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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.

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

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