Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Assisstant Professor, Department of Knowledge and Information Science, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
2 Ph.D. of Sociology, National Elite Foundation, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction
Organizations and social institutions should be innovative in order to avoid harmful changes in the environment. In educational institutions, such as universities, in which the head of the institution lacks funds, there are two columns related to the library, and the first is the head of the head of the head of the head of the head of the head. Karol's budget reduction due to lack of turnover. Increase the cost of personnel, increase the service level, and expand the planning ability.
In the culture of an academic library, many librarians are expected to be entrepreneurial and innovative, but how can an academic librarian be an entrepreneur? And how does an academic library create a completely new service? There are few methods of managing and evaluating the success of innovation, and academic librarians are not well-versed in these methods.
Despite the benefits mentioned above that the use of creativity and innovation can bring to libraries, factors such as the lack of resources and budgets in libraries have caused them not to try to provide the right environment for the cultivation of this creativity. Accordingly, librarians should not have the desire to exchange knowledge and experience and develop their innovative and creative abilities.
What seems obvious in the meantime is that the mere presence of equipment and facilities in the library, as well as the mere presentation of ideas by people in theory, cannot guarantee the success of libraries in using creative ideas in practice, unless they use technology creatively. With more than 50 librarians as intellectual assets, the libraries of Tabriz University are among the important research centers in the country, which can play an important role in increasing productivity by valuing the creative ideas of their librarians and putting their ideas into practice.
Research Questions:
The general goal of this research is to investigate the factors influencing creativity and innovation in university libraries from the point of view of the librarians of this university. Therefore, considering this goal, in this research, an attempt has been made to answer the basic questions such as the concept of creativity and innovation from the point of view of librarians, as well as encouraging and inhibiting factors in order to propose new ideas by librarians from their own point of view.
Literature Review
In 2019, Llewellyn conducted a review of the literature on academic library innovations for learning and teaching. In this research, he identified issues related to the roles of university librarians in innovation. Some of these roles include digital learning/e-learning skills; information literacy; participation and learning. Llewellyn concluded in this research that the innovations that affect society are more than the innovations that are only for learning and education.
Jantz (2013) has conducted a research related to innovation in university research libraries. Jantzen's analysis showed that average age, average work experience, level of education, field of study, and managers' view of librarians' creative ability cannot significantly predict innovation in university research libraries.
Vaughan (2013) examined technological innovation in academic libraries. The research results were collected through a questionnaire. The questions in the questionnaire evaluate issues such as managers' understanding of what constitutes innovation, technological developments that can be recognized as innovation, important considerations when deciding to implement an innovation, and how managers support innovation in the libraries under their management. Vaughan provided significant evidence of the importance of innovation in the academic library community, however, the methodology used by him in this study has little precision.
Methodology
In this research, a qualitative method of phenomenological study has been used to investigate the issue more deeply. The required data have been collected using semi-structured interviews until reaching theoretical saturation.
The statistical population included all the librarians working in the central library and the libraries affiliated to the University of Tabriz, and the sample of the research was obtained from among these people by a purposeful snowball method. At the end of each interview, each of the librarians introduced a few of their colleagues who were specialists in information science and were interested in making changes and innovations in libraries to the researchers. Finally, with 14 qualified librarians, the required data was reached and completed
Discussion
Based on the findings, the key factors effective in creativity and innovation in university libraries from the perspective of Tabriz University librarians are divided into three categories including: individual factors, organizational factors, and idea characteristics.
Individual factors include things such as having the spirit of innovation and creativity, having the motivation to present creative ideas, having job-related education by employees and managers, and having the spirit of risk-taking.
Organizational factors include the support of librarians' ideas and budget allocation.
The characteristics of the idea include factors such as cost-effectiveness, coordination with the goals of the library, visibility by other people and organizations, and the ability to implement the idea in the library environment. From the results of this research, it appears that library managers' acceptance of librarians' ideas motivates creative librarians, so it is suggested that library managers welcome the creative ideas of their employees and try to increase the dynamics of libraries and implement them. Also, since the implementation of the ideas requires the financial support of the parent organization, it is necessary for the library managers to allocate sufficient funds to the libraries in order to implement the ideas by consulting with the superior managers and justifying them to be able to receive sufficient funds for the library. So that they can increase the productivity of the library by implementing creative ideas.
Keywords
https://doi.org/10.5860/crl-302
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