This work provides a critical, comparative evaluation of the utility of academic libraries as perceived by library directors and library department heads. North American libraries which had undergone either a new construction or an addition project in the years 1971 through 1979 constituted the population base. / A thirty-three item questionnaire divided into four sections was employed to gather the data. One section on respondent background information and three sections with Likert-scaled items related to public, technical, or audio-visual services were completed. The type of construction--either new or addition--was employed as the primary controlling variable for tests performed. Other controlling variables included the respondents' degree of involvement in the building programs, the volume capacities of the libraries, and the adjusted construction costs of the projects. Analyses of variance and t-tests were the primary statistical techniques used. / The findings indicate that a higher level of satisfaction with utility exists for new buildings than for additions, that involvement in the building process has a direct, positive relationship to the perception of utility, and that a major problem relative to functional utility exists in audio-visual service areas for both new and addition project libraries. It was also found that directors and department heads agree on the functional utility of the buildings in which they work and that neither expenditure nor volume capacity has a bearing on the perceived level of utility. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2345. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: A, page: 4786. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the state programs funded under Title III, of the Library Services and Construction Act for the promotion of cooperative activities among the various types of libraries. The study was concentrated in the six states in the Southeast which had been administered on a continuing basis throughout the 1967-76 period by the Region IV Program Office of The United States Office of Education. The six states studied were Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. Specific objectives of the research were to determine: the types of programs funded and whether they were administered by the state library agencies or at the local levels; problems associated with the administration of Title III funds at both the state and region levels; the nature of the planning; methods employed in the evaluation of the programs and individual projects; and whether state and local appropriations were stimulated by grant funds. Other objectives were to determine whether funded projects influenced other intertype library cooperative activities, and the activities the Region IV Program Office undertook in the administration of the Title III programs. The stages of the research were: preplanning and a review of the relevant literature; interviewing the Region IV Program Officer and obtaining copies of relevant documents relating to the state programs; studying annual programs, reports and other documents obtained from the Program Office; interviewing state library agency personnel in each of the six states and studying documents in their files; and the final analysis of the data. / The data gathered in this study indicated that the programs of intertype library cooperation in each of the six states were integrated with other library programs and were administered by the appropriate line positions. Major problems encountered in the administration of Title III included inadequate funding to provide appropriate incentive for major projects, uncertainty of funding, and an orientation of the state library agencies toward only public libraries. The types of projects implemented in the earlier years varied with a large number of local projects, but the emphasis shifted to the funding of major statewide projects. Planning for the implementation of state programs was largely confined to the state library agencies with project participants having input at the operational level. The management of Title III programs caused the state library agency heads to establish new formal relationships with other than public libraries. Also, the value of the programs was recognized to the point that state and local funds were made available to continue projects when Federal monies were withheld. The predominate use of LSCA, Title III funds was for continuing support of ongoing programs. The administration of the Title III programs at the Federal level was through the Program Officer in Atlanta, who had a wide range of responsibilities and only minimal support staffing resources. The majority of the state library agency personnel interviewed indicated they had failed to receive adequate guidance and leadership from the Program Officer in the development of programs. However, funding was felt to have been the single greatest handicap to the program. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 2813. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The purpose of the research was to investigate serials education in Master's degree programs in American Library Association accredited library schools in the United States and Canada. / A survey questionnaire was mailed to each of the directors of the sixty-eight accredited library schools with the request that attention be given to completing the questionnaire by personnel most knowledgeable concerning the school's serials program. Nineteen separate serials courses were discovered in the study. Nine telephone interviews were held with teachers of such courses in order to identify characteristics and objectives of separate courses. / Three categories of serials education were examined in the study: Serials Cataloging and Classification, Serials Acquisitions/Collection Development, and Serials Control. Parts of the questionnaire were: Concepts and Issues, Performance Expectations, and General Questions. Responses from schools having separate serials courses and from schools having non-separate courses were analyzed separately to determine whether or not there are significant differences between the two groups. / Major findings of the study showed that concepts and issues in Serials Cataloging and Classification and in Serials Acquisitions/Collection Development were taught to a creditable degree by the fifty-six schools responding. Somewhat less attention was given to Serials Control by all schools as a group. Significant differences were found in teaching the concepts examined in Serials Acquisitions/Collection Development and in Serials Control by schools teaching separate serials courses and by schools teaching non-separate courses with the former teaching such concepts to a greater extent. Performance expectations of student accomplishment in the Master's degree program and in filling beginning serials positions as MLS graduates were found to be for the most part consonant with the extent of concepts and issues taught. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-11, Section: A, page: 4528. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

A comparative study of personality and leadership characteristics as related to managerial talent using three groups of academic librarians: those who chose librarianship as a first career, those who chose it after first having worked in another field in which they had taken graduate training, and those who chose it as an alternative career when they decided not to work or were unable to find work in their original field of graduate training. The group was also considered on personality and leadership characteristics in breakdowns by sex, degree of supervisory responsibility, and age. Comparisons of scores on the tests used were also made with normative groups and with librarians who had been studied some twenty years ago in two works, one by Perry Morrison and one by Robert Douglass. / Findings were that there were no differences among first, second, and alternative career academic librarians on personality and leadership characteristics as related to managerial talent, but there were differences when the groups were broken down by degree of supervisory responsibility and by age. Too, librarians of today seemed closer to the norm on general personality characteristics than was the case with the librarians reported on by Douglass. They generally tended to score lower than the normative groups on managerial talent, though their scores were higher than the scores made by the academic librarians studied by Morrison some years ago. It would appear that academic librarians, no matter by what route they come to the field, tend to fit a certain personality profile and that, when it comes to managerial talent, they are generally not as able as people in other occupations. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-01, Section: A, page: 0007. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

This study sought to suggest guidelines for library media education curricula based upon perceptions of school library media personnel regarding 21 competencies identified as needed to participate with teachers in the design of instructional activities. A questionnaire elicited perceptions concerning these competencies from 503 respondents chosen randomly from the membership of selected library media organizations in four states relative to these variables: possession, training modes, acquisition in library media education, coursework type, teaching methodology, competence level, value to job, propriety as job activities, performance, and supervision. / Chi square procedures determined for each competency statement (1) if relationships existed between these variables and levels of professional preparation and (2) whether undergraduate or graduate professional preparation accounted for the difference. / The following conclusions were reached: (a) respondents possessed almost all competencies, (b) a majority cited teacher education programs as the source of competency development, (c) relationships between educational level and competency statements were few, (d) educational level at which each relationship could be attributed was dependent upon each specific variable and competency statement, (e) respondents with graduate level preparation consistently made more positive responses to questions posed, (f) traditional service competencies were acquired in professional programs, (g) virtually all competencies were designated as proper job activities, (h) only traditional service competencies were being performed on the job, and (i) no competencies were supervised. Of those who perceived their library media preparation as having contributed to their competency development, (a) most acquired competencies in required courses incorporating skill process, (b) most attached some or great value to professional programs for competency development, and (c) most reported a medium or high level of competence. / Guidelines suggested library media education (a) re-enforce competency development, (b) emphasize utilizing competencies to relate library media programming to instructional activities, and (c) demonstrate to educators the value of library media personnel participating in the design of instructional activities. The guidelines proposed instructional design, taught as a skill process in required coursework, serve as a focal point to which other library media competencies would relate and support. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4190. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The study explores, through the survey method, the attitudes of circulation managers in large academic libraries toward their management role, user contacts and user expectations. The study seeks to put these attitudes toward the user in the context of the type of circulation control system in order to establish if there is any association between attitudes and the state of automation within the department. / The circulation function has undergone two important transformations since the turn of the century. The first of these is departmentalization; the second, automation. The departmentalization of the circulation function has tended to separate the circulation department from the library's educational and information functions, the more "professional" aspects of librarianship. Circulation work has increasingly been viewed as routine, process-oriented work, not completely worthy of professional attention. / Paralleling this change in the circulation function's organizational setting, the automation of the circulation process has continued to move from the laborious and slow use of manual procedures and book cards toward the immediate updating and record keeping of the online system. Circulation automation has passed from the early days of simply mechanizing files, represented by the batch system, to the present where libraries have the potential capacity to perform the complete circulation control process with real-time systems. Sophisticated online systems have begun to control the complete circulation process. / The metamorphosis of circulation automation--from simple mechanization to full computerization--has had a tremendous impact on the technical side, the processes, of the circulation department. Likewise, it may well have had impact on the service attitudes, priorities, and leadership of the department. As it automates, gaining control over its own processes, the circulation department may actually become more responsive to its users--more service oriented. / A questionnaire was sent to circulation managers of all the 98 academic libraries who hold membership in the Association of Research Libraries. It sought to identify the degree and state of automation of the circulation function, typified by the three system categories of manual, batch and online and to capture opinions on the manager's view of his management role, his attitudes on selected circulation service issues, his attitudes toward user contacts, problems and complaints, and finally, his attitudes toward user demands and expectations. / An analysis of returns revealed a generalized, slight tendency for online managers to be more favorable to the user's point of view. Respondents of all three types of systems (manual, batch, and online) were uniform in their tendency to express very strong, positive attitudes toward the circulation manager's role and were only slightly less positive in their attitudes to user contacts, complaints and expectations. / The study found circulation managers uniformly strong in their support of circulation management's role with no substantial differentiation among managers by type of system. It found circulation managers uniformly strong in their desire to respond to user complaints and problems, but with a slight tendency for online managers to be more favorable to the user. It found managers in general favorable in their attitudes toward users in regard to their demands and expectations; there was a tendency for batch managers to be more favorable to the user. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 2813. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5230. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

The purposes of this Delphi study were (1) to establish the probable lines of development of both the conservation of materials in libraries and archives and of training for this field in the period 1981-2001, (2) to detect any significant differences between the futures envisioned by two groups involved with the problem, and (3) to determine the degree of firmness of opinion of persons concerned with the field. / Two respondent groups--25 professional library educators nominated by their schools and 19 individuals presently active in the conservation field ("preservationists")--were supplied a free-answer preliminary questionnaire (Round One). Answers to this questionnaire provided the definitive test instrument (Rounds Two and Three). Each group of respondents was returned this test instrument with the group means included and offered opportunity to change their responses. / The future as predicted will involve economic stringency, shortages of trained personnel, and some governmental conservation responsibility. / Materials in greatest danger (post-1880) will be treated at outside centers, with heavy use of microfilming. Respondents were undecided as to technology. Custodians will select materials to preserve and conservation administrators will be trained for wide knowledge rather than bench experience. Library schools will need trained conservators for instruction and some test or degree from an existing installation will constitute professional entrance. / Statistical analysis using the Mann-Whitney test indicated the populations of educators and preservationists do not differ significantly in the developments predicted for the conservation field. / Only 2.4% of responses were altered when the means of the groups were presented, indicating a high degree of individualism and lack of concern for a group concensus. / Preliminary matter to the study includes history and analysis of the American Institute for Conservation of Artistic and Historical Works, its Code of Ethics, and of conservation training in North America. Tables and graphs provide detailed data reported in the study. Appendices present the text of both questionnaires. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2343. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

A survey of continuing education activities for professional public library personnel by state library agencies in the nine Southeastern states was carried out in the winter of 1980-81. / Research questions focussed on policy, administrative commitment, planning activity, and program activities during the previous fiscal year. / It was the policy of all state library agencies surveyed to conduct continuing education activities. / Administrative commitment was reflected in reported expenditures by all states of $359,547. Personnel totalled 71 persons involved with a full-time-equivalency of 5.02. No state had a full-time coordinator for continuing education. / Two states had completed, viable needs assessments. One state had a completed, comprehensive statewide plan for continuing education. / Administrative perceptions and decisions were found to be stronger determinants of activity than statutory authority or written policy or plans. Commitment of personnel and funding varied more widely than rankings of administrative priorities. / Reported participants in state agency continuing education offerings had declined to 3,346 from 3,925 during a 1972-1974 survey, while the numbers of opportunities had increased to 182 from 77. New types of opportunities, especially grants to attend conferences, were also offered. / Participants included 89% from public libraries and 58% with masters' degrees in library science. / Library Services and Construction Act funds were used extensively to facilitate continuing education activity. Such use affected types of activities offered, inclusion of personnel from different types of libraries, and flexibility in programming. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2343. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.