Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• narges movagharpour ¹
• Zahra Abazari ²
• Zohre Mirhosseini ²

¹ PhD Student in Information Science and Knowledge, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

² Associate Professor, Department of Information Science and Knowledge, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
In today's era, public libraries have become one of the largest knowledge production bases with various sources and references, whose efficient management can have a significant impact on the development of users' information literacy. In addition, the problems and challenges caused by the accelerated speed of production and distribution of knowledge and information in the last two decades have prompted public libraries to use the knowledge of organizations to develop new and appropriate tools.. In this regard, what has attracted the attention of information science and epistemology experts is the knowledge management system, which has found a prominent role and importance in libraries. In this context, it is concluded that knowledge has been accumulated in a wide way in the sources and references of libraries as well as in the experiences of librarians; therefore, the necessary ground for exploiting this knowledge and experiences in order to improve the information literacy of users should be provided. In this way, the question of the present research is what is the efficient model for establishing knowledge management in public libraries in order to improve users' information literacy?

Literature Review

Dalkir (2011) collected the different cycles of knowledge management that have been identified, confirmed, and practically implemented by different researchers and summarized them in four general stages, which are: 1- acquiring and creating knowledge, 2- sharing and disseminating knowledge, 3- applying and reusing knowledge, and 4- evaluating and retrieving knowledge. Because the knowledge management cycle offered by Dalkir has empirical support and has been successfully used by different libraries, the current research has also used the mentioned cycle.
Several models have been introduced to measure information literacy, but since the model of eight enablers was more compatible with the cultural situation and local conditions of developing countries, including Iran, therefore, in the current research, it is practical to measure the information literacy of library users. Public funds of Khuzestan province were used. This model includes eight steps of identification, exploration, selection, organization, creation, presentation, evaluation and application of knowledge and information.

Methodology

The current research has been done using the metacomposite technique and the Delphi technique. By implementing the six meta-composition steps, 94 components of knowledge management and 80 components of information literacy were extracted from 150 articles and categorized by content analysis technique. With the formation of the expert group and the three-step implementation of the Delphi technique, a consensus was reached among the expert members on 45 components of knowledge management and 40 components of information literacy, and based on the approved components, two separate questionnaires were created for data collection. Data were compiled and collected from librarians and users of public libraries in Khuzestan province. To measure the validity of the questionnaires, the agreement coefficient of the expert group was estimated at 0.772 for the knowledge management questionnaire and 0.794 for the information literacy questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha method was also used to measure reliability. The alpha value of the knowledge management questionnaire was estimated at 0.979 and the alpha value of the information literacy questionnaire was estimated at 0.982. The statistical population of the research included 284 librarians on the one hand, and 45,582 active users over 18 years old of public libraries in Khuzestan province on the other hand. To determine the sample size, using Cochran's formula, 181 librarians and 497 users were selected.

Results

The results of the research showed that the average implementation of knowledge management in the public libraries of Khuzestan province was %60.10, which is higher than the average. Also, the average information literacy of public library users in Khuzestan province was %54.57, which was also higher than the average. The results of the research hypotheses test showed that the implementation of the "knowledge acquisition process" in public libraries with a coefficient of 0.84 has been effective in improving the information literacy of users. The implementation of the "knowledge sharing" process in public libraries has had an impact on the information literacy of users with a coefficient of 0.92. Implementation of the process of "use of knowledge" in public libraries has had an effect on the information literacy of users with a coefficient of 0.88. The implementation of the "Knowledge Evaluation" process in public libraries has had an effect on the information literacy of users with a coefficient of 0.84. Finally, the "Implementation of knowledge management technology" in public libraries of Khuzestan province has had an impact on users' information literacy by % 51.

Discussion

Public libraries need to use new and appropriate tools in order to achieve their most important goal of existence, which is to develop knowledge and information literacy skills of the society. Because now these libraries have become important learning centers; where knowledge management is one of the main activities related to their new role. In the growing space of knowledge management, public libraries can no longer limit their activities to organizing collections; rather, with efficient and effective management, research and development of knowledge, creation of knowledge base, exchange and sharing of knowledge between employees and users, providing users access to information resources and especially online resources, explicit knowledge processing and tacit knowledge acquisition and realization focus on sharing them.

Conclusion

The present research has shown that knowledge management technology in public libraries can be effective in improving the information literacy of users. Therefore, the current research has proposed the four-stage model of Dal-Kir, which had successful experimental records, in order to properly implement and establish knowledge management. Also, in order to accurately measure the level of information literacy of users in public libraries, the current study has proposed an information literacy model of eight enablers that is more compatible with the cultural environment of our country.
Acknowledgments
The authors of this study express their gratitude to all the managers and officials of the public libraries of Khuzestan province who have cooperated in conducting this study.

Keywords

• Public Libraries
• Knowledge Management
• Information Literacy
• Users
• Information Literacy Promotion Model

Main Subjects

• Knowledge Management