Attitudes of people of Ahvaz City towards the Social Status of Public Libraries and Librarians

Bigdali, Zahid; Shahini, Shabnam; Mirzaie, Somaie; Momeni, Eftekhar

Attitudes of people of Ahvaz City towards the Social Status of Public Libraries and Librarians

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Zahid Bigdali ¹

Shabnam Shahini ²

Somaie Mirzaie ³

Eftekhar Momeni ⁴

¹ Professor, Department of Information Science and Epistemology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

² M. A. of KIS, Librarian in Jahad-Daneshgahi Institute of Higher Education, Iran

³ M. A. of KIS, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran

⁴ M. A. of KIS; Public Librarian in Eilam Province, Iran Public Libraries Foundation, Iran

Abstract

Purpose: the purpose of the study was to survey the attitudes of the people of Ahvaz city (Iran) towards the public libraries and librarians.
Methodology: This work is a descriptive research with survey method. Research population consisted of the total people living in Ahvaz city. By using Krejcie-Morgan sampling table, 410 people were randomly selected through quota sampling procedure. Data collection was conducted using a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the instrument were tested and approved. Questionnaires were distributed and collected manually by the researchers. We used Kolmogrov-Smirnov test, one-sample t-test, Friedman mean rank test, chi-square test for inferential analysis.
Findings: Findings showed that total attitudes of the respondents toward public library services were positive and at the fairly desirable level. Public libraries services, librarians, and social value being perceived fairly desirable. However, viewpoints of people showed that collection development in public libraries is fairly undesirable. The most valuable characteristic of the public libraries understood as sociocultural place.
Originality/Value: we tried to show the peoples immediate attitudes about public libraries and find their perceptions about public library. People don’t believe public library as an information service platform but identify them as a sociocultural place.

Keywords

public libraries

librarians social status

Ahvaz people’s attitudes