Information Services Based on Mobile Phone Ttechnology in Public Libraries

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Fariborz Doroudi 1
Mojgan Irannejad 2
1 Assistant Prof., Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IranDoc), Tehran, Iran
2 MSc., Department of Information Science and Knowledge, Public Libraries Institute, Kerman, Iran
10.22034/aimj.2025.486112.1609
Abstract
This study aims to identify different smartphone-related services in public libraries. It also attempts to determine MA students' interest in offering the said services. This article lends itself to survey approaches. Concerning the objective and nature of the research, it is applied and favors a descriptive-analytical approach, respectively. The project was conducted in two stages; the first stage was qualitative and employed interviews and the second stage which used questionnaires was quantitative. The population of the study was comprised of two groups, that is to say, the faculty members of the Knowledge and Information Science department and information technology experts as well as MA students at Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch. Interviews and a self-designed questionnaire were included in the research instrument. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics including Levene's test, Independent Samples t-test, Tukey post hoc, and ANOVA tests. The findings illustrate that smartphones possess diverse capabilities for offering services in public libraries which could be classified as "Remote Information Services", "Applications " and "Social Networks". The users showed a high interest (M= 4.46) toward receiving the services via SMS and of the most important services, mention could be made of being informed of the books purchased for the user (M= 4.55) and of the newly-purchased books (M= 4.54). The Applications also received an appropriate reception (M= 3.96) from the users, and receiving e-books using Bluetooth depicted the highest reception (M= 4.57). Other findings suggest that users' tendency towards social networking technology was not high (M= 4.02), in comparison with the two aforementioned groups, and receiving the link to e-books and so forth was its most appreciated element (M= 4.5). The achieved results simply that there is a significant difference between male and female MA students in terms of the level of interest in the technology of smartphones. Also, a difference could be seen between the number of visits to libraries and the level of interest in the technology of smartphones. That said, no difference is found in terms of the reason for visiting libraries. It is recommended that public libraries change their policies in this regard and improve the verity and amount of offered services using new technologies of smartphones. Considering the findings of the research, the results, therefore, could pave the way for establishing and employing these technologies in public libraries.

Keywords

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  • Receive Date 29 October 2024
  • Revise Date 13 January 2025
  • Accept Date 18 January 2025