Evaluation of the quality of the college library websites in Iranian medical Universities based on the Stover model
Volume 4, Issue 5, Autumn 2014, Pages 1-7
. Mohammad Reza Nasajpour, . Hasan Ashrafi‑rizi, . Mohammad Reza Soleymani, . Leila Shahrzadi, . Akbar Hassanzadeh
Abstract Introduction: Today, the websites of college and university libraries play an important role
in providing the necessary services for clients. These websites not only allow the users to
access different collections of library resources, but also provide them with the necessary
guidance in order to use the information. The goal of this study is the quality evaluation of the
college library websites in Iranian Medical Universities based on the Stover model. Material
and Methods: This study uses an analytical survey method and is an applied study. The
data gathering tool is the standard checklist provided by Stover, which was modified by the
researchers for this study. The statistical population is the college library websites of the
Iranian Medical Universities (146 websites) and census method was used for investigation.
The data gathering method was a direct access to each website and filling of the checklist
was based on the researchers’ observations. Descriptive and analytical statistics (Analysis of
Variance (ANOVA)) were used for data analysis with the help of the SPSS software. Findings:
The findings showed that in the dimension of the quality of contents, the highest average
belonged to type one universities (46.2%) and the lowest average belonged to type three
universities (24.8%). In the search and research capabilities, the highest average belonged to
type one universities (48.2%) and the lowest average belonged to type three universities. In
the dimension of facilities provided for the users, type one universities again had the highest
average (37.2%), while type three universities had the lowest average (15%). In general the library
websites of type one universities had the highest quality (44.2%), while type three universities
had the lowest quality (21.1%). Also the library websites of the College of Rehabilitation and
the College of Paramedics, of the Shiraz University of Medical Science, had the highest quality
scores. Discussion: The results showed that there was a meaningful difference between the
quality of the college library websites and the university types, resulting in college libraries of
type one universities having the highest average score and the college libraries of type three
universities having the lowest score.