The Evaluation of the Feasibility of Establishing the Electronic Reference Services in Public Libraries of Guilan Province

Abstract

The Aim of current research is to study the feasibility for initiating the electronic reference services in public libraries of Guilan province which are under the authority of Iran Public Libraries Foundation. This study is applied, descriptive and survey-based. Data was collected using two questionnaires based on the Orbis questionnaire and the American Library Association's evaluation tool, one of which was used for the heads of the libraries and the other for the librarians and library authorities. The research population consisted of 65 active libraries established in Guilan Province. Data analysis was done descriptively by Microsoft Excel and SPSS. The results showed that more than two third of the surveyed librarians have the necessary skills for this job and it is possible in this area. The majority of the surveyed libraries have no problems for initiating the electronic reference service with regards to the technical equipment based on the selected software used in the study, but there is a shortage in electronic databases and resources to satisfy the information needs of users. Currently, there is no special budget dedicated for the establishment and provision of such services and it is the main problem of the libraries for providing electronic services. It can be concluded that the public libraries of Guilan province are able to launch virtual reference services by providing the necessary electronic resources and databases.

Keywords

• feasibility study
• guilan province
• iran public libraries foundation
• public libraries
• reference services
• virtual reference services