Dissertation Information for Gary R. Purcell NAME: - Gary R. Purcell
- (Alias) Gary Ronald Purcell
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Case Western Reserve University (USA) (1975)
ADVISORS: - Jesse H. Shera
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Conrad H. Rawski - Phyllis A. Richmond - [Indecipherable1]
MPACT Status: Complete - Except Indecipherables
Title: The Social and Economic Context of Public Library Funding
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify social and economic factors derived from the environment of the urban political system which are associated to a significant degree with per capita public library funding. The study is set within the, framework of a conceptual model which describes the urban political system as receiving demand and support inputs from the political environment which are ultimately connected to public policy. The public library is viewed as one of many local public services competing within the political environment for scarce funds.
A population of 177 cities falling in the size range between 50,000 and 500,000 population was used for this study. Per capita funding for public libraries was used as the dependent variable, several independent variables were used, each of which represented some aspect of the urban political environment believed to have an association with public library funding. These were : 1) total population; 2) percent of population growth from 1960-1970; 3) percent of the population over age 65; 4) median family income; 5) percent of the population receiving under $3,000 'per year; 6) percent of the population which are non-white; 7) percent of the population in professional employment; 8) percent of the population in managerial employment; 9) percent of the population completing high school; 10) percent of the population completing four years or more of college; 11) median number of years of schooling completed; 12) percent of the total population enrolled in high school; 13) percent of the total population enrolled in elementary school; 14) region of the country and 15) type of municipal government.
Two measures of association were used to analyze the data. The first was a rank order correlation statistic called Gamma. The other measure of association was a multiple regression analysis. The findings of the study reveal that several factors are associated with public library funding. Those factors with positive association are: median family income, percent of the population in professional employment, percent of the, population completing high school, percent of the population age 65, and region of the country. Some factors show a negative association and these are: percentage of total population enrolled in elementary school and rate of population growth from 1960-1970.
The findings of the study demonstrate that certain , factors are statistically associated with variations in public library funding and that a considerable variation in public library funding exists regardless of the amount of total local funding for public services.
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MPACT Scores for Gary R. Purcell A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:01:04
Advisors and Advisees Graph
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