Dissertation Information for Phyllis Dain NAME: - Phyllis Dain
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Columbia University (USA) (1966)
ADVISORS: - None COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - None
MPACT Status: Incomplete - Ambiguous
Title: THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY: A HISTORY OF ITS FOUNDING AND EARLY YEARS
Abstract: The New York Public Library, one of the world's great libraries, owes much of its character to the events and personalities prominent in its founding years and during the administration of its first Director, Dr. John Snaw Billings. It was then that the lines of Broad policy and physical and bibliothecal development were worked out and the organization of the library determined.
The library, a private corporation having contractual relations with the City of New York, was the product of the amalgamation first of the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden foundations in 1895 (the basis for the Reference Department) and then of various free circulating libraries in 1901-1904 (the origin of the Circulation Department). This process, occurring in a populous city long needing subtantial, unified public library service, had far-reaching effects on the New York Public Library's resources, financial support, organization, pOlicies, services, and relations with the City of New York. In these early years, too, through Andrew Carnegie's gift of branch buildings, the distribution and physical form of many branches were determined. It was also then decided to confine the New York Public Library's circulating branch system, the Circulation Department, to Manhattan, the
Bronx, and Richmond: the other two boroughs of New York City, Brooklyn and Queens, had separate systems. In all of these various matters, the Public Library's astute and influential board of trustees, together with Billings (after 1896), played an important role.
This Study describes and analyzes in detail the origins, founding, and early development of the New York Public Library, both Reference and Circulation Departments, and including extensive discussion of the consolidation movements. Tne time covered is mainly from the early 1890's to Billings' death in 1913: for some topics the treatrment projects beyond.
Major focus is on the basic character of the New York Public Library, that is, its significant policies and practices, as determined by tradition and social and political conditions and decided by the trustees, the Director, and the chiefs of the two departments. Specific administrative policies, staffing, financing, development of the collections, readers services, and technical services
are considered. The qualities of the board of trustees and their manner of functioning, a modern one, are analyzed, as are Billings' contributions to the library. Decision-making among the trustees is described, with special regard to relations with the municipal government. Detailed attention is given to the central building, planned in 1897 and opened in 1911: it was important as an expression of the nature of the library and its relations with the City and of functional planning by Billings at a time when both function and the librarian were often ignored in library architecture. Public opinion, principally as expressed by the press, is examined, particularly in regard to the consolidations, the central building, and the Carnegie gift. The evolution of the library is viewed within the context of the social and political history of New York as well as the history of its libraries and American libraries in general.
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MPACT Scores for Phyllis Dain A = 18
C = 15
A+C = 33
T = 29
G = 2
W = 18
TD = 23.5
TA = 2
calculated 2008-07-25 19:08:56
Advisors and Advisees Graph
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