The Role of public libraries in cultural development of Birjand city

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Mohsen Nowkarizi ¹
• Seyyed Mehdi Narmenji ²

¹ Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

² Birjand University

10.22067/riis.v4i2.34360

Abstract

Purpose: The main aim of this research was to investigate the impact of Birjand public libraries on cultural development of this city.
Methodology:The statistical population of this survey covered the members of the public libraries of the General Office of South Khorasan Public Library Foundation. The population size included 4817 of whom 357 persons were selected as the sample based on sample size table by Krejcie and Morgan. To gather data from the population, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics by SPSS.
Findings: findings showed that, from the respondents' view, the overall role of Birjand public libraries in the cultural development was more than average (score 3.28 out of 5). However, this amount was somewhat different in various aspects of cultural development as follow: 3.26 for the promotion of cultural identity, 3.16 for cultural exchanges among the members, 3.3 for the promotion of reading habits, 3.43 for increasing reading per capita and knowledge improvement, 2.98 for the development of cultural and artistic instruction, and finally 3.28 for cultural development. The results gained from the testing of hypotheses showed that there were not any significant differences between men and women respondents, the three age groups investigated, the respondents with various educational level, and three various job categories (respectively with p= 0.236, p= 0.115, p= 0.124, p= 0.843). The findings also showed that, in all aspects of cultural development except for the cultural and artistic instruction, the impact of public libraries, from the respondents' point of view, was more than average. Thus, it seems that the authorities of the General Office of South Khorasan Public Libraries Foundation need to take the implementation of cultural and artistic instruction programs into consideration more than before.

Keywords

• cultural development
• Public Libraries
• cultural identity
• cultural exchanges
• Birjand

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