Identifying the Most Appropriate Type of Planning to Design Cultural Activities of Public Libraries

Purpose: The main purpose of the present research is to recognize the most appropriate type of planning for designing cultural activities of public libraries in Iran, from the perspective of their librarians and experts. Identifying and understanding the views of librarians and experts in selecting the most appropriate type of planning, as well as prioritizing the use of various plans to design the cultural activities are among the other aims of this research. Methodology: This study is an applied research that was conducted by the survey method. A researcher-made questionnaire is selected as the tool for data collection. Content validity was calculated using two coefficients, content validity relative and content validity index. To measure the reliability of the questionnaire, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used. The research population consisted of two groups: public library librarians and the provisional and staff experts working in the Cultural affairs division of Iran Public Libraries Foundation. In selecting the librarians group, cluster sampling was used to maintain the distribution of samples. For this purpose, Iran was divided into five parts: east, west, center, north and south. Sampling was performed according to the size and volume of each region. 357 librarians were randomly selected 38 experts were selected by random sampling, from whom 29 individuals completed the questionnaires. To analyze the data, Friedman test was applied using the SPSS 22 platform. Findings: The results showed that among the five types of planning, participatory planning from the viewpoint of librarians, and logical planning from the viewpoint of experts ranks first. Moreover, the results of Friedman test showed that ranking of different types of planning for designing cultural activities are significant from the viewpoint of both groups. From the librarians' viewpoint, logical, strategic, extension, cultural and participatory planning ranked first to fifth respectively, while from the experts' viewpoint, logical, strategic, promotional, cultural and participatory planning ranked first to fifth respectively. Originality/value: The present research is the first research that has reviewed the opinions of experts and librarians in selecting the most appropriate type of planning in public libraries. Identifying and understanding the differences between staff and line experts in the type of planning help to promote convergence between them and also help to strengthen the planning. This research can be used as a basis for designing cultural activities. Applying this basis will assist planners and managers of public libraries in making decisions about cultural activities.