مطالب

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the university libraries’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and determine their services patterns. Method: This study is a qualitative exploration by collecting data through phone and online interviews of selected heads or assistants of thirteen university libraries. The interview recordings were transcribed with the help of callX software. The content of the interviews was analyzed and coded using MaxQDA software and led to the extraction of 220 initial codes. Findings: Almost all the central libraries of the studied universities limited their in-person services during Covid 19 pandemic but engaged with the users and tried to increase digital and remote services. Revamping their web pages, Flexibility in presenting services, development of information dissemination to users were the most important services and activities that central libraries presented in the pandemic era. Two of the most significant services which they have started during this period are librarian booking and online videoconference interviews with the users. Conclusion: although Covid 19 quickly invaded libraries and reduced the opportunity for a quick response, some of the studied central libraries took advantage of the crisis and provided suitable services to students such as setting up digital reference desks, purchase of software to organize electronic resources in the library, online reference interview with users etc.

Purpose: The research is intended to extract repetitive themes in the field of semantic-rich learning and to express the basic opportunities and challenges therein. Method: The method applied was to review the articles published in the WOS database, during the years 2000 to 2020 by using the paradigm funnel technique; moreover the Nvivo software was used for document analysis and theme extraction. Findings: In the study, it was found that establishing access to appropriate educational content, proper analysis and representation of knowledge, human capabilities enhancement, personalization of learning, and improving the quality of assessment, are the most important positive effects of using STs in learning; Also, in this study, nine themes and seven major challenges in the field of semantic-rich learning were identified. Conclusion: personalization and adaptation, and the development of various ontologies, are the most cited themes; and access to learning content and concerns about the design and development of learning systems are the most important challenges facing semantic-rich learning environments. We believe that in order to overcome the enumerated challenges, the combination of STs with other emerging cognitive and communication technologies, such as IoT, is necessary and could be the subject of future research in this field.

Background: Official websites of tourism destinations provide an important digital content and are considered as widely-used tools of introducing destinations and presenting tourism products to the potential tourists. Improving the usability of websites helps the tourism destinations in achieving their goals. Websites usability is measured based on different criteria. Purpose: This paper evaluates and compares the usability of Iran and Malaysia official tourism destination websites –which are regarded as quite comparable in their tourism products and market- using seven criteria of content, visual attractiveness, infrastructure, interaction and responsiveness, navigation, customization, and product provision. Method: In order to do this evaluation, pairwise comparison questionnaires of the criteria were developed based on DEMATEL and ANP techniques and were answered online by 10 tourism experts in Iran. Websites’ usability analysis was performed using a combination of two MCDM (Multiple Criteria Decision Making) techniques that are DEMATEL and ANP so that the causal relations of the criteria are identified along with the ranking of their significance. Findings: The findings of the research show “infrastructure” as the dispatcher criterion, “product provision” as the receiver, and “content” as the most important criterion in the usability of tourism destinations’ websites. The findings also revealed the superiority of Malaysia’s official tourism website as compared to that of Iran.

Background: Destination branding and social media strategy may be a major and strong marketing and promotional tool for destination marketers. Today tourism has been greatly affected by social media platforms. Besides being a major source of information, these tools can facilitate the interaction process among tourists and provide them with customized and personalized offers. These activities can ultimately lead to enhanced destination brand equity. Purpose: The present study attempts to investigate the impact of social media marketing on consumer-based brand equity components for tourism destinations. Method: The sample of the study totaled 149 visitors from Isfahan. Online questionnaires and convenience sampling methods were used to collect data research. The research hypotheses were tested using smart PLS software. Results: The results showed that there is a statistically positive and significant impact of social media marketing on destination brand awareness, destination brand image, destination brand quality, and destination brand loyalty. Conclusion: As the results show, social media marketing is an effective marketing tool to improve tourism marketing that in turn can enhance destination brand equity. These results are beneficial for tourism destination marketers and managers. Social media marketing as a prominent marketing tool can strengthen destination brand equity and potentially influence tourists’ behavior

Purpose: Nowadays, average visit duration through the university library websites and bounce rate of the web users, are two important factors from the standpoint of Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The main objective of this paper is to study the two mentioned factors in Iranian university library websites and interactive relationship analysis between them. Method: This study opted for the webometrics approach. The research community was 42 library websites of Iranian governmental universities affiliated with the ministry of science, except Payam- Noor and Farhangian. These mentioned websites were analyzed by the descriptive and analytical survey methods. The data had been extracted by the "Similarweb" analytical tool (3 months: January to March 2020). Three software, "SPSS22", "Excel" and "LibreOfficeCalc", were used for data analysis. Findings: The lowest (best) bounce rates from the library website were observed in the websites of the Central Library of Allameh Tabatabai University and the Digital Library of the University of Guilan, respectively. The highest (best) "average visit duration", was observed in the digital library websites of Isfahan university of technology and the university of Tehran, respectively. Conclusion: The "bounce rate" of members of the research community has been observed between 13% and 100%. Also, "average visit duration" has been seen from 0 to 300 seconds. Iranian university library websites from the standpoint, two factors that impacted Google SEO, have been seen in the weak level. A significant inversely correlation was obtained between "Bounce Rate" and "Average Visit Duration" in 42 Iranian governmental university library websites with an amount of 0.6.

The purpose of the study is to explore the history and growth of the Indian LIS education system, its sustainability, and describe a critical review of recent UGC proposed Learning Outcomes-based Curriculum Framework (LOCF) syllabi. The formal LIS education which was started before independence with few universities currently witnessed a phenomenal growth of LIS departments/schools in the county. The structured questionnaire and survey methods were used to collect relevant data about availability of various courses and supplemented by searching websites and personal contacts. The findings of the study indicates that that 237 universities/colleges/ polytechnic institutes and professional associations found offering LIS education from six months certificate course to a doctoral research program. The survey revealed that at present B.A. (Hons.), B.Sc. (H), Dip. in LIS (3 years), CLIS, BLIS, MLIS, MLIS (two years integrated), PGDLAN, M. Phil., Ph.D., and D.Litt. courses are available in 31 states and UT of Indian universities/colleges in Library and Information Science. The study also finds that during the span of 20 years (2001-2020) 105 LIS departments came into existence primarily in private universities and colleges. The latest UGC proposed LOCF syllabi for BLIS also examined its acceptability and sustainability as a uniform model curriculum framework for the LIS departments in India, In addition, the study describes key issues, challenges and recommendations to enhance LIS education scenario.

Background: The advancement of information technologies has many effects on library services and collection management. Most of the librarians and library managers would like to work in libraries with a focus on modern devices and technologies. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine applying new devices of IOT technologies in different parts of libraries and changing library environments and services according to these new technologies. Method: The present research has been using a library study. In fact, equipping libraries with modern technologies would improve library services and increase users’ satisfaction. Findings: Librarians should be aware of important aspects of IoT in library services. The IoT will continue to affect libraries and their services through the building, collection management, instruction, data security, data mining, and information literacy. In this study, authors try to design a practical model for academic libraries based on IoT devices to improve the quality of services, increase user’s satisfaction and reduce costs. Conclusion: It is expected that this new technology, in addition to improving services, can greatly reduce the additional costs of libraries and help the library get closer to green and environment-friendly libraries.