Dissertation Information for Esther R. Dyer NAME: - Esther R. Dyer
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Columbia University (USA) (1975)
ADVISORS: - Lowell A. Martin
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Jane Anne Therese Hannigan
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Cooperation in library service to children: a fifteen-year forecast of alternatives using the Delphi technique
Abstract: Theorectically, the overlap of public school
and public library programs for children
creates an ambience conducive to cooperation
and interaction between the two public
agencies. Librarians, educators, and laymen
have remarked on ostensible service
duplication and , during the past hundred
years, have proffered numerous suggestions
for inter-institutional cooperation. Seldom,
however, has theory been translated into
action. The scarcity of models and
successful cooperation demonstrations make
this problem eminently suited for
investigation by the Delphi technique.
An intuitive forecasting technique, Delphi
uses the opinions of experts to project
possible futures and to analyze the
reactions of the panelists. In this study,
there were 135 individuals in seven panels
of experts: public library directors and
children coordinators, public school
superintendents and media supervisors,
library educators, state consultants, and
nation-wide experts, comprising experts in
publishing, federal officials, professional
association directors. They reacted as to
the desirability and probability of 74 one-
sentence scenarios concerned with the
financial support, organization and
management, staff, and facilities of library
services to children for the next fifteen
years.
certain phenomenon can be observed in the
responses of panelists to the
questionnaire; panelists tend to react
similarly to other members o the same panel,
i.e. library directors echo the reaction so
other directors; panels, in general, tend to
resist change and to reinforce the status
quo; panels agree less as to the probability
than as to the desirability of the
occurrence of alternatives; public
librarians tend to be less optimistic than
school personnel, and in many cases less so
than other panels, in anticipating growth or
increased revenue; practitioner panels
(directors, coordinators, superintendents
and media supervisors) are skeptical about
the willingness of other administrators to
cooperate and often question the motives
behind overt suggestion for cooperation.
cooperation is not expected to be a priority
program in either institution. The results
of this study reinforce the abstract ideal
of cooperation but cast grave doubts on the
plausibility of the actual implementation.
The significant findings of this study lies
not in the specific areas of consensus but
in the fact that there are so few where
probability and desirability meet. The
outstanding characteristic of this study is
that it constitutes a refresher course in
institutional rigidity. The highest
priorities for both institutions are self-
preservation and protection of territory.
cooperation is an implicit threat to
autonomy and as such stands little chance of
implementation. Long a sacred cow of
librarianship, cooperation will not be
overtly resisted, but neither will it be
actively pursued unless external forces such
as the community or other funding agencies
foist such a requirement upon these
traditional institutions.
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MPACT Scores for Esther R. Dyer A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:01:48
Advisors and Advisees Graph
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