English abstract
This study seeks to identify the extent of how information specialist in public libraries are aware of pillars of digital citizenship
represented in three pillars (Respect-Educate-Protect). The study also aims to identifying the nature of activities and services provided by public libraries to promote the digital citizenship in addition to revealing the most important challenges encountered by the public libraries in promoting the digital citizenship. To achieve the study objective, the
researcher has adopted the mixed methods approach, combining the qualitative and quantitative data. The quantitative data have been collected using the questionnaire instrument represented in all workers in public libraries. The study sample was selected from the Grand Mosque Library, the General Knowledge Library, the Children's Library and the Hisn A'Shumookh Library. The number of recovered questionnaires was (32) out of (37) with a percentage (86%). The quantitative data has been collected through making semi-structured interviews with heads of libraries, or their representatives. The study concluded several results, the most important of which are as follows: there is a high level of awareness of digital citizenship among the workers of public libraries in the Sultanate of Oman with a mean of (2.72). The study has also showed that the pillar of digital
behavior commitment has the highest degree of awareness among workers in public libraries, while the pillars of rights and digital responsibilities have the least degree of awareness among workers in public libraries. The study results have also indicated the weak role played by public libraries in promoting the pillars of digital citizenship, despite the high level of awareness of these pillars among those workers in these libraries. Furthermore, the study results have revealed
a number of challenges limiting the promotion of the digital citizenship pillars among the beneficiaries and their workers. These challenges are low budget, lack of qualified human, and technical/administrative challenges.
The study presented a set of recommendations based on its results. The main recommendation is to develop a unified national plan to to teach digital citizenship in schools and universities across thw country. This will br achieved through intrgratiing the princiole of digital citizenship in the curricula for all levels. Along with Activating the role of public libraries in raising awareness of digital citizenship in the community which can be achived through a number of workshops and lectures provided by information specialists and supported by those specialists interested in digital citizenship.
