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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.

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

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Students under Dorothy Bendix

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None