No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of English Language and Literature. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

M.A (Library & Information Science) / Response to literature is a subject that has received much attention in research during the past decade. Important contributions to our knowledge of reader response have been made by the literary theorists. The approach in this study is from the point of view of Readership Studies, a branch of study that has developed in South Africa as a discipline of Library and Information Science. The study is an investigation of reader response as one critical moment, or happening in a chain of happenings which constitutes the reading event. To be able to read, a person must first decide to read, he must then select or procure a text, then he performs a reading act on the text which causes him to respond; the text may further have effects on the reader's attitudes, values and even behavior. Factors concerning the text, like bibliographic form, genre, content and availability, will have an influence on the above mentioned critical moments. The factors concerning the reader are as important; for instance attitude, interest, motivation, reading ability, and knowledge of literature. These are called his predispositions. The text and the reader are mutually responsible for the response which ensues from the reading act.

Bibliography: pages 490-552. / Two fundamental questions which frequently confront a children's librarian are 'what do you suggest my child should read?' and 'Why does my child not read, and what can be done to rectify the situation?' It is fairly easy to deal with the first question by referring either to one's own knowledge of children's literature or to the many authoritative books on the subject. The second question poses a problem, because, although much concern has been expressed regarding reading reluctance, current perceptions generally relate to limited aspects only. Such perceptions tend to be based on incidental observations and untested premises rather than on rigorously executed research. Hence it was decided to undertake this research project in an attempt to fill a gap in a sound understanding of reading reluctance among children in a given library environment.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in the resources and library services in men's and women's state prison facility libraries, and to determine to what extent the librarians who administer services to inmates in prisons believe the resources available are adequate in giving library service to the inmates. A questionnaire was sent to the librarians in charge of the library in all women's institutions in the United States and to a random sample of men's institutions. A total of seventy-three questionnaires were completed and returned; thirty-nine from male institutions, twenty-three from female institutions, and eleven from co-ed institutions. The data from the questionnaires were tabulateds-using the Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS-PC). Major comparisons between the male and female institutions included: 1) the size of the institutions with the size of the library collection, 2) the size of the institutions with the resources available to inmates, and 3) the comparison of resources and services between the men's and women's institutions. Based on the results of the study, the following conclusions were reached: 1) men's institutions had much larger inmate populations than women's institutions, 2) men's institutions had only slightly more books and journals than women's institutions, and 3) because there were fewer females per institution, females had many more resources available per inmate than men. A second analysis was performed to compare male and female institutions within categories of similar size to determine whether or not the differences in the materials and services which were found to be outstanding or significantly different in the first analysis would remain valid. Data from both analyses indicated that women's institutions, in most cases, had more resources and services available than men's institutions regardless of the size of the institution. The majority of librarians in both men's and women's institutions believed they were able to support their goals and objectives, and most were satisfied with the services they were able to provide. A review of the literature indicated that similar problems have existed in prisons from the early 1800's to the present. Those problems, still recurrent, are theft, insufficient funding, overcrowding, and lack of administrative support for prison libraries. / Graduation date: 1991

Inaug.-diss.--Leipzig. / Lebenslauf. "Literaturverzeichnis": p. 173-179.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 22-23).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-50).