National Library and Archives of Islamic Republic of Iran Librarianship and Information Organization Studies 2783-4646 25 3 2014 12 06 Evaluating Digital Libraries in Iranian Research Institutes: Checking against DigiQUAL Protocol Evaluating Digital Libraries in Iranian Research Institutes: Checking against DigiQUAL Protocol 25 43 2 FA Hamid Amanollahi-Nick MLIS, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan Mehdi Alipour-Hafezi Assistant Professor, Knowledge and Information Science, Iranian Research Institute for Science and Technology 0000-0002-3113-9887 Darush Matlabi Assistant Professor, Knowledge and Information Science, Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e-Rey 0000-0002-2503-6558 Journal Article 2013 02 02 Purpose: Eight digital libraries are checked against eleven criteria of quality (i.e. design, availability, search capabilities, review, sharing, collaboration, structure of organization, security and access control, copyright, organization of resources, sustainable development and stability of digital library, digital library as community for users, programmer and critics). Data was collected by a checklist designed in compliance with digiQUAL protocol. <br />Findings: All scored lower than 60 (out of 100) points. None of them provide users with in-time transaction for communication and support. Because users do not observe the rules of intellectual property, publishers of scholarly journals in Iran are not interested in providing digital versions of their products. This forces digital libraries to rely on online database services in order to satisfy users' needs. As such, they are not able to offer access to Persian language resources. With regard to resources, these libraries perform far below the international standards. <br />Results: Digital libraries of the Iranian research institutes with regard to the sources provide are very much behind DigiQual standards. Purpose: Eight digital libraries are checked against eleven criteria of quality (i.e. design, availability, search capabilities, review, sharing, collaboration, structure of organization, security and access control, copyright, organization of resources, sustainable development and stability of digital library, digital library as community for users, programmer and critics). Data was collected by a checklist designed in compliance with digiQUAL protocol. <br />Findings: All scored lower than 60 (out of 100) points. None of them provide users with in-time transaction for communication and support. Because users do not observe the rules of intellectual property, publishers of scholarly journals in Iran are not interested in providing digital versions of their products. This forces digital libraries to rely on online database services in order to satisfy users' needs. As such, they are not able to offer access to Persian language resources. With regard to resources, these libraries perform far below the international standards. <br />Results: Digital libraries of the Iranian research institutes with regard to the sources provide are very much behind DigiQual standards. https://nastinfo.nlai.ir/article_2_e6fdc1734d85d7f327cf19006aa9cde3.pdf