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Purpose: As the world rapidly moves into the new era of information and wisdom, the needs of human beings to use books and libraries continue to grow. With this in mind, in addition to increasing public library services, it's important for planners to distribute library facilities equitably across the country. In this paper we will study the distribution of public libraries in the Provinces of Iran to find out whether they are distributed equitably and the services in which some provinces rate lower than others in relation to country averages. Methodology: The level of analysis is provincial; hence the data are collected from the provinces and include the number of public libraries, the number of books, the number of study places for individual people, the number of library clients and the number of library members. Inequalities in provinces are analyzed using the Lorenz Curve and the Gini Coefficient and the Location Quotient (L.Q) is calculated for comparing and sorting the provinces.
Findings: The results show that the distribution of public library services in Iranian provinces is relatively equitable. The Gini Coefficient is between 0.065 to 0.191that are close to zero. A Gini Coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, whilst a Gini Coefficient of 1 expresses maximal inequality. Thus, the Lorenz Curves are near a straight diagonal line which demonstrates that public library services are distributed relatively equitably. In 10 provinces the L.Q is lower than the average figure, and 20 provinces have a figure greater than average. Sistan Va Baloochestan province has the lowest figure of L.Q, while Yazd province has the highest.
Originality/value: In recent decades, development planners have focused more attention on equal access to living facilities and especially equal access to cultural services, because they found that inequalities may cause to serious problems. Any of the 5 I.R.I development plans pay attention to spatial and social justice, too.
 

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Purpose: The goal of this research is to describe how we can arrange the books in the shelves such that leads to minimization of the movement of the clients in the library and reduction of restrictions on the number and volume of each type of book shelves.
Methodology: Clearly, the organization of the books is an optimization topic with a vast search space. Therefore, it cannot be solved by mathematical optimization methods that try to study the entire search space. The main objective of this research is to solve the above problem using the meta-heuristic Cuckoo Algorithm.
Findings: The Cuckoo algorithm was conducted 350 times for solving the problem of this research. The results showed that the performance of the algorithm can be considered acceptable, especially with regard to the execution speed, convergence steadiness and goodness of the results.
Originality/Value: Organization of the books in the library shelves is a complex matter, which affects significantly the truck of users when looking for books. Cuckoo algorithm leads us to an optimal space allocation that related topics of books shelved in an optimal distance for reduction of traffic.
 

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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic review of research texts in the field of locating Iranian public libraries using GIS. Accordingly, the considerable components in locating public libraries in Iran were examined based on the relevant research texts.
Method: The present research is an applied study in terms of purpose that was conducted based on a systematic analysis using Prisma model. To collect data, relevant keywords were searched in reliable databases and 372 research articles were retrieved. By studying and reviewing the abstracts of these articles and, if necessary, their results, duplicate and irrelevant articles were omitted. Finally, by conducting a preliminary survey in accordance with the input and output criteria, these studies were controlled by researchers, and 29 articles remained. The research tool was a checklist.
Findings: Findings show that most of the investigated studies were conducted in 2014 (17.24 percent). The survey-descriptive research method (27/48 percent) was applied more than other methods and using operational and cartographic-based research methods were neglected. In terms of geographical area, most of the studied were carried out in Tehran (17.24 percent) and then in Kerman (34/10 percent), and the geographical distribution of studies is not commensurate with the distribution of cities in Iran. Since the research tools of these studies were mostly questionnaires, it is made clear that the focus was on the response-based method, and testing the hypotheses has significantly helped to validate the results of studies. The main problems were: non-use of GIS in building libraries, lack of geographical distribution of libraries and weakness in the optimal use of components of compatibility, comfort and centrality in building libraries. The most frequent research topic in the studies was location in terms of geographical location (86.20 percent). The most frequent component in locating libraries using GIS system is comfort (32.81 percent), followed by compatibility (31.25 percent).
Originality/value: By reviewing the studies in the field of location of public libraries, the findings of this field were identified in terms of the distribution status of libraries, the desirability of accessing them and the influential components in location. This research provides an overview of what has been done and what should be considered in determining the location of public libraries for future researchers.