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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.

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