Collaboration and document exchange among librarians in virtual communities: A case study of LIS Group

Abstract

This paper investigates collaborations and document sharing activities among Iranian librarians over a nation-wide email forum known as LIS Group. The emails sent in 2016 were searched for traces of interlibrary loan, document delivery and knowledge sharing that resulted in 1038 emails. The sample was transferred to Excel where other features were extracted. The emails were categorized and their contents and attachments were labelled. Results showed that the female librarians participated more than male members in both request and response emails. Slightly more than half (54.1%) of emails contained personal requests and 41.1% demanded data or documents for library users. Journal and conference papers were in high demanded and 62% of provided documents were in English. No significant statistical difference was observed between the request and response emails. It is concluded that email groups provide a platform for knowledge sharing and document exchange among librarians especially in countries with poor formal interlibrary cooperative programs such as Iran. Professional ties can grow among information and library practitioners through participation in virtual communities.