The application of information technology in job empowerment of employees working in library of Islamic Azad University, Fifth Region

Subject Areas : Journal of Knowledge Studies

mohsen hamidi ¹ , Rozita sartipi yarahmadi ^{2 *}

1 - Department of Library and Information Science, Islamic Azad University, Borojerd Branch;
2 - MLIS in library and information science Iran, Tehran University, Hamedan Branch;

Received: 2008-04-21 Accepted : 2008-10-04 Published : 2009-08-23

Keywords: Information Technology, Islamic Azad University, Librarians, Academic Libraries, Job empowerment,

Abstract :

The purpose of this research is to find out the views of the Islamic Azad University library employees from the Region 5 about the importance of information technology and how influential information technology is regarding their job performances and improvement? Hence, 65 library employees from different ranks were asked and their responses have been used in this project. The method used is survey-descriptive and a questionnaire was used to gather needed data. In this research, initially the level of information technology used by the librarians was investigated, and then its impact on the library employees' job performance and their improvements were studied. In this study, variety of factors such as job performance improvement, independence, freedom, responsibility, satisfaction, decisiveness, innovation, self control, and etc. have been used to eventually come up with hypothesis and make up the basic questions discussed in this project. According to the hypothesis using information technology can cause obvious improvement at the job performance level of the library employees of the Islamic Azad University Region 5. Findings show that Region 5 libraries have at least between 1-5 employees, 64.6% of them studied Librarianship at college and the number of computer per capita is 69.2%. 25% of these employees have indicated the usage of software such as intranet, Excel and Word and etc. whereas the number of those using practical software and different computer sites goes up to 50% of our research population. Current library activities such as cataloging, issuing membership cards and graphical usage still show more increase of about 70% of the employees. Moreover, the libraries provide excellent facilities such as information banks, either continues or discontinues, fax, telefax, printers and so on. Data analysis verified number of influential factors on job performance improvement such as decrease in number of job related errors, job satisfaction and faster service being provided by these employees. Other factors also related to information technology and its positive impact on these employees were observed and verified: including increase in job satisfaction, more willingness to make job related decisions and accepting more responsibilities. After all, considering the data and their analysis, the hypothesis in this study was confirmed.