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Dissertation Information for Lowell Russell Duhrsen

NAME:
- Lowell Russell Duhrsen

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Southern California (USA) (1981)

ADVISORS:
- Bruce Bennion

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Dennis Thomison
- Edward Kazlauskas

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: USE OF THE NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO

Abstract: This dissertation examined why and which senior students at the two high schools in Las Cruces, New Mexico, utilized the library at New Mexico State University. Areas examined included student academic achievement, ethnic representation, academic expectations, academic heritage, differences between the two high schools in use of the NMSU library, and how the high school students knew of their opportunity to use the NMSU library.

The methodology employed in this study was a questionnaire procedure that was administered to a sample that included approximately 100 students who were known users of the NMSU library and 200 nonuser students equally divided between the two high schools.

The questionnaire asked about ethnic background, parental higher education achievement, the student's higher education plans, extent and nature of the use of the NMSU library and the student's grade-point-average and Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills score.

Four statistical techniques were employed to test the data and reveal a correlation or a relationship between the questionnaire items. These were: phi coefficient, chi-square, point-biserial correlation coefficient, and simple percentage.

Conclusions were that the users of the NMSU library were academically motivated, that there was a difference between the two high schools in the manner in which the students at each high school were informed about the services available to them at the NMSU library, and that academic heritage did not appear to influence student usage of the library. Also, academic expectations were higher among users and use of the library by minorities was lower than that of Anglos but was still higher than would be expected given the general population characteristics of the community of Las Cruces.

Recommendations included establishing closer coordination between the public schools and the university in the use of the library facilities and collections, further research on how the high school student uses the NMSU library, and an investigation into the reasons for the limited success that high school students have in using the NMSU library.

MPACT Scores for Lowell Russell Duhrsen

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-06-27 21:02:07

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