Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
2018
Abstract
Abstract
Aim and background: Advent internet and related technologies have changed the way academic libraries provide reference services. One of the new ways providing services is virtual reference services. This study is conducted with the aim of determining the current status of providing virtual references services in college libraries of five medical science universities of Tehran.
Materials and methods: this is an applied research, which was carried out through a survey descriptive. Data was gathered using a researcher- developed questionnaire that was answered by 31 library managers of five medical science universities of Tehran. We used SPSS software version 16 to analyze the collected data.
Results: the results showed that %90 of the library managers had B.sc degree or higher. 29% of the libraries use email, % 3/2 use chat and %3/2 use short message system (SMS) for providing virtual reference services. None of the libraries use video conference. %40 of ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Sciences and 35% of the Baghiyatollah University of Medical Sciences use email virtual reference services. Overall, ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Sciences has better status.
Conclusion: from this study, it can be concluded that a few numbers of the understudy libraries provide virtual reference services and there are not in a good status. In order to provide Modern services to users, library managers should improve virtual reference services.
Keywords: Virtual reference, academic library, Health Science University