Introduction and problem statement

Public libraries aim to be in service of people by providing public services in different and beneficial ways. Based on UNESCO declaration, public library is a valid source for representation of important factors including public continuous and lasting education, knowledge and public culture enhancement, free provision of the results of creative thoughts of human beings, and the maturity of the talents of user society. Certainly, majority of people can take advantage of their facilities regardless of race, nationality, age, gender, religion, language, social status, and education (Emad Khorasani, 2013). Libraries are involved in providing and organizing appropriate information and knowledge for easy access and use (Ugwoke & Omekwu, 2014); the complex organizations that employing various inputs to produce diverse outputs, provide separate services for people and maintain books related to ancient history for next generations (Guccio, Mignosa and Rizzo, 2018). In the dynamic and rapidly changing environment of information where people often start accessing to the information via web or social media, it is not still clear that how the majority of people understand the usefulness of public libraries (Joanna Sin & Vakkari, 2015). According to Jordan (quoted in: Joanna Sin & Vakkari, 2015), "in the digital era, with a large amount of information available, the role and value of official information institutions that use of public budget/tax, such as public libraries are questionable.

Despite the fact that today's vast amount of information is available through the Internet and other media, public libraries are still a popular source of information among individuals, but with the presence of the Millennials, it seems that new challenges are faced with public libraries, and addressing these challenges requires identifying and distinguishing individual challenges and issues related to libraries' information services, until decision makers and developers can use different strategies depending on the circumstances (Joanna Sin, 2012).

In the previous studies on public libraries, less attention has been given to potential users of library services (those who do not use library services), and predominantly, studies have focused on satisfaction evaluation. Satisfaction evaluation approaches are based on the users of library, while it seems that today's planning of public libraries need to focus on the majority who do not use public library services. Meanwhile, it is clear that first and foremost, people need to the information in every place, and that public libraries spend too much cost on providing information resources every year. However, the amount of referral and use may not justify the costs incurred. Few studies conducted in around the topic of this research have randomly referred to various factors as reasons for this failure. For example, Salahshury (2013) mentions factors of access to information services, quality of information services, quality of information resources, general culture of society, library space, people's lack of knowledge about book reading, the lack of facilities and equipment for public libraries, lack of time to use information services identified as the barriers to coming and welcoming to the services of public libraries. Shaghaghi (quoted in Esnafi, 2011) believes that the lack of attention to the internal and external factors, including ignoring culture, habits and customs of a society, staff, space, and sources lead to the death of public libraries. In addition, Fletcher (2011) expressed the lack of self-service facilities, absence of staff, and the non-user-friendly library services as barriers to willingness towards library. Heaviside and Dun (1995) mention inefficiency of the physical and transportation access system, rivals, libraries' local safety and security, lack of school assignments to require library referrals, lack of interest toward library services, and lack of knowledge about library services as the factors of unwillingness toward library services.

Kohir, Du, Davison and Koronios (2017) consider the role of public libraries more than providing just a few well-known services, and even as an important element in the field of public education, and they believe that educational activities in libraries require social interaction and can help the formation of new networks and develop individual capabilities. Providing conditions for new skills and friendships through public libraries are parts of expectations of many non-native users. In fact, library-centered activities are perceived as a suitable space for interaction and learning from each other, as well as the development of useful skills. According to Askin (2015), free and equal access to information for all people, is a vital goal of librarianship. However, along with issues that libraries are struggling to create access to, a part of society faces physical, geographical, technical, cultural, or socio-political, and economic barriers to access information. To this end, public libraries need to focus on identifying the needs of different social classes and how to meet them in the best way, training and empowering the staff, purposeful planning, and assigning budget for accessing information resources. Ugwoke and Umekwu (2014) also consider poor financial resources, lack of audio-visual resources, poor infrastructure, unemployment, and migration of experienced staff as major obstacles to the fulfillment of the cultural mission of libraries. Pringgoadisujo (1991) consider environmental barriers (lack of information-related traditions as a source of use, lack of training about search and utilization of information in educational programs, people's tendency to receive information for free, lack of attention from policymakers to the group of people having poor information, lack of compatibility between users of scientific and technical information and librarians as information providers, the willingness of scientific and technical communities to seek information from developed countries, ignoring domestic information produced, a low understanding of strong relationship between the system of library and information and publication system of the country and the disjointed publishing system that makes the development of national database for bibliographic information difficult), administrative and executive barriers (the development of library services as a distinct part of research and development activities, the tendency of research institutes toward setting up a specialized small library, little attention to acquiring resources and access development, low annual budget allocation for collection development, marketing, and communicative activities, the problem of books, journals and non-book materials and important foreign transactions' resources, the problem of safe cooperation in formal national policies and weaknesses regarding rules and regulations related to circulation and copyright, etc.), and human resources' barriers (lack of expert staff, lack being up-to-date educational and learning facilities in line with the advances in information technology and information industry, lack of attractiveness of retraining and promotion courses for librarians, lack of human resources to conduct research about the weaknesses of libraries and national information systems, and language barriers in the educational and learning programs as the most important issues and challenges for developing Indonesian libraries.

In general, if public libraries be able to perform their tasks in the best way, they will be in focus of the audience. What today is the main challenge facing managers is that public library services are not well considered and used by the community, or that non-informational sections, such as study rooms are more commonly used by individuals. Therefore, any planning for leaving these conditions is regarded as finding the reasons for people's unwillingness toward public library services. In other words, understanding access barriers can help librarians manage the rare and limited resources to effectively address the needs of clients and realize the goals of library (DeMaagd, Ei Chew, Huang, Laeeq Khan, Sreenivasan and La Rose, 2013). They need to focus on providing a globally accessible service that translates and interprets important information, makes sense of the overflow of information and raises awareness about general information (Kerslake and Kinnel, 1998). Also, by providing free Internet access, active participation in social media (such as Facebook and Twitter), organizing cultural events, supporting information literacy programs, supporting lifelong learning, libraries should make their social roles bolder (Giannakopoulos, Koulouris and Kokkinos, 2014).

Considering the wide range of obstacles referred to in the previous studies, we can consider the most important factors in the two groups of internal and external organizational factors. These factors in this study are in the form of internal organizational barriers (human resources, time and work hour, spatial constraints, management-related constraints, service quality, information quality, and equipment barriers) and external organizational barriers (cultural factors, socio-economic factors, security factors, education institutes' performance, research institutes' performance, and individual factors). So the main question of the present research is that what factors affect the lack of adolescents' and youth's satisfaction with public library services in Khuzestan? Is there a relationship between internal and external factors with lack of adolescents and youth from Khuzestan public libraries' services?

Literature review

The related literature shows that a wide range of factors have been studied either separately or in general by researchers. Although few studies have been conducted in the Iran, the results of the study conducted by Moarefzadeh and Iraji (2010), regarding the factors contributing and inhibiting the studying among the 20-30 year-old clients of public libraries in Mahshahr (Iran), showed that the role of the family in encouraging children to study, the existence of a library at schools, the inclusion of study hours in the schools' curriculum, and especially the good ethics of librarians are important in encouraging studying. In contrast, lack of motivation, lack of time, libraries' inappropriateness, high cost of the books and community orientation toward economic issues have slowed down studying in society and have been identified as inhibiting factors of studying.

Motameni, Hemmati, and Moradi (2011) have identified and prioritized the obstacles facing the youth of Semnan (Iran) in their tendency toward using public library services. According to the results of the lack of books required for young individuals, lack of updated library resources, lack of motivation and enough time to study, and the inadequacy of the physical conditions of libraries, respectively, were identified as the most important barriers to the youth presence in libraries. In this regard, the results of Salahshury Study (2013) referred to as the factors influencing unwillingness of the society toward public library services in Kangan (Iran), showed that access to information services, quality of information services, quality of information resources, public culture of Kangan community, library space, lack of knowledge of people about book reading, lack of facilities and equipment of public libraries, lack of time for using information services of public libraries are among the factors affecting the unwillingness toward utilizing public libraries of Kangan city. Nowkarizi, Narmanji and Dehghan study (2014), regarding the relationship between parents' cultural capital and the amount of using the public libraries by children of South Khorasan province (Iran), showed that there is a significant relationship between the cultural capital of parents and children and use the library materials. Also, based on the findings of Fahimifar and Farzin Yazdi (2014), lack of quality resources and diverse of the resources, dull spaces, lack of amenities, especially staying in library for a long time, the presence of bad-tempered librarians not aware about resources and information retrieval skills, are important and effective factors leading to the absence of users in the library.

In the recent study, the results of Tabatabaei Shahrabad, Jafari and Sanatjou (2016), studying adolescents aged 12 to 15 years old in Sabzevar public libraries revealed that from the viewpoint of adolescents, the necessity of using libraries was higher than average. Indeed, they used loan services, reference services and informational services more. In contrast, promotion services were utilized less than average. In addition, the books used were mostly educational resources, and a large amount of homework and lack of time were major barriers to using library services.

In foreign studies, Hull's findings (1999) indicated that limitations such as low level of main skills, psychological constraints such as lack of experience and having a previous negative experience of attending the library, the fear of computer and being afraid of not being able to use the computer are among the obstacles to use library. The results of DeFaveri's (2005) study showed that difficulty of studying, the sense of belonging to the library for particular people, the likeness of the library to school, and the hard and intricate nature of it, having the sense that asking for help from others is stupid, fear of asking questions, believing that the library is just for clever people, having a sense of foolishness in library, lack of knowledge about library services, fear of asking what others know but I do not know, and lack of library resources have been the most significant barriers to library use. The results of Swierk study (2005) also indicated that lack of services and resources, limited access to technology, and lack of space are still important barriers of supporting teenagers by public libraries.

According to the results of Sin and Kim (2008), level of education, the distance between home to the nearest library, school attendance status, use of other types of libraries, age and occupation of the individual, ethnicity and marital status of head of the family, family size, disability of individual, work hours of head of the family, income rate, city population, number of libraries, public Internet stations in public libraries and library budget in government per capita affected use or not use. Waller and McShane (2008) consider understanding the nature of the environment in which the library is active, and in particular, understanding the methods underpinning the ecological and economic changes of information, and developing a policy framework to clarify institutional goals and integrate paradoxical policies in the form of dynamic and technical services as the most important challenges of public libraries in the 21st century. Moreover, the results of Oladokun and Aina's (2009) study revealed that lack of libraries, problems in affording the costs of equipment, time shortage, and lack of technological skills are of the most important obstacles to the use of information resources by students.

Findings of Abusin, Zainab and Abdul Karim (2011) showed that the negative imaginations of users about library environments, colleagues, staff, services, information resources, regulations, and personal and cognitive barriers are the most important obstacles in using library services. According to the results of the study conducted by Joanna Sin (2012), we cannot claim that changes in the community-based factors including increase the budget of public library and level of service will change the use of individuals from the libraries, but factors such as using library for school assignments (educational use), entertainment, Internet access have been effective in using students from public libraries, and these factors are influenced by school's information environment, frequency of school libraries' use, race/ethnicity, and access to computers at home. Also, the results of the study by Omotosho and Okiki (2012) revealed that the lack of awareness, high cost of information resources, distance, inaccessibility of Internet, lack of information and communication technology, and language barriers were the most important impediments for accessing Nigerian public libraries, respectively.

Joy and Idowu (2014) found in their study that lack of sufficient facilities, inadequate and old information resources, lack of Internet services, and communication and information technology in public libraries were the main reasons for the users' lack of satisfaction and lack of access to public libraries. Therefore, according to Kayaoglu's (2014) findings based on the perceptions and expectations of Istanbul public library users showed that lack of time, access to information through Internet, the remoteness of the library from their home, lack of knowledge about library services, and interests to purchase instead of loaning were identified as factors affecting unwillingness toward public library services. The results of Lin, Pang and Luyt's (2015) study showed that library for Singapore's youth is a fascinating social, learning, information and entertainment area in which users are socially connected with others and meet their information and entertainment needs. The results of the study conducted by Kaeding (2015) to examine the factors influencing the children's access with special needs and their parents to public libraries also revealed that the attitude and sensitivity of librarians towards access and their lack of knowledge about the issues of children and their parents are the most significant access barriers. The results of the study by Joanna Sin and Kwon (2017) showed that there is a meaningful relationship between the use of social media and the use of public library services, and the use of social media completes public library services, including library visits, using printed sources, spending time in the library, multimedia materials, reference services, Internet usage in the library, remote access, inclination towards other activities and computer literacy in the United States, South Korea and Singapore.

As a result, what achieved from the review of the results of previous researches is that the number of variables examined is very high and according to the local conditions governing the libraries of each country, some of these results is uniqueand specified to a particular country/culture. In addition, due to the concern of cultural policymakers and library managers, more studies are needed.

Methodology

This study is applied in terms of the purpose of research, and since it describes the circumstances or phenomena studied and represents the effects of variables and relationships between them, the descriptive survey method was used, and it was conducted in early 2018. The population includes teenagers and youths of Khuzestan province (Iran). According to the demographic data in 2011, the total population of Khuzestan province was 4,531,720 people. The population of this study comprises the total population of adolescents and the youth in Khuzestan province, who do not use public library services. According to the demographic information in 2011, the population of adolescents between ages of 12-19 was 585,905 and the youth aged between 20-40 was 1,960,528. In this study, the population of adolescents and young people in the public libraries of Khuzestan province was determined and excluded from the study population, considering that the study examined some of the features such as economic, social, and location factors, and it is probable that these conditions change in different cities of the province. The ratio sampling method (proportional to the number of adolescents and young individuals in each city) was used. First, the number of adolescents and young people was calculated in each city, and then, its ratio was calculated from the total number of adolescents and youth population of the province (population of the adolescents and young members of libraries were subtracted), and then, by measuring the gender ratio, the share of samples was taken. The sample size was chosen based on the Cochran formula at the error level of 0.5 of 384 people. In order to collect data in this study, library and field study methods were used. In the library method, scientific databases including scientific books, and valid and related writings were compiled. Then, by reviewing the related articles, to prepare the theoretical foundations were note-taken, recorded on the cards, and finally, they were used for preparing the theoretical foundations and forming the framework of the study. Data were collected by field method, using a researcher-developed questionnaire (in some cases, using the tools of previous studies such as Salahshury (2013), Rostami and Shekary (2015), and DeFaveri (2005). Data was then analyzed using Excel 2013 software (encoding questionnaires and descriptions, descriptive statistics, tables and charts) and version 21 of SPSS (hypothesis testing) was used.

Findings

Q1: What are the most important internal factors affecting the adolescents' and the youth' unwillingness towards using public library services?

One-sample t-test was used to measure the organizational factors affecting adolescents and youths' unwillingness.

The results of the Table 1 show that the mean of all internal factors is higher than the theoretical average (3). This means that all internal factors more or less affect the adolescents' unwillingness towards the services. But, based on the mean, the factors related to Human resources (mean = 3.8), time and work hours of libraries (mean = 3.8), Spatial constraints (mean = 3.5) and Information quality (mean = 3.5) were the highest, respectively, and Equipment constraints (mean = 3.2) had the least impact from the respondents' viewpoint.

The results of t-test in Table 2 show that the obtained t-value for all factors is higher than of the table at ([alpha] = 0.05) and the difference is calculated mean and the theoretical mean is significant. Therefore, it can be concluded that with 95% confidence, all the internal factors affect the adolescents' unwillingness towards the library services.

The results of Pearson correlation coefficient test in Table 3 reveal that there is a positive and significant correlation between internal factors and adolescents and youth unwillingness towards public library services. These results indicate that increasing the limitations of internal factors would also increase the unwillingness towards the services of public libraries. Meanwhile, the intensity of the relationship for time and work hours (r = 0.546) and the quality of information (r = 0.537) variables were higher than the other components.

Q2: What are the most important external factors affecting adolescents' and youth's unwillingness towards the services of public libraries?

The results of Table 4 show that from the viewpoint of respondents, except security barriers (mean = 2.67), other external factors are higher than mean considering unwillingness towards public library services. So, the cultural barriers (mean = 3.94) and the educational institution performance barriers (mean=3.56)are highest and security barriers (mean = 2.67) had the least effect on adolescents' unwillingness towards public library services, respectively.

The results of Table 5 show that, except for the security barriers, for other factors, t is greater than the table t at ([alpha] = 0.05) and the calculated mean difference and the theoretical mean is significant. Therefore, it can be deduced that with 95% confidence, except for the security component, other external factors influence the adolescents' unwillingness towards public library services.

The results of Pearson correlation coefficient show that there is a correlation between external organizational factors and unwillingness towards library.

The results of Pearson correlation coefficient in Table 6 show that expect of security barriers, there is a positive and significant correlation between external factors and adolescents and youth unwillingness towards public library services. These results indicate that increasing restrictions and barriers related to external factors will increase adolescents and youth unwillingness towards the services of public libraries. In addition, the intensity of the relationship for cultural barriers (r = 554) is more than other components, and it is not meaningful for security barriers.

Conclusion

Public libraries are established to provide equal access to information for different groups of society, beyond ethnic, racial and linguistic constraints, and to deepen education and hobbies. On the one hand, because of the nature of the service and the immediate relationship with the users, and the challenge of continuing their lives, they need to use different strategies for attracting the audience; on the other hand, since they use public funds, they are subject to judgment by others, like any other public institution. During the last decade, these libraries have faced new challenges with development of information and communication technology infrastructures, growth of other information channels and different information and communication media such as the Internet, digital media, and virtual networks, some of which are rooted in the slowness of adaptation to new dynamic conditions, and some of that are rooted in the functional barriers of libraries that have been created because of the existence and physical presence of library as an entity. Therefore, there are various barriers to public libraries to achieve ideal goals. By studying and reviewing the previous researches, totally thirteen factors in two categories that were specified as internal and external factors were found and examined. The results showed that in general, all factors were somewhat marked as barriers for adolescents and youth, but the time and work hours of libraries, the quality of information, and spatial constraints were the most important internal barriers in the organization respectively; and cultural barriers and educational institution performance barriers were the most important external barriers. Moreover, the result of hypothesis testing of the research also revealed that there is a meaningful relationship between the components of both the internal and external organization factors (except security barriers) with adolescents' and youth's unwillingness towards the services of public libraries. In terms of comparing the results, it can be concluded that the findings of this study have some overlaps with some part of the results of the studies conducted by Moarefzadeh and Iraji (2010), Motameni, Hemmati, and Moradi (2011) and Salahshury (2013), Fahimifar, and FarzinYazdi (2014) among Iranian studies and Deafveri (2005), Swierk (2005), Oladokun and Aina (2009), Abusin, Zainab and Abdul Karim (2011), Joy and Idowu (2014), Kaeding (2015), and Joanna Sin and Kwon (2017).

Therefore, based on the findings, it can be expressed that what public libraries present in the form of services and information as a result of their outcomes are still unable to attract a large part of the potential library community, and only a low percentage of the community of teenagers and youth is a member of the public libraries. Therefore, in this regard, it is essential to provide necessary education, especially considering dimensions of interpersonal communication skills, as well as specialized education for human resources (librarian and others) working in public libraries, and we should take effective steps to empower them. Another point is that a large part of the factors affecting the unwillingness towards public library services are the factors beyond the control of the managers of public libraries, and this issue requires the attention of policy makers to the community so that teens and youth be attracted to use public libraries. Therefore, it is suggested that:

--Due to the wide range of public libraries' audiences, specialized training should be held continuously for librarians.

--Public library services require more attention in terms of numbers and diversity. In particular, with the development of the use of information and communication technology and the fact that the majority of adolescents and a large proportion of indigenous youth are digital, it is necessary to consider providing information services through utilizing technological tools.

--Given that cultural barriers were also among the findings of the study, the services and resources of public libraries and their value and originality should be identified for society.

--Considering the group of the studied community which is often the audience and the community of educational and research institutions, it is necessary to consider the necessary methods for linking the institutions to the functions of educational, research, and public libraries, and instead of having a limited look, all of these cultural institutions should be equally treated in terms of social goals and missions.

--We should reconsider the location of the building of public libraries. Occasionally, the location of public libraries creates various cultural and security challenges for audiences.

--Considering the scope of the library audience, it is vital to consider the necessary facilities and equipment for the various groups of users.

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Khadijeh Kalhori (1)

Mohammad Reza Farhadpoor (2)([dagger])

(1) Student of Information Management, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran (Email: [email protected]).

(2) Department of Information Management, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran (([dagger]) Corresponding Author. Email: [email protected]).

Table 1. Descriptive statistics related to internal factors

Variables                   N       Mean     Std. Deviation

Human resources            384      3.8           1.18
Time and work hour         384      3.8           1.05
Spatial constraint         384      3.5           1.03
Service quality            384      3.3           1.06
Managerial constraint      384      3.3           1.04
Information quality        384      3.5           1.13
Equipment                  384      3.2           1.14

Table 2. Results of One-sample t-test for internal factors

                          Test Value = 3

Variables                 t-value    df    Sig.       Mean
                                                   difference

Human resources             4.2     38 3   0.001     0.725
Time and work hour          3.9     38 3   0.000     0.602
Spatial constraint          3.5     38 3   0.001     0.396
Service quality             3.3     38 3   0.000     0.435
Managerial constraint       3.1     38 3   0.002     0.718
Information quality         3.5     38 3   0.000     0.345
Equipment                   3.4     38 3   0.000     0.276

                                Test Value = 3

Variables                    Confidence value 95%

                          Lower value   Upper value

Human resources              0.225         0.611
Time and work hour           0.212         0.598
Spatial constraint           0.336         0.882
Service quality              0.316         0.861
Managerial constraint        0.221         0.615
Information quality          0.311         0.612
Equipment                    0.336         0.618

Tables 3. Results of the correlation between internal factors and
unwillingness towards the Library services

     Variable                  Unwillingness towards the
                               public library services

                           N     Correlation rate (r)   Sig.

Human resources           384           0.436           0.000
Time and work hour        384           0.546           0.000
Spatial constraint        384           0.516           0.000
Service quality           384           0.417           0.000
Managerial constraint     384           0.412           0.000
Information quality       384           0.537           0.000
Equipment                 384           0.515           0.000

Table 4. Descriptive statistics related to internal factors

           Variables                N     Mean     Std. deviation

Socio-economic                     384    3.43          1.04

Individual barriers                384    3.39          1.18

Security barriers                  384    2.67          1.15

Cultural barriers                  384    3.94          1.08

Educational institutions'          384    3.56          1.15
performance barriers

Research institutions'             384    3.43          1.12
performance barriers

Table 5. One-sample t-test results for external factors

                                          Test value = 3

        Variables           t-value    df      Sig.        Mean
                                                        difference

Socio-economic               3.47      383     0.000      0.412

Individual barriers          0.431     383     0.00       0.416

Security barriers            3.06      383     0.211      0.256

Cultural barriers            3.64      383     0.000      0.509

Educational institutions'    4.26      383     0.000      0.528
performance barriers

Research institutions'       3.33      383     0.000      0.363
performance barriers

                                 Test value = 3

        Variables             Confidence value 95%

                            Lower value   Upper value

Socio-economic                 0.228         0.656

Individual barriers            0.216         0.611

Security barriers              0.317         0.776

Cultural barriers              0.336         0.882

Educational institutions'      0.298         0.764
performance barriers

Research institutions'         0.312         0.745
performance barriers

Table 6. Results of the correlation between external factors and
unwillingness towards library services

                                    Unwillingness towards
                                   public library sources

        Variables            N     Correlation rate (r)   Sig.

Socio-economic              384           0.389           0.000

Individual barriers         384           0.481           0.000

Security barriers           384           0.212           0.061

Cultural barriers           384           0.554           0.000

Educational institutions'   384           0.543           0.002
performance barriers

Research institutions'      384           0.456           0.003
performance barriers