Library and Information Sciences

Library and Information Sciences

Assessing the Status of Children and Adolescents' Sections of Libraries Affiliated with Iran Public Libraries Foundation from the Librarians' Perspective and Developing a Conceptual Model

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
NoorAlsadat Mousavi 1
Fereshteh Sepehr 2
Zohreh Mirhosseini 3
1 Ph.D. candidate in Information Science and Knowledge Studies, Islamic Azad University, Tehran North Branch, Iran
2 Assistant professor, Department of Information Science and Knowledge Studies, Islamic Azad University, Tehran North Branch, Iran.
3 Associate Professor, Department of Information Science and Knowledge Studies, Islamic Azad University, Tehran North Branch, Iran.
10.30481/lis.2026.560944.2315
Abstract
Objective: The primary objective of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the current status of children and adolescents' sections of public libraries in Iran and to explore the feasibility of developing a conceptual model that could guide their improvement and management. Recognizing the vital role these libraries play in fostering literacy, cognitive development, and social engagement among young populations, this research sought to identify key components that influence their effectiveness and sustainability.
Methodology: To achieve this, a mixed-methods research design was adopted, incorporating qualitative and quantitative approaches. Initially, the Delphi technique was employed to gain consensus among a panel of 17 experts specializing in children and adolescent library services. These experts contributed to the design and refinement of a researcher-developed questionnaire, ensuring its content validity and internal consistency, as evidenced by a high Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.897. Rich qualitative data were collected concerning various operational and developmental facets of these libraries. In the quantitative phase, a stratified random sampling method was applied to select 331 librarians from a national population of 2,365 professionals working in children and adolescent sections in public libraries. Data were collected through surveys and subsequently analyzed using a combination of descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests to summarize and assess central tendencies and patterns. Additionally, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted with IBM SPSS and AMOS software to validate the factor structure underlying the identified components and to evaluate the model's fit to the empirical data.
Findings: The findings revealed that key domains such as librarian responsiveness, human resource capabilities, and physical and environmental factors collectively explained approximately 66 percent of the variance in assessing the children and adolescents' sections status. Environmental health and hygiene variables accounted for 67 percent, while factors related to cognitive development explained 68 percent, illustrating their substantial influence on sections quality and user experience. However, CFA results indicated that human resources and environmental health and hygiene demonstrated the strongest model fit, whereas cognitive development, physical factors, and responsiveness exhibited weaker alignment with the proposed structure.
Conclusion: Further second-level factor analysis highlighted the adequacy of the economic indicator, though other indices did not achieve satisfactory fit levels. Employing advanced methods such as bootstrapping and the Bollen–Stine index, the study ultimately proposed a final conceptual model designed to serve as a theoretical framework. This framework is aimed at guiding future assessments and strategic planning for enhancing children and adolescents' sections in public libraries in Iran, while acknowledging current limitations and areas needing further refinement.
Keywords
public pibraries
children and adolescents
Iran Public Libraries Foundation
conceptual model
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