public libraries.
Methods: This research was conducted in a mixed method methodology and in qualitative and quantitative phase. In the qualitative phase, by reviewing the English language research articles, the components of social responsibility of public libraries were extracted and categorized under 11 sub-categories and 5 main dimensions, and a conceptual model was designed using the concept sorting method. In the quantitative stage, these 5 dimensions and 11 categories and their components were converted into a questionnaire and validated. The validity of the tool was checked by CVI method and this coefficient was estimated at 0.8 for each item. Reliability was checked by split-half method and the Spearman-Brown reliability coefficient for the questionnaire was estimated at 0.891. The research community was the active users of Hosseinieh-Ershad and Park-e-Shahr public libraries in Tehran. The sample size of 160 people was estimated by Cochran's formula, and the data was collected by validated questionnaire. Binomial test, U-Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis test and structural equation modeling method were used to analyze the data.
Findings: The findings showed that the social responsibility of public libraries includes 11 sub-categories and 5 main dimensions, namely critical rationality (critical intellect, historical Consciousness), accountability rationality (reasonable expression, seeking justice), dialogic rationality (de-censorship, dialogism), social inspiration (social art, social literature), and socialization (privacy, sociability, awareness). Also, the findings showed that the five dimensions of social responsibility have not been realized in Iranian public libraries, and there was no significant difference between the responses of users of Hosseinieh-Ershad public Library and Park-e-Shahr public library. Also, the findings showed that the age group of 31 to 40 years evaluated the realization of social inspiration weaker than the others, as well as the income group of 100 to 150 million Rials per month, the realization of critical rationality, social inspiration, community building, and the overall social responsibility of public libraries much weaker than other income groups. The findings of structural equation modeling showed that the path of “critical rationality”, “social inspiration”, and “community building” is the only meaningful path in the model, that is, the factor influencing social inspiration is conversational rationality, and the total effect of these two factors on community building factor is statistically meaningful. Also, dialogic rationality had the greatest indirect effect on community building, and therefore it seems that the most important social responsibility of public libraries is to promote dialogic rationality.
Originality/Value: this article seems valuable because of showing the categories, dimensions and components of social responsibility of public libraries. Also, this article is innovative in examining and showing the importance of dialogic rationality as social responsibility of public libraries.
Keywords: social responsibility, public library, critical rationality, dialougic rationality, accountability rationality, social inspiration, community building
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