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Dissertation Information for Jacqueline Jane Caldwell McCrady

NAME:
- Jacqueline Jane Caldwell McCrady

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Southern California (USA) (1986)

ADVISORS:
- Roger Greer

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Mel Collins
- Michael David Bullis

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: PROFESSIONAL STATUS AND LIBRARIANSHIP: A STUDY OF THE PROFESSIONS AND THE PROCESS OF SOCIAL EXCHANGE

Abstract: The objectives of the study were twofold: (1) to test the usefulness of social exchange theory when applied to the relationship between the professions and society, and (2) to study in depth this relationship for librarianship and the public it serves. It was hoped study findings would provide a better understanding and tentative explanations of librarians' lack of full professional status. A correlation study of relationships was conducted on data gathered by telephone survey from 207 randomly selected members of the general public. The survey instrument, developed specifically for the present study, contained items to test the strength of relationship between the variables of necessity of the service offered to the public by an occupational group and the amount of professional status the public is willing to exchange with the group for access to the service. To further examine this relationship, three occupational groups, teachers, doctors, and barbers/beauticians, were used as comparison groups with librarians in a correlational study.

Results. The tendency of the magnitude of correlation for the major variables indicated the usefulness of social exchange theory to explain the professional-public relationship. The findings for librarians in comparison to the other three occupational groups indicated doctors and teachers with correlations of nearly equal strength, librarians with significant, but slight correlation, and barbers/beauticians with almost no correlation on the major variables. It was also found that while the survey population recognized the knowledge base and areas of professional service of librarians, it did not consider the service offered to be necessary enough to exchange full professional status to this group. Further, the survey population indicated a lack of knowledge concerning the aspects of status for the conditions of professional practice of librarians in terms of income and autonomy. The impact of the demographic characteristic of educational attainment on survey findings was indicated, with the survey population having a total of 45% of its members with four years or more of college education.

MPACT Scores for Jacqueline Jane Caldwell McCrady

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-07-25 19:24:35

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