Dissertation Information for Delmus Eugene Williams NAME: - Delmus Eugene Williams
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (USA) (1985)
ADVISORS: - Edward G. Holley
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - David Dorsch Dill - Lester E. Asheim - Robert N. Broadus - George Wentworth Noblit
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: THE IMPACT OF ACCREDITATION BY THE SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION ON THE PROCESS OF CHANGE IN TWO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine how evaluation processes relating to accreditation influence change in academic libraries. It used a model combining elements of the planned change model developed by Ronald Havelock and of political decision-making models developed by J. Victor Baldridge and Jeffrey Raffel with a self-study model outlined by H. R. Kells. The resulting paradigm was then compared to procedures used in the reaccreditation of two universities to see how closely it paralleled actual evaluations and to determine the impact of the process.
The libraries chosen for the study were those of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. They were selected because these two institutions had little fear of losing their accreditation and because their libraries underwent substantial changes in the period surrounding reaccreditation and in the years following.
The study found that a politically sensitive accreditation process using the techniques of organizational development did contribute in a meaningful way to changes that took place in these libraries. It was found that the interest of the administrators in the process and their perception of the need for change; the degree to which the process was designed for internal use; the openness of administration to suggestions for change; the degree to which the process was designed for internal use; the openness of administration to suggestions for change; the degree to which there was broad participation in the process; and the relationship of the problems addressed in the process to the primary mission of the university influenced how useful this evaluation process was in providing information for decision-making in these libraries. It was also noted that there was limited understanding of the role the Southern Association expected accreditation to play in the change process. In both cases, the reports that were generated in the process were later cited to support the need for changes in the library program.
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