Identification of the Factors affecting Women’s Non-use of Rural Public Libraries in Kermanshah County

Purpose: This study aims to identify the factors affecting non-use of rural libraries by women from the perspective of non-user women, i.e. women who are not members of libraries and are not library users. Library factors, internet access, accessibility, and services appropriateness to needs are among the items which in most studies have been considered to have the greatest impact on people using libraries. However, due to the fact that less research has examined the problems and challenges facing women in accessing information resources and their going to libraries, this study was conducted with the main purpose of examining this important issue. Method: This research was conducted using a qualitative approach and the content analysis method. The statistical population of the study consists of non-user women in 8 rural libraries of Kermanshah. To collect data, semi-structured interviews were conducted and in order to ensure the validity and reliability of the study, Lincoln and Guba (1985) evaluation method was used. In order validate the research tool, the research process was performed by two experts and two coders were used to codify several interview samples, ensure the uniformity of the coders’ viewpoints, and write notes during the research in Excel sheets. By applying this process, the reliability of the research data was significantly increased. The sampling method of the research was snowball and the transcripts of the interviews was analyzed using the sotware MAXQDA 2018 by applying three methods: quantitative, structural, and interpretive. Findings: After extracting the main sentences from the transcripts of the interviews and placing them in a file, first conceptualization was done and then according to the extracted concepts, the category appropriate for each concept was selected. In the coding process, each phrase was marked as a corresponding code according to its meaning, concept, and implication under a specific heading, and was classified in the MAXQDA environment. In the next step, after omitting some of the codes that had thematic overlap, four main dimensions including environmental, personal, social and cultural, and special factors were identified, and 36 conceptual codes were extracted. Finally, due to the frequency of repetitive concepts, it was found that “special factors” had the greatest impact on women not going to rural libraries and “environmental factors” showed the least role in this regard. Originality: This study has looked at the issue of women’s access to information resources and libraries from a different perspective and has focused on non-user women. Obviously, drawing non-user women to rural libraries can lead to the promotion of knowledge and information of this group and, consequently, can have a direct impact on families and improve the position of the library in the minds of society. Therefore, rural libraries should pay more attention to this important issue and pave the way for providing services to this group.