Dissertation Information for Ralph M. Edwards NAME: - Ralph M. Edwards
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- University of California, Berkeley (USA) (1971)
ADVISORS: - Ann M. Heiss
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - J. Periam Danton - Ray E. Held
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: The role of the beginning librarian in the University of California libraries
Abstract: Th position of the beginning librarian (defined here as one who has worked two years or less as a librarian since completing the professional master's degree) has been an ambiguous one im American libraries. The study was intended to investigate the way the roles of beginners are being defined in practice in university libraries. A further concern was with the attitudes of beginners and their supervisors and employers-- attitudes about what beginners are doing an about what they ideally should be doing.
Interviews were conducted in the eight general libraries of the University of California with fifty-eight beginning librarians, forty-five departmental supervisors, and twelve library administrators. Each beginning librarian was also asked to complete a checklist to show what tasks he performed as part of his job.
The findings indicated that both beginners and supervisors believed that beginners were being asked to perform many less-than-professional tasks. Supervisors did not, however, attribute this to an inadequacy in the preparation of the beginners. The majority of supervisors and administrators were, in fact, well satisfied with the professional preparation of beginning of beginning librarians. The assignment of nonprofessional tasks to professionals was attributed by a majority of all who were interviewed to organizational problems that resulted in not enough nonprofessional personnel to carry out the nonprofessional tasks. The library administrators were almost unanimous in reporting that professional positions were to be redefined and upgraded, that the nonprofessional staffs would be expanded to relive professionals of their nonprofessional tasks, and that in the process the number of positions for which beginning professionals would be eligible would be reduced.
The findings further indicated that despite the widespread interest in redefining and upgrading the role of professionals, there was little agreement or understanding to be found as to what constitutes professionalism in librarianship. Beginners, supervisors, and even administrators failed to indicate in the course of the interviews a clear and widely shared conception of the meaning of professionalism, either in theory or as applied to librarianship. Nor was there agreement as to what the professional role of the beginning librarian should be.
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MPACT Scores for Ralph M. Edwards A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-05-30 11:54:43
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