Identifying the components of the Information Resource Selection Behavior of the Members of Public Libraries Using Metasynthesis

Purpose: It is impossible to increase the use of information resources in libraries and provide user-centered information services without understanding how users select and search for information resources. Selecting information sources involves identifying a subset of available information sources that best meet the information needs of users. Selecting the right source of information has a significant effect on whether the source is read or not. Moreover, acquisition, organizing resources, and arranging them in libraries, as well as designing an efficient and user-friendly user interface that supports book selection, requires sufficient knowledge of resource selection behaviors by users; This is what not sufficiently known in Iran. Thus, this study aimed to identify the components and dimensions of the selection behavior of information resources of public library users and to design the relevant conceptual model.Method: The present research is a meta-synthesis study that was conducted with a qualitative approach, following the seven steps of the Sandelowski and Barroso method. The research population consists of articles and dissertations published in seven Persian databases and eight international databases between 2000 and 2020 (1379 to 1399 SH). Out of 7560 identified sources, 35 sources were approved under the Vital Skills Assessment Program. The codes were extracted from the articles, and the reliability of the coding was assessed using the kappa coefficient.Findings: A total of 176 codes including 26 concepts were extracted and categorized under five categories as follows: user-related factors (including source selection objectives, tasks, and needs, personality traits and user life, demographic characteristics, interest and emotion, previous user experiences, reasons for interaction or relationship with books, selection strategies, and costs); book-related factors (including appearance features, bibliographic elements, content elements, content quality, storybook content, book style, language and relevance, popularity, and distinction); library-related factors (facilities, shelves, and arrangement of books and ancillary programs); barriers and restrictions (including individual, library and community barriers and restrictions); and recommendations and theatrical productions of works (including direct and indirect recommendations and theatrical productions of works). According to the findings, a user, depending on his situation, spends time and money under the influence of the library environment and its facilities, and examines and selects a source in terms of various appearance and content features, and communicates with that source (book) and reads it for reasons such as the overall perceived attractiveness of a book, being engaged with the story in the book, the atmosphere of the book, the personal experience narrated by the characters, and so on; influenced by the recommendations and theatrical productions of works, the user may face obstacles in choosing the source that has been created by himself/herself, the library or the community.Originality/value: The model of information resource selection behavior of public library members is indicative of the complexity and effectiveness of this behavior from a wide range of factors, including individual differences, physical and content characteristics of the book, and environmental factors. The designed model can be used as a basis for a broad survey of users’ information resource selection behavior in physical and virtual environments, as well as as a guide to collection building, space designing, and service designing in libraries, the compilation of resources, and designing the appearance and structure of books by authors and publishers.