Journal of Modern Medical

Introduction
Today, health is one of the pillars of societies in the world, and at the same time, it can cause cost burden. Therefore, health information is very important. In societies that pay attention to self-care, health information plays an important role. Iran, where 50% of the population is under 30 years old, is one of the youngest countries in the world, but with the ageing of the population, problems related to health will become more visible. As a result, it requires a long-term planning to increase health literacy of people. Health information is obtained from various sources such as print and electronic media, friends and families, but the accuracy and validity of this information cannot be confirmed in general. Iran’ comprehensive scientific map has addressed the impact of access to health information, but limited work has been done in this area, such as creating a program for patient education. To implement such programs, affiliated institutions and organizations should be used to disseminate health information. Public libraries can play this role due to their cultural and social position. Therefore, in this study, we aim to investigate the readiness level of libraries and librarians in providing health information in Iran.
Methods
This is a descriptive survey study. The study population consists of all librarians from public libraries in Abadan, Khorramshahr, Arvandkanar, and Shadgan cities in Iran in 2020. Twenty samples were selected from 10 public libraries. To collect information, a questionnaire was used whose validity and reliability were confirmed by Khosravi et al. This questionnaire contained two parts; the first part with 4 items surveys the basic information of librarians and libraries, and the other part with 9 items measures the readiness of librarians and libraries to provide health information. These questionnaires were sent to the librarians through email, and two weeks were set to collect them. Since public libraries use the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system, in addition to examining DDC’s 10 main classes, the section 610 was assessed separately which is for health and medicine. Hence, a checklist was used containing DDC system’s 10 main classes, the division 600, and the section 610. After collecting the data, they were entered into the SPSS software, and descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used to describe and analyze the data.
Results
The findings showed that, the highest number of books related to health services and medicine was in the public libraries of Abadan city (47.29%), while the lowest number was related to the public libraries of Arvandkanar city (5.43%). The DDC section for health and medicine had the lowest source among other classes (1.32%). Abadan city public libraries with 970 book titles and Arvandkanar city public libraries with 100 titles had the most and the fewest book titles in the field of health, respectively. In terms of holding courses in health education, the findings showed that 35% of libraries had held few educational courses and 65% had held no any educational courses and covered this field less in related programs. Regarding the educational space, only 10% of the public libraries had a very large area for holding educational courses; 10% had a moderate area, and 80% had a small area. Regarding the familiarity of librarians with the field of health, only 15% had the necessary familiarity; 60% were moderately familiar, and 20% had no sufficient familiarity. In examining the readiness level of librarians based on the field of study, those in general librarianship were familiar with health websites by 8%; those in medical librarianship were familiar by 50%, and those in other fields were familiar by 16.7%. The librarians in the field of medical librarianship also had a higher percentage of familiarity with health information databases.
Discussion
The demand for health information from the people is increasing. Although the strategy and plans of the Iranian Ministry of Health are based on prevention, there is no specific place to provide health information. Public libraries can help in this field due to having a suitable social and cultural position. The present study showed that the public libraries affiliated to Abadan University of Medical Sciences had a low percentage of health information sources, which is consistent with the study by Khosravi et al. who investigated the health sources in public libraries of Bushehr city. The high difference between the number of health sources and other sources the public libraries of the study cities indicates the need to pay more attention to health sources in these libraries. The public library librarians were not at a favorable level in terms of familiarity with health issues, health websites, use of health databases, and organizational issues. This is in agreement with the findings of Luo & Van Park, who showed that the lack of knowledge about health information sources is felt by public library librarians. It is recommended that a memorandum of cooperation between the Ministry of Health and public libraries should be concluded to plan and coordinate their policies in order to increase health literacy and institutionalize it.

Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
This research has received the ethics code number .ABADANUMS.IR028.1400.REC from the Research and Technology Committee of Abadan University of Medical Sciences.

Funding
This article was done with the financial support of Abadan University of Medical Sciences.

Authors' contributions
Data collection: Read Nezhad Matouri, Mansour Kohi Rostami, Ahmad Reza DashtAfkan, Milad Habibian; Preparation of research report: Read Nezhad Matouri; Data analysis: Mansour Kohi Rostami, Mahbobeh Momtazan

Conflicts of interest
According to the authors of this article, there is no conflict of interest.


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