The fundamental pillars for activating and revitalizing public libraries in the digital environment: an analytical study

Abstract

The current study aims to identify the most important pillars and basic components that contribute to activating and revitalizing public libraries in Iraq and their impact on providing library services to beneficiaries in light of technological developments and changes. The study community consisted of workers in public libraries in Baghdad Governorate, and their total number was 125, distributed into two categories: The first category was represented by librarians, and their number was (20) librarians, and the questionnaire was answered by (18) of them. The second category was (105) workers in various specializations, and the questionnaire were answered by only (45) out of the total number. The intentional sample was used in distributing the questionnaire, as the researcher aimed to select workers who have a sixth preparatory certificate or above. The research aimed to achieve a set of objectives, the most important of which was to determine the need for public libraries and the roles they rely on to achieve their goals and mission in light of the digital environment, in addition to employing information technology in a manner consistent with the developments and changes brought about by the digital age. The study used the descriptive analytical approach in the axes to measure the role of human, material, financial, and technological resources and the challenges and problems facing public libraries in Iraq. The study came out with a set of results, the most important of which is that there is a deficiency in the budget allocated to public libraries, which is insufficient in light of the digital and information transformation in Iraq, as its arithmetic mean was (1.40) and its standard deviation was equal to (0.70). The study also concluded that there is weak employment and use of digital information technology represented by social networking sites on the Internet in public libraries, which requires paying more attention to this aspect and making it an effective means of reviving public libraries in Baghdad with an arithmetic mean of (1.13) and a standard deviation of (0.46). The researcher proposed a set of recommendations that would contribute to identifying the weaknesses facing libraries and developing precise solutions for them.