The project of “Iran Public Libraries Standards” was concluded between Iran Public Libraries Foundation (IPLF) and ILISA on Sep. 24, 2017. In this project, seven standards including programs, information services, customers’ services, marketing, public relations and working time of Iranian public libraries were compiled and offered. One of important feature of this standards collection is the maximal usage of both internal and external capacities of standard developing of Iran. To set down these standards, information of more than 11000 library spaces (under management of various organizations such as mosques’ cultural centers, cultural-artistic organization of Municipalities, Astan-e Qods-e Razavi and Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults were collected and more than 200 references including national and international standards from across the world and country’s laws and high-level documents, as a research and legal backbone for compiling standards, were studied, examined and used. Likewise, more than 120 librarians working in public libraries, university professor and experts, in the framework of technical and national commissions, were polled and consulted about each standard. Also, representatives from the Iranian National Standards Organization (ISIRI) helped to set down this standard.
On February 2018, Iranian Public Libraries’ Standard Plan was introduced to the IFLA’S International Advocacy Program (IAP) through a letter to IFLA and was rectified by IFLA as one of national programs to promote socio-cultural development purposes and it is being dealt with through coordination with the international experts of public and standard libraries. It is necessary to note that, IAP is part of the IFLA strategic plan whose purpose is connecting libraries to each other and providing public access to information about development of countries.
According to goals and guidelines of this program, the national projects need to realize capability and capacity of libraries towards the society’s development through planning and setting certain goals. In the Iran National Project, it is tried that the goal and purpose of IFLA IAP would be realized through considering the development goals in the standardizing approaches of libraries, their plans and services.
