Login

Publications  •  Project Statistics

Glossary  •  Schools  •  Disciplines
People Search: 
   
Title/Abstract Search: 

Dissertation Information for Ralph Blasingame

NAME:
- Ralph Blasingame
- (Alias) Ralph Upshaw Blasingame

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Columbia University (USA) (1973)

ADVISORS:
- None

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Ambiguous

Title: THE PUBLIC LIBRARY AS AN URBAN PHENOMENON

Abstract: The position is taken that the American public library as distinguished from the earlier social libraries, was a product of the urban-industrial society of the seocnd half of the 19th Century. During that period the process of urbanization manifested itself in the evolution of the city as the locus of a new culture. The public library which emerges in that culture became a prototype with discernable characteristics; for example, it was a local rather than a state agency, governed by an elite board, bureaucractic in form, and monocratic in administrative style. This prototype strongly influenced the devlopment of public libraries thereafter, large and small; it also provided a basis for development of the profession of librarianship and training for entrance into the profession. The characteristics of the prototype library were checked through interviews with librarians, members of boards of trustees, and other persons in positions of responsibility, and it is asserted that they still hold, despite major changes in the urban process through which the city has lost its dominant position socially and culturally.

Some policy options for city public libraries are suggested under the headings of administrative improvement, goal clarification and increased adaptiveness.

MPACT Scores for Ralph Blasingame

A = 24
C = 17
A+C = 41
T = 70
G = 4
W = 39
TD = 45.125
TA = 9
calculated 2008-01-31 06:08:50

Advisors and Advisees Graph