Dissertation Information for Dorothy Bendix NAME: - Dorothy Bendix
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Columbia University (USA) (1965)
ADVISORS: - Maurice Tauber
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Alice Bryan - John M. Cory - Oliver L. Lilley
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Labor unions and Public Library Service
Abstract: The purpose of the study was, to explore the use which labor unions make of educational and informational resources with emphasis on public library group and reference services. The investigation was conducted in the six New Jersey cities with a population of 100,000 or over. The labor union sample included 114 organizations and 119 individual respondents, all officers and staff members.
The union data were gathered mainly by interviews and questionnaires, the library data mainly by interviews. The Guide for Developing a Public Library Service to labor Groups published by the American Library Association was used as a checklist of holdings of the six libraries in the labor field.
The majior hypothesis, advanced in explanation of the low ranking of labor groups as recipients of public library group services was stated as follows: "Labor unions are generally less articulate in requesting public library services than are other community groups. This hypothesis was supported by evidence which indicated that the libraries provided group services in response to a specific request, and that they received frequent requests from such groups as parents' organizations, women's clubs, and church groups, but rarely any requests from labor unions. On the other hand, the anonymous use of public, library information and reference service by the labor respondents was found to be
substantially larger than that estimated by library staff members. This means that the low ranking of labor unions as recipients of public library group services does not extend to reference services. Adequacy of library resources measured by per capita financial support, book stock,volumes added per year, and holdings of labor material--was only one of the factors influencing the use of the Libraries as a source of information for union purposes. Other factors were special communication with labor groups and general library publicity, and the
motivation of the labor respondents. Almost one half of the labor respondents used eucational films, and 88 per cent of the film users expressed an interest in public
library film services. In order to meet these needs, the author recommends that public libraries with film collections consider the interests of labor groups in their film acquisition program; direct social publicity efforts at labor unions; and consider providing projection equipment as part of their educational film service.
The need for improved communication between public libraries and labor unions emerged as another important finding. Personal contacts of librarians with union officers and staff members and specialized publicity efforts are recommended.
Suggestions for further research included: a study of the use of public library information services by various community groups through interviews and questionnaires administered to representative group members; a comparison of the effectiveness of two patterns of organization in providing library service to labor groups: a combination business and labor service, and a separate service for busines and labor groups; an intensive investigation of the publicity and public relations effort of a library with adequate materials and staff resources including content analysis of all newspaper publicity, - comparison of general and
specialized publicity, and comparison of the response of different community groups; a study of the relative influence of library administrators, board members, and staff members on the formulation of a library's service program,- particularly as it relates to the allocation of time and effort on the extension of library service to non-users and the order in which various non-user groups are approached; an exploration of the reasons why library service to labor groups has become institutionalized in some libraries, but has been shortlived in others.
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MPACT Scores for Dorothy Bendix A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:01:35
Advisors and Advisees Graph
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