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Dissertation Information for Betsy Bowers Aldridge

NAME:
- Betsy Bowers Aldridge

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Texas Woman's University (USA) (1992)

ADVISORS:
- Frank L. Turner

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Bernard Schlessinger
- Adeline Wood Wilkes
- Brooke E. Sheldon
- Marie Marchall Fuller

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The creativity of selected library directors at private liberal arts colleges in the United States

Abstract: A need was discovered for the

investigation of creativity of library

directors, particularly those within

the context of the selective private

liberal arts college setting. The

study focused on the library manager

as a creative individual rather than

on the organizational structure. The

relationship between creativity and

various personal and professional

characteristics (demographics,

interests, journal readings,

association memberships, career

history) was considered and

comparisons made between the

creativity of library directors and

other types of managers.

The library directors of all private

colleges within the Carnegie

classification Liberal Arts I category

were sent packets containing the Cree

Questionnaire (a 142-item instrument

validated for measuring creative

potential in upper managers) and the

Personal/Professional Characteristics

(PPC) survey (an instrument

independently developed by the author

of this study based in findings in the

Cree Questionnaire responses were

manually scored and entered into the

SYSTAT statistical software package

for analysis PPC surveys are analyzed

and 58 categories of data were

calculated and entered into SYSTAT.

Independent t-tests, analysis of

variance, Pearson product corelational

analysis and stepwise regression

analysis were the statistical

procedures used to present descriptive

statistics on overall creativity, 10

creativity dimensions, personal and

professional characteristics, to

consider relationships between overall

creativity and personal/professional

characteristics, and to compare

creativity scores with norms and

findings for male and female managers

in non-library settings. The cases

with overall creativity scores in the

top quartile were reviewed for a

profile of "high creatives," in terms

of age, gender, geographic location,

degree and majors, association

memberships, hobbies, and past

positions.

The highest scores of the total group

of library directors of private

selective liberal arts colleges in the

creativity dimensions were in artistic

interest and autonomy, with male

directors scoring significantly

stronger on ideational spontaneity

than other managers and females

significantly higher on autonomy than

the executive norm. Male library

directors were significantly lower on

the independence dimension than other

managers and females were

significantly lower on the pressure

dimension. Other significant positive

relationship were found, notably

between creativity and number of

academic library positions held,

number of library association

memberships, number of library

professional journals read, number of

years in middle management positions.

Noteworthy negative relationships were

found between creativity and number of

non-library positions held and

creativity and number of special

library positions held.

Ethnic group membership and childhood

language was not diversified enough to

study here. No significant difference

was found for the age variable. More

study is needed on the creativity of

library directors; investigating the

causes of strength and weaknesses and

ways to improve the weakness and share

knowledge about the strengths. The

relationship of creativity to

publication rate, non-academic library

positions (especially special library

positions), technical versus public

service experience, ethnic group,

childhood language, and gender are

food for further thought and study.

Further consideration needs to be

given to whether the Cree

Questionnaire and other creativity

instruments are valid in the library

domain and possible other measures

created specifically for the library

domain. Correlating creativity scores

to actual creative behavior,

performance, management styles,

organizational structure, and climate

of the library and parent institutions

could be fruitful. The relationship of

creativity to other personality

factors and social phenomenon could

shed further light on this pioneering

branch of study within the library

field.

MPACT Scores for Betsy Bowers Aldridge

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:12:41

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