فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

BACKGROUND: The best mechanisms for medical librarians to be more involved in health, especiallyduring crisis condition, and to expand their roles are using experiences of other individuals andperforming new activities. This study aimed to identify the roles of medical librarians in the COVID‑19crisis in Iran.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research was done by a qualitative content analysis method.Research participants in the first phase included whole scientific papers (19 documents) which hadbeen published by medical librarians related to the COVID‑19 issue and in the second phase 10medical librarians involved in the COVID‑19 who were interviewed and continued until data saturation.Data were collected through each interview, and data analysis was performed using content analysismethod. Then, obtained information of the first and second phases was merged together, and codes,subcategories as well as main categories were formed.RESULTS: According to the results, 7 main categories and 24 subcategories regarding the rolesof librarians in COVID‑19 crisis were identified. The main categories include hygiene  servicespromotion, development of health information‑seeking skills, health research services, interaction‑leveldevelopment, evidence‑based policy development, information dissemination services promotion, andmanagement services development. Furthermore, regarding barriers to the role of medical librariansin the COVID‑19 crisis in Iran, four subcategories were identified that are medical librarian‑relatedbarriers, organization‑related barriers, profession‑related barriers, and context of society (countryconditions)‑related barriers.CONCLUSION: Medical librarians relatively have been able to provide effective health informationservices to managers, health‑care specialists, and the general public in a variety of health fields.