Human factors affecting information security in libraries

Abstract

Purpose

Information security is a critical issue in all organizations. The success of information security in libraries depends, to a large extent, on the effective behavior of administrators, librarians, users and all human staff. Accordingly, this study aims to design a model for identifying human factors affecting information security in libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is applied in terms of research objectives and is a survey in terms of data collection. Moreover, it goes under the rubric of structural equation modeling in terms of the relationship between variables. The statistical population consisted of 100 managers and librarians of academic and public libraries of Hamadan in Iran. A questionnaire was used for data collection. The face and content validity of the questionnaire were examined using the expert’s opinions in the field of Iranian libraries. Also, the reliability of the questionnaire was calculated through Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16 and Smart PLS 2.

Findings

The results showed that among the components of information security, the highest score was designated to self-esteem (4.11 ± 0.57) and level of skill (4.07 ± 0.59), whereas the lowest score belonged to the level of education (3.51 ± 0.74). Ranking human factors affecting information security showed that experience with Rank 1 had the most impact, whereas the level of skill with Rank 6 had the least impact on information security.

Originality/value

In this study, for the first time, a model was designed and tested for human factors affecting information security in libraries. Information security professionals, librarians and library and information science researchers can exploit this model in the future.

Citation

Amini, M., Vakilimofrad, H. and Saberi, M.K. (2021), "Human factors affecting information security in libraries", The Bottom Line, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 45-67. https://doi.org/10.1108/BL-04-2020-0029