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Purpose: Lack of enough understanding of the Knowledge Management System (KMS), including the definition, components as well as the success factors in it, is among the main elements of failure in the knowledge management projects. The present work attempts to enlighten the concept of KMS and the related components.
Methodology: This work in addition to detailed reviewing of the KMS , studies the concept of KMS extracted from 290 papers in SCUPUS database using content analysis method. It further identifies and classifies the definitions, approaches, elements and success factors of the KMS.
Findings: Review of the related literature resulted in identification of 5 topics, respectively as: success factors of KMS, benefits of using them, components and elements of KMS instruments and technologies of KMS, and approaches to KMS. It wa also revealed that there is a great overlap between the concepts of KM and KMS.
Originality/Value: This is among the first researches that deals with reviewing the texts related to KM. Hence, it develops a new front in the field of KM.
 

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Purpose: This work aimed to study the effect of organizational factors including organizational culture, organizational structure, education, human resources, flow of information and communication, information technology, and transparency of documents on the performance of knowledge management, and the components of knowledge production, saving knowledge, applying knowledge, and transfer and sharing of knowledge in the education system of Malekan city (Iran).
Methodology: The research population of this applied survey included 214 personnel of Malekan city’s education system who were selected by stage random sampling. The data required were collected by questionnaire (the total of 143 questionnaire were finally collected) and analyzed by using the Multiple Regression Test.
Findings: According to the findings of this research, the variables of organizational culture, education and information technology have positive effects on the performance of knowledge management, while other variables including human resources showed positive effect on this regard only in the component of knowledge production. The remaining variables had also statistically insignificant correlation with the performance of knowledge management and its components.
Originality/Value: Since the majority of researches concluded on knowledge management so far have been in such areas as business and profit organizations, the importance of this research, which was concluded in the area of education, could not be overlooked.
 

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Purpose: The aim of this article is to propose an alternate for F.R. B.R.
Methodology: The methodology is based on library investigation and Web searching.
Findings: In this article every bibliographical entity is studied from eight approaches: the first is ontological one which deals with three equal - valued elements with which the entity comes into being. They are author (corporate body), title and subject. The second approach is called epistemological by which any narration or characteristics belonged to the three above mentioned elements appears here. In the two next steps, it is obvious that any entity is covered by time and space; therefore all characteristics for these two come here. In the fifth and sixth approaches, called behavior and effect, all notions which explain these two appear here. At the end, the tow last approaches, called structural and measuring, any item which describes the structure and quality or quantity which belonged to the entity is shown here.
Originality/Value: All other formats for organizing knowledge such as Dublin Core, Mark, TIA. MODES, Taxonomy, Folksonomy have solved a portion of the problems in the case. This new approach, according to the author’s view will solve many limits on the way and can be a good alternative for F.R.B.R.
 

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Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to examine the ways, resources, and objectives of obtaining health related information by members of four Qazvin public libraries (affiliated with the Public Libraries Foundation) in December 2011. For the purpose of data analysis, descriptive statistics were used.
Findings: Almost all members of Qazvin public libraries have experienced the need for health related information in their daily lives. Most commonly, this is obtained through passive means.  Watching TV was the most popular method of obtaining health information, and was ranked in first place. Where internet research was concerned, search engines were the most popular method. Prevention was found to be the key motivation for individuals seeking health information.
Originality/value: This study is valuable given the emergence of new era of health information within the public libraries of Iran, and the emphasis placed by the Iran Ministry of Health and Medical Education and in particular, the clinical governance program on the collaboration of community and patients in making decisions based on their health related issues. This study is valuable for public libraries particularly in terms of developing a policy for offering health information services. It illustrates the inclinations, and needs of the libraries' members, and shows the channels and types of resources being used.

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Purpose: This study examines the role of intellectual capital (including human capital, structural capital and relational capital) in creating a sustainable competitive advantage in the public libraries of Khuzestan.
Methodology:  This is a descriptive research which aims to provide an explanation for the relationship between intellectual capital and competitive advantage. The sample community consisted of 200 librarians, library staff and middle managers of public libraries in Khuzestan. For the purpose of data analysis SPSS versions 20 and LISREL versions 8.8 are used.
Findings: The results showed that intellectual capital played a significant role in the creation of a sustainable competitive advantage.  The impact of human capital and structural capital on sustainable competitive advantage were confirmed, but the impact of relational capital on sustainable competitive advantage was not confirmed.
Originality/value: The findings of this study confirm that public libraries can improve their quality of performance by developing a sustainable competitive advantage based on intellectual capital.
 

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Purpose: This research aims to evaluate the effects of information technology governance maturity on knowledge management processes.
Methodology: This research formulated as a descriptive survey. The survey sample population consisted of 469 randomly taken experts who work in IT companies of Iran, according to a cluster random sampling skim. We Used semi-structured interview with sophisticated experts for the extraction of evaluation factors. The information technology governance maturity was evaluated by means of COBIT’s Infrastructure. Relationships between maturities of knowledge management processes with the information technology governance formulated as 8 hypotheses. To examine the hypotheses we used Granger-Cause test and vector auto regression.
Findings: results revealed that IT governance has effect on knowledge transfer, knowledge storage and knowledge utilization. Thus, by increase in the IT governance in an organization, we might expect the facilitation of knowledge management processes.
Originality/Value: The relationship between information technology maturity and knowledge management processes first evaluated by this research

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Purpose: The main objective of this research was to identify aspects of knowledge management and innovation systems and evaluate them in public libraries of Yazd province and investigate the impact of knowledge management on innovation.

Methodology: This research implemented in descriptive and inferential level. Data was collected by a researcher designed questionnaire. Research population includes All librarians of Yazd (from participatory and institutional) public libraries. At least 190 participants are needed to fill the questionnaire with 38 questions in structural equation modeling method. 230 public librarians randomly selected to fill questionnaire and 195 of them filled. Data were analyzed by Pearson's test,
one-sample T-test, structural equation modeling and path analysis.

Findings: Findings showed that all dimensions of knowledge management system factors except “creation and knowledge acquisition” have a significant impact on innovation factors. According to structural equation coefficients, "Technology and Structure" and "organizing, storing and sharing knowledge" had the greatest impact on innovation factors. Accordingly, results showed that “administrative” and “technical” aspects (variables) of Innovation system of public libraries in Yazd province was not in good condition by considering t-test coefficient measure.

Originality/Value: The value of this research is in the identification of weak factors in knowledge management and innovation system of Yazd City public libraries. “Creation and knowledge acquisition” factor in management system and “administrative” and “technical” factors in innovation system have non-significant mean that suggest a reappraisal in this elements.

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Purpose: The present research aims to design and test a model for evaluating the knowledge-creating ‘Ba’ (i.e. environment) in Iranian Islamic research centers based on the Triple-Helix and I-System theories and investigating the effect of personality traits, research environment and the capabilities of researchers and faculty members on the research performance of these centers.
Methodology: The present study is an applied research in terms of the purpose and a quantitative descriptive-survey study in terms of data collection method which is typically based on structural equation modeling. The main instrument for data collection was a questionnaire with 30 questions for 'ba' environment, 7 questions for capabilities of researchers and faculty members, and 5 questions for personality traits. The evaluations of research performance were weighted based on the researchers' research activities. The study population consisted of all researchers and faculty members of Iranian Islamic research Centers, who were numbered 2328, from whom a sample of 330 individuals was chosen using simple random sampling according to the Krejcie-Morgan Table, and then a research questionnaire was distributed among them. Data were analyzed using LISREL and SPSS software programs
Findings: The results of the ‘Ba’ environment showed that nine dimensions including infrastructure in ‘intelligence Ba’, actors in ‘intelligence Ba’, information in ‘intelligence Ba’, infrastructure in ‘involvement Ba’, actors in ‘involvement Ba’, information in ‘involvement Ba’, infrastructure in ‘imagination Ba’, actors in ‘imagination Ba’, and information in ‘imagination Ba’ were the major factors affecting the evaluation of ‘Ba’ environment in Iranian Islamic research centers. Furthermore, the results of all factors used in the model for capabilities of researchers and faculty members, and their personality Traits and research performance were statistically significant. Finally, the results of the structural model showed that ‘Ba’ environment, capabilities of researchers and faculty members, and personality Traits had a significantly positive effect on the research performance of of researchers and faculty members in Iranian Islamic research centers.
Originality/value: This study was conducted at the level of Islamic research centers. Since the results of this study showed the significance of all factors of the research environment, capabilities of researchers and faculty members, personality traits and their significantly positive effect on the research performance — a model which have been designed for the first time in the Islamic research centers —, the gap between the current status and favorable situation of ‘Ba’ environment within the framework of the Triple Helix model and I- systems can be measured and analyzed and then its findings can be applied to improve the research performance of Islamic research centers.
 

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Purpose: To determine the impact of the knowledge management infrastructures and the dimensions of improvement of managers' decision-making on the status of knowledge management in the public libraries affiliated to the Iran Public Libraries Foundation.
Method: This research is a descriptive-correlational study. The statistical sample of the research was selected by using the cluster random sampling method. Six provinces with 300 samples were selected and finally 247 full questionnaires were returned. The research tool consists of a researcher-made questionnaire. For the data analysis, the exploratory factor analysis and linear regression analysis were used. To assess the validity of the questionnaire, the factor analysis and to assess its reliability, Cronbach's alpha was used at the level 0.95 for the knowledge management infrastructures and status and 0.97 for the dimensions of improvement of decision-making, and thus both validity and reliability were confirmed. According to the structure of the questionnaire, the status of knowledge management (i.e. the criterion variable) was studied based on the dimensions of the "knowledge management infrastructure" variable (i.e. the predictor variable) (including human resources infrastructure, technology infrastructure, process infrastructure, culture infrastructure, organizational strategy infrastructure, and precision resources infrastructure) as well as the decision-making dimensions (the predictor variable) (including accuracy and precision of information, economic availability of information, rapidity of information flow, information security, information relevance, applicability of data).
Findings: The results of the research indicate that based on the prediction model, the infrastructures "human resources", "culture" and "process", as well as all dimensions of decision-making improvement can predict the knowledge management status in the public libraries affiliated to the Iran Public Libraries Foundation, but in the final model, the "organizational strategy" infrastructure, "financial resources" infrastructure and "technology" infrastructure failed to predict the status of knowledge management.
Originality/value: This research can provide useful and practical information for managing the public libraries of Iran, thereby improving the status of knowledge management based on the relationship between the knowledge management infrastructures and the dimensions of improvement of managers' decision-making.
 

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Identity is very important for anything and everybody without which no definition can be provided. Naming is the first step, but the real identity depends on how one introduces himself by acts a and practice. Disciplines, like human beings, must have identity and definition. LIS/KIS has tried to find and develop its identity. Nowadays some believe that LIS/KIS is information-based while others maintain that retrieval as a result of information storage constitutes the definitional characteristic of LIS/KIS. Here, a new definition is given as follows:
LIS/KIS is a science of retrieval and dissemination of information and knowledge which discusses briefly the information and knowledge through considering the horizontal and vertical relations between the specialized terms in any disciplines, in order to help individual and collective users in terms of relevance, accuracy, speed and benefit.
 

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Purpose: This study systematically reviews the original research works in the field of public library services to ethnic and minority groups from various aspects. According to this goal and based on the relevant literature, the barriers of library services to ethnic and minority groups as well as the strategies to address those barriers have been presented.
Method: This is an applied research in terms of purpose which has been conducted based on the Prisma guidelines. To collect the relevant literature, subject keywords were searched into several known scientific databases, through which 314 documents in English were retrieved. By applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, all documents were examined, from whom repeated or irrelevant ones were omitted. Finally, 40 original research works were chosen for further analysis.
Findings: The review of literature showed that most studies on the provision of public libraries services to ethnic and minority groups have been carried out in the Western world using various tools and users’ surveys. Totally 17 barriers were identified, which fall into 4 main categories including: “management-related Barriers”, “perceptual and communication barriers”, “environment-related barriers”, and “barriers related to the nature of minority communities”. To address these barriers, 20 strategies have been suggested in the reviewed research works. Recruitment of staff who are familiar with the culture and language of ethnic and minority groups, professional development of staff, developing collection which is culturally sensitive, and library marketing and publicity are the most important strategies to achieve success in providing services in a multicultural society.
Originality/value: The review of internal and external information resources showed that no systematic review has already been conducted on the public library services to ethnic and minority groups in multicultural societies. Therefore, in order to have a general picture of the services offered in multicultural societies, a systematic review of original research works is essential, which the current research has embarked on.
 

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Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore some important views and theories of information and knowledge in the area of library and information science (LIS) and then to propose a new model of information and knowledge.
Method: This research has been conducted by using a comparative content analysis of the existing materials on conceptualizations and definitions of information and knowledge and delving into them.
Findings: In the present paper, the author considers different ideas about the information and then proposes a new model. According to this new model, information is the human’s intentional attention to the relationship between the components of a phenomenon (i.e. entity) or process, or between a phenomenon/process and other phenomena/processes in the world. According to this view, all phenomena and processes exist ontologically. Our attention to them is existent too, but they are different from their physical existence. Furthermore, according to this model, information is based on the external reality which is outside our minds. They are not our information because we have not made them. They are God’s knowledge and information. When they are in the presence of us, directly or indirectly, they are our information. In this case, we may acquire knowledge of the relationships between their components. This is our real information of which our minds take pictures immediately in order to be used in the absence of phenomena. This second position is mental perception which is based on the first one, not vice versa. From this time, when we want to use information or transmit it to others, we have to make signs and symbols of them which comprise tokens, words, sentences or pictures. From here, the domain of epistemology begins, which though based on the reality may be influenced by our mental, historical and cultural conceptions. Thus our given names or comments may differ from one another. These differences cannot affect and question the very realities. If we accept this model, there is no need to omit nonphysical phenomena from the information definition. Metaphysics is the other side of physics, except God who is the creator of both physics and metaphysics. In other words, the world consists of physics and metaphysics, or known and unknown. As science and experience grows, many unknowns become known. Moreover, our knowledge of things in itself is metaphysical. In addition, when we make a whole by observing similar individual phenomena, and then abstract a universal (i.e. a characteristic or property that particular things have in common) from that whole, this universal is somehow metaphysical. Meaning is nonphysical or metaphysics too. Although this model originates from human, it has not originated from his mind. Knowing the outer reality is an indication of our soul's ability to create information. Man knows a phenomenon, but psychological matters are not involved in the knowledge and perception of the very phenomenon. Furthermore, in ontological terms, this model is not based on propositions, but it is for the transmission of information to others that one has to make propositions. Here, our propositions do not affect the real facts, but only show our perceptions and interpretations.
Originality/value: Such analysis has not been conducted thus far, and thus if it is fully considered, it can change our views about the phenomena and the creation of the world, mind and matter, both ontologically and epistemologically.

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Purpose: The world population is growing older. According to the previous anticipations, it seems that Iran's elderly population continues to increase dramatically in the future. While 8% of the total Iranian population was the aged people in 2015, it is expected to increase by nearly 33% of Iran's population by 2050. Therefore, the existence of the centers to fulfill the needs of the elderly is a matter of great importance. Among all these centers, public libraries play a vital role in providing services to the elderly. Identifying the various needs of the elderly can lead to success in both designing and planning services offered by public libraries to them. This study thus aims at identifying the services expected by the elderly from public libraries in Iran. 
Method: The present study, by using the qualitative and quantitative content analysis in order to identify themes and count the frequency of the analysis units, identified the needs, services of Iranian public libraries for the elderly through conducting semi-structured interviews. The sample of study included 14 librarians working in public libraries and 11 elderly people and caregivers that were selected purposefully. Data were analyzed using the MAXQDA12.3 based on the analysis units (sentence).
Findings: The analysis of the interviews revealed six categories. According to the frequency of interviewees' opinions, the following categories were extracted: library resources, services, and plans, accessibility, needs determination, contribution to policy-making and planning, staffing, and marketing and advertising. The higher frequency of each category was found in: implementing plans on-site at library, the issues concerning library's building and space, identifying various needs, training the librarians, traditional ways of marketing and advertising, and involving the volunteer elderly people in the library programs. 42 percent of all identified codes referred to the categories of the required sources, services and plans for the elderly. Identifying elderly's required services, considering their complex needs and providing them through public libraries can help the elderly to maintain their independence and to have an active role in contributing to the society. Moreover, interaction and cooperation between public libraries and other organizations supporting the elderly, training librarians in the skills of communication with the elderly, appropriate policy making in acquisition, budgeting, and providing the necessary equipment and facilities can improve the programs and services old people need.
Originality/value: library resources, services, and plans and accessibility of the library were the two significant priorities expected by the elderly from the public libraries. For this reason, considering that the old age population is likely to grow in the future, it is necessary to provide appropriate policies and budgeting plans to offer more desirable services. Better use of library services by the elderly requires considering the peculiarities of old age. Providing these facilities leads to attracting a few more people to the libraries.

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Purpose: Disability is a biosocial reality that is defined as an obstacle to a person’s ability in doing an activity in a natural position. People with disabilities are the largest minority in the international community, and more than two-thirds of the world’s disabled people are living in developing countries. The present study aimed to identify and prioritize the most important needs of the disabled in order to design and plan suitable services for Iranian public libraries.
Method: The present research is an applied study in terms of purpose, a descriptive-analytical one in terms of nature, and a survey in terms of the method of implementation, and was conducted during a particular period. The statistical population of this study consisted of all physically disabled, blind and visually impaired, deaf and hard of hearing people aged 15 and over 15 who were under the auspices of the Welfare Organization. Using sample power software, the sample population for every group of disabled consists of 82 people that were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling among 10 provinces of Iran. The data gathering tool was 3 researcher-made questionnaires which were used in two print (paper) and online formats. Two questionnaires related to the deaf and physically disabled, in addition to the paper questionnaire, were designed in the online format using WordPress. The questionnaire for the blind was designed by Google Form due to the need to coordinate with screen reader software. To analyze data, SPSS version 23 was used.
Findings: Friedman statistical test was used to rank the needs. The result of the study showed that expert librarians with proper behaviors, having Elevator or Lift if the library is multi-storey building, and supporting the need of disabled by managers and other responsible people were the most important needs for physically disabled persons. In the blind and visually impaired group, having elevator with a braille button if the library is multi-storey building, allocating suitable budget for providing related resources and providing access to full catalogs of audiobooks in Iranian public libraries via the Internet, were in the top priorities. Among the deaf and hard of hearing people, holding group programs and recreational trips, presence of translators familiar with sign language skills and holding sign language classes were among the top third high-priority needs.
Originality/value: Up till now, no research has been conducted on a population as wide-ranging as the population of this research to consider diverse needs of three groups of the disabled. Public libraries can help empower the disabled people and provide them with equal access to information by considering various needs of them, thus providing a better life conditions for them.