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Dissertation Information for Frank William Goudy

NAME:
- Frank William Goudy

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

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

ADVISORS:
- Bruce Bennion

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Roger Greer
- William O. Stanley

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FISCAL IMPACT OF GENERAL REVENUE SHARING FUNDS ON PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Abstract: This dissertation had as its purpose to focus on two objectives. The first objective was to determine the allocation of general revenue sharing funds to public libraries during the fiscal years from 1973 through 1977. The second objective was to estimate the net fiscal impact of these funds on the collective library budgets of the country.

Through contacts with the Office of Revenue Sharing and the Bureau of the Census, the necessary Actual Use Data tapes were secured and the needed data obtained through the use of COBOL programming. This effort led to the accomplishment of the first objective. In order to meet the second objective, a linear regression prediction model was used. The application of this model yielded certain judgments regarding the extent to which general revenue sharing funds supplanted traditional local, state, and federal revenues and the degree to which the legislation provided additional dollars to finance library programs, services, and capital projects.

This research resulted in conclusions that were at variance with early concerns in the library field that general revenue sharing would provide little meaningful impact upon the financial development of libraries. The $374.55 million in general revenue sharing allocated to libraries during the first five years of the legislation attest to the fact that libraries were able to secure a significant amount of funding. And although libraries received only 1.24 percent of the total appropriations available, this amount accounted for 6.8 percent of the aggregate library expenditures in the country. During this same five year period, general revenue sharing allocations to libraries exceeded LSCA appropriations by nearly $170 million.

Similarly, fears that general revenue sharing would be directed primarily toward capital projects at the expense of needed programs and services seem not to have survived a more careful examination of the actual data. Only $133.61 million, or 36 percent, were disbursed for capital outlays.

This dissertation concluded that general revenue sharing funds supplanted at least a portion of the traditional sources from which libraries normally receive their financial support. The linear regression prediction model used in this research estimated that approximately 35 percent of the funding was substitutive and that 65 percent, or $244 million, provided addditional fiscal assistance for the nation's public libraries. Furthermore, as the five years under consideration progressed, general revenue sharing made a more positive fiscal impact and was decreasingly used as a substitute for other government revenues.

MPACT Scores for Frank William Goudy

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calculated 2008-06-15 16:28:24

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