Search results

The purpose of this study is to assess the e-readiness status of libraries in the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in terms of four dimensions – human resources, electronical infrastructure, network services and programs and enhancers of the networked world.

The study population consists of 11 libraries of the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, including the central library and 10 faculty libraries. The data collection instrument is a questionnaire prepared by the researchers that has been designed on the basis of the “e-readiness assessment of Iranian academic libraries model”. Depending on the respondents there are three parts to the questionnaire: questionnaire for managers, staff and information and communication technology (ICT) officials. Their reliability and validity have been proved.

The libraries of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences had an average to high status in terms of “human resources” with a score of 2.32, “electronic infrastructure” with a score of 2.48, “network services and programs” with a score of 2.09 and “networked world enhancers” with a score of 2.37 out of 4. In total, these libraries had an average to high status in terms of e-readiness, with a score of 2.29.

The findings of this study can help the library administrators and officials of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences to plan improvements to the situation of ICT.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the attitude of the managers of libraries located at Iran, Tehran and Shahid Beheshti Medical Sciences Universities' training hospitals, on the status of information technology (IT) in the mentioned libraries.

This study employed a researcher‐made questionnaire. The managers of 40 hospital libraries of Iran, Tehran and Shahid Beheshti Universities formed the population of the research. To analyze the collected data, the statistical software SPSS (version 17) was used.

Results showed that 12.5 per cent of Tehran, 15.6 per cent of Iran and 25 per cent of Shahid Beheshti Universities library managers agreed, to a very large extent, on the application and development of IT and its tools and 93.7 per cent of the managers from all three hospital libraries deemed the application of IT most necessary. The managers believed that the greatest advantage of IT is concerned with the reduction of human efforts (59.4 per cent), and 100 per cent of the managers acknowledged the need for further promotion of their skills in a wide variety of IT issues. In total, 16.1 per cent at Tehran, 12.9 per cent at Iran and 29 per cent at Shahid Beheshti University considerably approved of formal education for the promotion of their librarians' skills.

This study is a step towards acknowledging the contribution, status, and value of hospital libraries to the health sector by the library managers in theory and practice, in the shadow of considering their librarians as network experts, information media and system designers, and technology experts.