Dissertation Information for Patricia G. Reeling NAME: - Patricia G. Reeling
- (Alias) Patricia Ann Reeling - (Alias) Patricia Reeling
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Columbia University (USA) (1969)
ADVISORS: - Maurice Tauber
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Alice Bryan - Oliver L. Lilley - Allen T. Hazen - Theodore C. Hines
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: UNDERGRADUATE FEMALE STUDENTS AS POTENTIAL RECRUITS TO THE LIBRARY PROFESSION
Abstract: The purpose of the study was: (1) to evaluate the relative effectiveness of selected library recruitment activities in stimulating undergraduate female students to consider or reject a career in librarianship; (2) to determine to what extent it is possible to isolate and define certain measurable characteristics which typify undergraduate female students who are potential recruits to the library profession; and (3) to identify those factors that have influenced undergraduate female students to consider or reject a possible career in librarianship.
The undergraduate female students utilized as subjects were those 650 students attending Our Lady of Cincinnati College on a full-time basis during the 1965-66 academic year. Data were gathered by means of: (1) a questionnaire of eliciting information pertaining to the subjects' personal and family backgrounds and their choice of possible graduate majors; (2) standardized tests; (3) official college records; (4) an interview schedule.
Each student was asked to complete a pre-test rating scale of graduate majors. As a result, it was found that library science was preferred less (p<.001) and rejected more (p<.01) than other graduate fields of study. The students then were divided by a process of representative random sampling into one control group and three experimental groups. The recruitment activities to which the experimental groups were exposed were: (1) a recruitment talk given by the researcher to 195 students with no opportunity for interaction with the speaker; (2) essentially the same recruitment talk given to 15 students attending an informal tea where there was ample opportunity for questions; and (30 a personal letter and recruitment literature sent to 30 students. After the rating scale was administered a second time as a post-test measure to determine the subjects' change in attitude toward library science, it was concluded that the tea was the most effective means (p<.0001) of inducing more positive attitudes toward library careers.
Next, those 73 students indicating on the rating scale that they would "definitely prefer" or "might consider" library science as a possible graduate major were compared with 317 students who "definitely rejected" library science to determine a statistical profile of a potential library recruit. It was found (p<.05 in every case) that potential library recruits: (1) had parents with a lower terminal education level; (2) obtained higher scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test; (3) obtained a higher score for the "manifest need" of "order" and lower scores for "autonomy" and heterosexuality" on the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule; (4) obtained a higher score for "aesthetic values and lower scores for "economic" and "political" values on the Allport, Vernon, Lindsey Study of Values; (5) received higher grades in high school and college; (6) were more likely to major in education and complete an undergraduate library science course; (7) liked to read and make use of libraries; and 8) frequently had some part-time library work experience.
Finally, semi-structured interviews conducted with a representative random sample (N=48) of the undergraduate student population revealed that potential library recruits were more career-oriented and willing to consider a profession requiring a graduate degree. Students were deterred from library careers primarily because of the negative image they had of librarians who they frequently confused with clerical workers. The students were, for the most part, untouched by any library recruitment publicity, nor could the vast majority of them recall any librarian ever having tried to interest them in librarianship as a possible future career choice.
|