Dissertation Information for June LesterNAME:
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SCHOOL: ADVISORS: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: MPACT Status: Fully Complete Title: The state library agency as a policy actor: An examination of the role of the state library agency in the development of statewide multitype library networks in four southeastern states Abstract: This study examines whether, in the period 1976-1982 in the states of Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, the state library agencies provided leadership in the development of statewide multitype library networks, and if planning for these networks involved all segments of the library community, two characteristics identified as having emerged by mid-1982 as components of a national policy on multitype networking. The study focuses on factors in the total library environment supporting or inhibiting the implementation of these two policy components. Data were gathered using techniques of document analysis, intensive interviewing and transient observation; and analysis was made through a conceptual framework drawn from public policy analysis. The most significant factors identified as affecting the policy role of the state library agency are summarized as politics, power, and personality. The political relationships between the agency and other major policy actors in the library community and the resulting balance of power were affected by the historical role of the agency as a public library agency, the relative power and visibility of the agency in both the public and academic library sectors, the willingness of the agency to use its resources to enhance the leadership role, and the success of the agency in creating permanent relationships with the various library sectors. The political relationships of the agency to the host environment, most importantly to state government; the perceived degree of autonomy and power of the agency; the scope of the legislative mandate; and the personality and style of the agency director further influenced the ability to assume a leadership role. Other factors influencing involvement of all types of libraries included the presence or absence of organized structure and cohesion within the various library sectors and the receptivity of the libraries to multitype planning and resource sharing. Factors emerging from the study that appear to influence state level implementation of national policy in the library environment are the degree of policy consensus, high priority of the policy at the state level, fertility of the implementation environment, and presence of sufficient leadership to enable implementation. |
MPACT Scores for June LesterA = 0 Advisors and Advisees Graph |