Dissertation Information for Harold Jesse Mason NAME: - Harold Jesse Mason
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Columbia University (USA) (1966)
ADVISORS: - None COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - None
MPACT Status: Incomplete - Ambiguous
Title: Industrial Research and the Academic Library in the United States
Abstract: The increased use of academic libraries in the United States since the end of World War II is a result of several factors. Expanded enrollments at the nation's institutions of higher education represents the most obvious cause. There are, however, others, and the growing reliance upon academic libraries by America's industrial concerns is one of them. This dependency is, 1n part, the result of extended and augmented research and development programs within industry. During the decade prior to the undertaking of the investigation, for example, R&D expenditures by industry as a whole increased 400 per cent. To serve the informational requirements of these programs, industry has, to be sure, developed its own system of libraries. According to one recent estimate, there are now over 2500 such scientific induotrial libraries in the United States. However the fact remains, as one librarian has noted, that "company libraries alone, even in the largest firms, cannot acquire all of the needed material. They must depend in part on the large research library." As a result, the burden for supporting substantial portion of the informational needs of industry is being carried by the nation's academic libraries.
The purpose of the study, arising from these conditions, was to examine the present relationship between academic libraries and industrial research org?nizations in the United States. In specific terms, it (1) measured the use of the resources and services of academic libraries by industry, (2) described the situation that has been created for them as in result of this use, (3) determined the methods and pregrams that are being employed and proposed by academic and special librarians in an effort to satisfy industry's informational needs, and (4) suggested, on the basis of the circumstances revealed, possible solutions to the problem.
Background data for the study were gathered from published literature as well as source material. Correspondence was used extensively, and_visits were made to qozens of industrial and academic libraries. Questionnaires were sent to a sam~le composed of the 62 American academic members of the Association of Research Libraries and 449 selected industrial libraries, replies being received from 95.2 per cent of the ARL members and 70.4 per cent of the Finally, to study the variables of the problem in depth, a close analysis WaS made of a private university library, a state-supported university library, and an industrial library. The results of the analysis revealed that at present there is a significant amount of use of academic-libraries by industry. Furthermore, this use has been continuously expanding, while the staffs at academic libraries have in turn been devoting increasingly more of their time to making the resources and services of the libraries available to industry. The increase in dependency, nevertheless, has not been uniform. The degree of involvement of these libraries in industrial research is determined by such factors as size, geographical location, and their physical proximity to industrial activity. Similarly, the size of companies, their geographical locations, and the extent of their libraries' book collections and budgets are determining factors in their relationship with academic libraries. Neither the participating academic nor industrial librarians, however, expressed dissatisfaction with present arrangements. Most academic librarians indicated that demands from industry have not adversely affected service to the clientele of their institutions, and only a small percentage of them contemplate any alteration of their existing relationship with in~ustry within the near future. A large majority of industrial librarians reported their satisfaction with the use of other libraries by their companies and the use of their own-facilities by other libraries.
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MPACT Scores for Harold Jesse Mason A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:01:39
Advisors and Advisees Graph
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