Identifying and analyzing the awareness and informing needs of the Arabic-speaking communities of Khuzestan province in the field of public library services

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• mansoor Kohi Rostami ¹
• Sara Nildarar ²
• Mojtaba Jahanifar ³

¹ Assistant Professor., Department of Knowledge and Information Science, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran (Corresponding Author)

² Master's degree in Knowledge and Information Science of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

³ Assistant Prof., Department of Education, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

10.22067/infosci.2024.87306.1202

Abstract

Abstract:
Aim: The current research aims to identify and analyze the awareness and informing needs of the Arab-speaking communities of Khuzestan province in public library services.
An exploratory mixed research design has been used. In the current exploratory plan, firstly, with focus groups and through thematic analysis, the intersubjectivity of the members of the target community was analyzed to extract and formulate the awareness and information needs; Then, using the descriptive survey method, the findings from the qualitative part were examined and tested in the form of a questionnaire to achieve the generalizability of the findings. The research sample of the qualitative part included five focal groups from 5 selected cities of Khuzestan province. In the quantitative part, the research community consists of 20,000 Arabic-speaking members of public libraries in Khuzestan province, and 517 questionnaires were collected and participated in the research as a sample.
Findings: indicate that four thematic areas, including identity specialization, identity information dissemination, comprehensive repository, and indicative media activities, are central to the information provision and dissemination needs of Arab-speaking communities in Khuzestan Province. Quantitative results also showed that, in the order of priority, the highest average was assigned to identity information dissemination, and indicative media activities, comprehensive repository, and identity specialization were ranked second to fourth. The results indicate a significant difference between the need for identity specialization of age groups and the interaction of gender and age group. There is no significant difference between the indicative media activities of women and men and the interaction between gender and age group. No critical difference was seen between the comprehensive repository needs for women and men and the interaction between gender and age group. Also, a significant difference was observed between entity specialization and age groups.
Conclusion: Public libraries as information centers and dissemination of information can play a crucial role in raising the level of awareness and culture in the Arabic-speaking communities of Khuzestan province and not only as cultural and educational centers but also as reliable and up-to-date information sources for them. By analyzing the information needs, this research identified four critical areas for increasing the services of Arabic language public libraries in Khuzestan. Public library officials can use these findings to manage culturally relevant collections, develop programming in Arabic, and implement targeted outreach strategies to ensure that libraries meet the needs of all members of the Arabic-speaking community.
Keyword: Information needs, awareness needs, public libraries, library services, public library programs, Arabic speaking communities, Khuzestan province.

Keywords

• Information needs
• awareness needs
• public libraries
• library services
• public library programs
• Arabic speaking communities
• Khuzestan province

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