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Dissertation Information for Shahla Bahavar

NAME:
- Shahla Bahavar

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Southern California (USA) (1983)

ADVISORS:
- Jeanne M. Nolan

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Edward Kazlauskas
- Frederick Knirk

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: AN ANALYSIS OF THE INFORMATION TRANSFER PROCESS AMONG INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY FACULTY MEMBERS WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR LIBRARY SYSTEMS AND SERVICES DESIGN

Abstract: Purpose. The purpose was to analyze the information needs of faculty members in instructional technology with respect to their specific roles and to examine the strategies of obtaining the needed information, with implications for the design of an information delivery system to serve the needs of instructional technology professionals.

Major Hypotheses. (1) Instructional technologists with similar roles would have similar patterns of information needs; (2) instructional technologists with similar roles would have similar information seeking behavior.

Methodology. Using a questionnaire, 196 faculty members from 35 instructional technology schools offering doctoral programs, UCIDT Consortium, were surveyed. Responses were grouped by the role activity, then analyzed by using a pre-set matrix.

Results. All hypotheses were supported by the appropriate percentages representing the number of faculty members' demand for information which were over 50%. Therefore, the results supported the hypothesis that instructional technologists with similar role activities would have similar patterns of information needs. The same results were presented for faculty members' information-seeking patterns. In general, they consulted information sources directly and used the services of student assistants and departmental secretaries if possible. They relied on their personal library collections and obtained over 60% of the information from published sources. Among informal sources, discussions, meetings and telephone conversations were very common. Over 76% of the faculty members desired a computer-based library system with terminals located next to their desks and access to the data bases from both office and home.

Conclusion. The information needs of instructional technology faculty members in all categories of role activities were related to the level of role activity. The information-seeking patterns were related to the level of role activity as well, and the hypotheses of the study were supported.

Recommendations For Further Study. (1) A study of information transfer process in the education discipline is indicated. (2) Such studies should be conducted in other fields of social science. (3) Exploration of faculty information use is recommended. (4) Examination of the student's information needs in university-related libraries might be valuable. (5) A study of the effects of an ideal library on present university-related libraries is proposed.

MPACT Scores for Shahla Bahavar

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-07-20 15:06:01

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