Dissertation Information for Delores Phillips NAME: - Delores Phillips
- (Alias) Delores Joan Lavoie Phillips
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- University of Toronto (Canada) (1980)
ADVISORS: - Olga Bernice Bishop
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Katherine Helen Packer - Brian Land - W. E. Grasham
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: FACTORS IN THE ACCESSIBILITY OF GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS: A STUDY BASED ON LAND USE PLANNING PUBLICATIONS FOR THE CITY OF TORONTO
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to establish what factors are involved in the bibliographic, physical and intellectual accessibility of government publications and to assess their relative importance in facilitating or limiting access. Government publications relating to land use planning for the city of Toronto, Ontario, were selected for study, because there is a substantial amount of publication on this topic by both provincial and municipal government agencies so that comparisons could be made between the varying methods of bibliographic control and distribution at the two levels, and because it is largely a local responsibility and there has been little research to date on municipal government publications.
Methodology was to identify documents published, commissioned and/or distributed by provincial and municipal government agencies with land use planning responsibilities affecting Toronto. Factors suggested by the literature were used to construct descriptions of the documents and to test hypotheses.
There were 677 publications in the study, nearly 85% of which were from the municipal level of government. Information was compiled and summarized on the government level and agency responsible for each document, year of publication, number of pages, bibliographic form, subject, category, intended user group, bibliographic coverage, availability in print and microfiche, price, deposit status, distribution sources, location of reference copies, limits or restrictions on distribution, publication in languages other than English, links between publications, and inclusion of tables of contents and indexes.
Chi-square tests of the significance of relationships between variables, t-tests for differences in means, and the Pearson product-moment correlation were used in testing hypotheses. Results indicated that bibliographic coverage of provincial publications was significantly higher than that of municipal publications, that a higher proportion of provincial publications was available for distribution than of municipal publications, and that publications from the provincial government had significantly more tables of contents. A higher proportion of municipal publications than of provincial publications was available for reference use. The provincial deposit system was not a significant factor in providing libraries with out-of-print publications, but did contribute significantly to total provincial publications available to libraries. There was a significant relationship between price and length of documents. Lack of bibliographic coverage was the most limiting factor in access to this group of government publications, which achieved only approximately one-third of their potential coverage. Next most limiting was availability of copies for distribution, with just over half the publications available in print or microfiche. Availability of reference copies was the least limiting, with publications in an average of more than three-quarters of the locations considered for the study.
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MPACT Scores for Delores Phillips A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-06-30 20:38:00
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