Identification and Prioritization of the Instructional Needs of Iranian Public Libraries’ Users with the Aim of Designing and Implementing Appropriate Nationwide Instructional Courses

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the instructional needs of Iranian public libraries’ users. Method: In order to conduct the assessment of instructional needs, the agreement-based needs assessment model and Internet survey method were used, the data were collected through distribution of electronic questionnaires among public library users across the country. The research population consisted of all public libraries’ users in Iran in 1399 SH, whose number was 1842858 according to the staticstics of Iran Public Libraries Foundation. According to the Krejcie-Morgan table, 775 cases were selected as the research sample using the stratified sampling method. A researcher-made closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect data, and the content validity of the questionnaire was verified by 5 people including project supervisor, education and research experts of Iran Public Libraries Foundation, faculy members of education sciences and knowledge and information science, and the reliability of the questionnaire was equal to 0.92 according to Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, such as mean and standard deviation, and statistical tests including sample t-test and Friedman test. Findings:The results showed that out of 75 instructional courses, 38 instructional courses are required by users of public libraries in Iran, and in particular life skills courses, mental health promotion, learning and study skills, couples communication skills, media literacy, physical health promotion, Internet skills, information literacy, camera and mobile photography, Internet-based business, parenting, Word processing, entrepreneurship and business skills, PowerPoint presentation, resume writing, and installing Windows, respectively, are 16 prioritized instructional courses and the most important training courses required by the users of public libraries in Iran. By implementing these nationwide instructional courses, Iranian public libraries will be able to obviate the personal and professional instructional needs of target users. Originality/value: In spite of the emphasis on instruction as one of the main missions of the Iran Public Libraries Foundation, research evidences show that Iranian public libraries have not considered the instructional needs assessment of target users, which is necessary for designing and implementing nationwide instructional courses. dentification of the instructional needs of Iranian public library users is theis reseach contribution. The results of this study help the instructional officials of Iran Public Libraries Foundation to design instructional courses which fit the instructional needs of target users, and to take effective steps to achieve the strategic goal of instruction as well.