الملخص الإنجليزي
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of Academic libraries in
supporting institutional accreditation in terms of determining the reality of meeting
the standards of Oman Academic Accreditation Authority in academic libraries from
employee's perspective. In addition, this study aims to identify challenges that
affect the role of libraries in supporting institutional accreditation.
This study relied on qualitative approach in data collection by adapting
soft system methodology in accordance to the four-stage model. The study was
based on in-depth interviews as a tool for data collection. The researcher
conducted 10 interviews with different management levels like managers, their
deputies, heads of departments, sections, and centers. The interviews conducted
in five university libraries, as follows: Library of Sultan Qaboos University, Library
of Sohar University, Library of College of Applied Sciences of Nizwa, Library of
College of Banking and Financial Studies and Library of Al-Musanah College of
Technology.
The overall results of this study indicated that there is a variation
between the Academic libraries of this study which arose in meeting the standards
of the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority. The results also showed that there
are many challenges faced by Academic libraries that affect their ability to meet the
standards of the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority, whether they are
administrative, human, financial and lack of information resources challenges.
The study recommended the necessity of promoting employees
awareness and conducting more workshops and training courses in the field of
quality assurance and accreditation. The study also recommended the need to
encourage collaboration, cooperation and communication between the Omani
libraries in order to benefit from expertise in various practices and activities.
Furthermore, the study recommended the necessity of developing library services,
ensuring their administrative independence and raising financial support, so that
libraries can meet the quality and accreditation requirements.
