The thesis examines those students in the department of Information Studies at Curtin University of Technology who have articulated into the Bachelor of Applied Science (Information and Library Studies) through holding an Associate Diploma which qualifies them as paraprofessional library technicians.An analysis of students in the department over a period of ten years examines the number and characteristics of library technicians upgrading their qualifications and compares the academic performance of articulating students with those who have no previous qualifications in librarianship. This examination reveals little difference in the academic performance of the two groups. Interviews with academic staff and students reveal attitudes towards articulation, articulating students, education and the relationship between the professional and paraprofessional levels in librarianship which will need to be taken into account in future curricula and course development.

The problem with which this study is concerned is that of determining the relative differences in the job satisfaction of professional librarians employed in public, college/university, and special libraries. The purposes of the study were as follows: 1. To determine the differences in job satisfaction experienced by professional librarians working in public, college/university, and special libraries. 2. To determine if differences in job satisfaction are influenced by the factor of sex. 3. To determine if differences in job satisfaction are influenced by the factor of the size of the library staff. Statistically significant differences were found in job satisfaction between public and special librarians. Statistically significant differences were also found in the JDI Work scale between public and special librarians. Statistically significant differences were found on the JDI Pay and Work scales between female librarians and the females in the norms supplied by Patricia C. Smith. No statistically significant differences in job satisfaction were found associated with the size of the library staff or with sex. Females had higher scores on four of the five Job Descriptive Index scales than did males, but none of the differences were statistically significant.

Orientador: Maria Helena Toledo Costa de Barros / Banca: Regina Celia Baptista Belluzzo / Banca: Bárbara Fadel / Resumo: Melhorar a qualidade dos serviços nas bibliotecas universitárias tem sido uma preocupação constante dos profissionais bibliotecários que trabalham e administram esses serviços; ou, simplesmente, dos que se utilizam deles. As mudanças provocadas principalmente pelo uso de computadores possibilitam avanços significativos no que se refere ao acesso aos catálogos informatizados da Biblioteca, às bases de dados on-line (bibliográficas e textuais), considerando-se a velocidade da informação e a abrangência da busca, que podem contribuir indiretamente para o desenvolvimento pessoal bem como da sociedade como um todo. É preciso disseminar e usufruir a informação com qualidade; para isso, é necessário dominar todos os recursos, produtos e serviços disponibilizados pela Biblioteca do Campus da UNESP, em Marília - SP, foco desta pesquisa com o objetivo de particularizar-se o perfil do usuário, prepará-lo para buscar e encontrar as informações que necessita e que a Biblioteca filtra, direcionando-as para o seu público. Assim, a aplicação da técnica de entrevista permitiu colher dados e informações cujo resultado mostrou as necessidades dos profissionais de ter domínio e habilidades específicas, a fim de exercer com competência a disseminação da informação, bem como para educar/preparar o usuário no manuseio de técnicas de busca, por meio de redes de computadores e demais tecnologias eletrônicas, num processo contínuo que envolve a interação entre o usuário e o profissional da informação, na disseminação da informação. / Abstract: To ameliorate the quality of the services in the academicals libraries have been a constant preoccupation of the libraries professionals that work and conduct these services, or just, of the one that use them. The changes provoked mainly by computer's use make possible significant progress in what refers in the access to the library's computerized catalogs, to the data's bases on-line (bibliographical and textual) considering the information's speed and the inclusion of the search, that can contribute indirectly for the personal development as well as the society like a whole. It's necessary to disseminate and to usufruct the information with quality; for this, it's necessary to dominate all of the resources products and services available for the UNESP's Library in Marília-SP, focus of this research with the objective of been particularized the user's profile, prepare him to seek and find the information's that he needs and that the Library filters addressing them for your public. Thus, the option for the interview's technique applied to get information's whose the result show the professional's necessity to have the domain and specific abilities to exercise with competence the dissemination of the information, as well as for education (prepare the user in the handling of search techniques, through nets of computers and too much electronic technologies, in a continuo process that evolves the interaction between the user and the information's professional, in the dissemination of the information. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2005-08-23Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:55:13Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 dias_sl_me_mar.pdf: 401137 bytes, checksum: 14e9fc40122b60697590e1581430c5ce (MD5) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / Melhorar a qualidade dos serviços nas bibliotecas universitárias tem sido uma preocupação constante dos profissionais bibliotecários que trabalham e administram esses serviços; ou, simplesmente, dos que se utilizam deles. As mudanças provocadas principalmente pelo uso de computadores possibilitam avanços significativos no que se refere ao acesso aos catálogos informatizados da Biblioteca, às bases de dados on-line (bibliográficas e textuais), considerando-se a velocidade da informação e a abrangência da busca, que podem contribuir indiretamente para o desenvolvimento pessoal bem como da sociedade como um todo. É preciso disseminar e usufruir a informação com qualidade; para isso, é necessário dominar todos os recursos, produtos e serviços disponibilizados pela Biblioteca do Campus da UNESP, em Marília - SP, foco desta pesquisa com o objetivo de particularizar-se o perfil do usuário, prepará-lo para buscar e encontrar as informações que necessita e que a Biblioteca filtra, direcionando-as para o seu público. Assim, a aplicação da técnica de entrevista permitiu colher dados e informações cujo resultado mostrou as necessidades dos profissionais de ter domínio e habilidades específicas, a fim de exercer com competência a disseminação da informação, bem como para educar/preparar o usuário no manuseio de técnicas de busca, por meio de redes de computadores e demais tecnologias eletrônicas, num processo contínuo que envolve a interação entre o usuário e o profissional da informação, na disseminação da informação. / To ameliorate the quality of the services in the academicals libraries have been a constant preoccupation of the libraries professionals that work and conduct these services, or just, of the one that use them. The changes provoked mainly by computer's use make possible significant progress in what refers in the access to the library's computerized catalogs, to the data's bases on-line (bibliographical and textual) considering the information's speed and the inclusion of the search, that can contribute indirectly for the personal development as well as the society like a whole. It's necessary to disseminate and to usufruct the information with quality; for this, it's necessary to dominate all of the resources products and services available for the UNESP's Library in Marília-SP, focus of this research with the objective of been particularized the user's profile, prepare him to seek and find the information's that he needs and that the Library filters addressing them for your public. Thus, the option for the interview's technique applied to get information's whose the result show the professional's necessity to have the domain and specific abilities to exercise with competence the dissemination of the information, as well as for education (prepare the user in the handling of search techniques, through nets of computers and too much electronic technologies, in a continuo process that evolves the interaction between the user and the information's professional, in the dissemination of the information.

The growing interest in gender issues and female employment has generated a number of studies and the library and information profession has not been excluded from this interest in promoting female equity in employment. This study investigates the career patterns of female librarians in six public university libraries in Ghana in order to establish the enhancers and inhibitors they experience in their career progression. The study adopted the multi-method approach, which entailed the use of two self-administered questionnaires for 128 professional and paraprofessional library staff respectively, which formed one group of the population studied and a semi-structured interview schedule developed for three female University library Heads, who formed the second group of the study population to address research questions in this study. Each of the professional and paraprofessional librarians completed the questionnaire on their own and their responses were then used to form essential components of one research project. Quantitative data gathered was analysed to report on descriptive characteristics of respondents, while qualitative data, from open ended questions, in the questionnaires, and responses from interviews with the female University Library Heads were analysed using the narrative analysis technique to present profile of respondents and their career histories. The findings reveal females in the study were unable to meet requirements for promotion in their various public university libraries, which has resulted in very slow progress in their careers and even in some cases stagnated careers. The few successful female librarians who made it to top positions did so relatively late in their careers. The study established that societal expectations of females, age, family responsibilities-career conflict, failure to publish, not being able to pursue higher academic programmes, inability to participate in professional enhancement and professional activities are some inhibitors to the progress of female librarians. The study concludes by recommending that the pioneer female University Librarians should serve as role models and mentors to colleague female librarians, and that there should be career development support, for females, from the Ghana Library Association and African Library and Information Association to help overcome barriers to advancement in university libraries. / Information Science / D.Litt. et. Phil (Information Science) / 020.82

The growing interest in gender issues and female employment has generated a number of studies and the library and information profession has not been excluded from this interest in promoting female equity in employment. This study investigates the career patterns of female librarians in six public university libraries in Ghana in order to establish the enhancers and inhibitors they experience in their career progression. The study adopted the multi-method approach, which entailed the use of two self-administered questionnaires for 128 professional and paraprofessional library staff respectively, which formed one group of the population studied and a semi-structured interview schedule developed for three female University library Heads, who formed the second group of the study population to address research questions in this study. Each of the professional and paraprofessional librarians completed the questionnaire on their own and their responses were then used to form essential components of one research project. Quantitative data gathered was analysed to report on descriptive characteristics of respondents, while qualitative data, from open ended questions, in the questionnaires, and responses from interviews with the female University Library Heads were analysed using the narrative analysis technique to present profile of respondents and their career histories. The findings reveal females in the study were unable to meet requirements for promotion in their various public university libraries, which has resulted in very slow progress in their careers and even in some cases stagnated careers. The few successful female librarians who made it to top positions did so relatively late in their careers. The study established that societal expectations of females, age, family responsibilities-career conflict, failure to publish, not being able to pursue higher academic programmes, inability to participate in professional enhancement and professional activities are some inhibitors to the progress of female librarians. The study concludes by recommending that the pioneer female University Librarians should serve as role models and mentors to colleague female librarians, and that there should be career development support, for females, from the Ghana Library Association and African Library and Information Association to help overcome barriers to advancement in university libraries. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)