Introduction: Websites are one of the fundamental tools of academic libraries for communicating with users. They can properly teach informational literacy to users. Hence, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the provision of information literacy education by Iranian University of Medical Sciences by checking websites of their central libraries.
Methods: Samples were 54 central library websites affiliated to Iranian University of Medical Sciences. For evaluating, we directly investigated the websites from 21 December 2014 to 5 January 2015 using a chek list consisted of 10 criteria. Excel software was used for data analysis.
Results: The findings showed that the most used tab in library websites was “about us” (which included “the history of library”, “introducing library”, “library's staff and operating hours”) with 96.62 percent followed by The list of publications and frequently asked questions with 41.7% each No website contained “seminars”, “conferences”, “workshops and lectures” options. Regarding usage of information literacy elements, Birjand and Gilan Universities of Medical Sciences were ranked first (70%) followed by Mashhad, Kerman and Gonabad (60%) and Babol, Bandar Abbas, Booshehr, Tabriz and Shiraz with 50% were observed to be ranked third in order, respectively.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that Iranian Universities of Medical Sciences’ central library websites do not provide informational literacy education elements adequately, hence the provision of informational literacy education is at a low level on these websites.Therfore, website’s authorities should use vastly information literacy criteria.
Type of Study:
Research |
Subject:
Special Received: 2015/01/28 | Accepted: 2015/05/22 | Published: 2015/06/22