Dissertation Information for Robert Edward Molyneux NAME: - Robert Edward Molyneux
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (USA) (1984)
ADVISORS: - Robert N. Broadus
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Martin Dillon - Edward G. Holley - Melvin Jay Hinich - William M. Shaw Jr.
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: AN EXAMINATION OF THE GROWTH OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1972/73-1981/82
Abstract: Academic library growth has been a subject of continuous discussion since Rider's Scholar and the Future of the Research Library. A review of the literature on growth was conducted in order to consider how the study of growth has been conducted in the past. This review concludes, first, that growth is normally presumed to be exponential in character; second, that the discussion of library growth has been limited primarily to the largest academic libraries; third, that growth is normally discussed in terms of a percent of increase in reported volume count over a period of years and; fourth, that this percent of increase has been found to be inversely related to the size of the library.
Growth is measured by several methods using data from the Association of Research Libraries. When growth is expressed as a percentage of increase or as a rate, there is little to distinguish between different sized libraries. When growth of libraries is stated as an increase in volumes, a clearer relationship emerges and it is demonstrated that the largest libraries add more volumes than the smaller libraries in a direct relationship. In order to express this relationship in a clearer fashion, it is expressed as a regression which uses the size of institutions for each year to explain or predict the number of volumes added.
A number of factors related to growth are analyzed, also with regression equations, with size of institution and year as explanatory variables. It is found growth patterns differ between small and large libraries for reasons that are not clear. Although the gross structures (to the extent that these can be discerned) of the various sized ARL libraries are similar, some differences in the internal arrangements of library inputs that are dependent upon size appear to have affected the patterns of growth, particularly in the last few years.
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calculated 2008-01-31 06:19:51
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