Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the status of rural libraries services in East Azarbaijan province and
surveying the villagers’ viewpoints on the libraries’ effect on the reduction of social deprivation.
Method: The current research is applied in terms of research objectives and descriptive in terms of data collection, which
was carried out using a survey method. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. The questionnaire’s reliability value based on Alpha Cronbach is 0.79 as and its validity was confirmed by experts. The statistical population of this
research includes the users of 18 rural libraries operating in East Azarbaijan province, who numbered 43,635. From these
people, 380 ones were selected as the research sample according to Krejcie and Morgan’s formula for sample size. The data
were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics including t-test.
Findings: Based on the results, different types of services were identified provided by rural libraries of East Azarbaijan
Province. “Making books accessible” is a role that most of the respondents believe that their respective rural libraries do perform. On the other hand, most of the respondents believed that the rural library of their region does not fulfill its role well in
the “dissemination of information resources and providing services in the local language” and “making electronic and internet
resources accessible”. Regarding the barriers to the use of rural libraries, “the disproportion of the provided services to the needs
of the villagers” was identified as the biggest obstacle to the use of rural libraries in East Azarbaijan province. From the viewpoint of rural users, the effect of rural libraries on the “sense of citizenship” and “life satisfaction” is moderate, while the effect
of rural libraries on the social alienation (negagtive impact) and social interaction is slightly higher than average.
Originality/value: The contributions of this research are in investigating the role of rural libraries in East Azarbaijan province in providing information services and in identifying the views of rural library users on the effect of libraries in reducing
social deprivation.