This study has three major purposes: to describe systematically the practice of
librarianship in Australian Commonwealth Government departments and agencies
from the perspective of librarians employed in that environment; to relate the
characteristics of government librarianship to librarians' perceptions of and
attitudes to their work; and to assess the extent to which the work of Commonwealth
Government librarians needs to be redesigned to improve the level of job satisfaction
they experience. A subsidiary purpose is to test the job characteristics theory of
work motivation on a population of librarians.
Information was gathered by a survey questionnaire on a range of variables relating
to librarians and their perceptions of different aspects of their jobs. The primary
instrument for gathering data on perceptions was the complete form of the Job
Diagnostic Survey.
The population under investigation comprised those Commonwealth Government
department and agency librarians employed on a full-time, permanent basis under
the Public Service Act 1922. and located in Canberra. Because the population was
small but diverse, it was decided to survey the total population rather than a random
or stratified sample. One hundred and eight usable responses were received which
represented a response rate of 83 percent.
The results of the survey were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences. Frequency distributions and Pearson's Product-Moment Correlations were
calculated to determine the percentage of respondents who selected each option and the
strength of relationships between pairs of variables.
The study found that Commonwealth Government department and agency librarians in
Australia are highly satisfied with their work generally, and with the environment
in which it is performed. None of the null hypotheses relating to Commonwealth
Government librarians and job satisfaction were rejected. All but one of the null
hypotheses retating to the application of the job characteristics model to
Commonwealth Government librarians are rejected.
The study concludes by identifying issues and areas for further research in public
sector librarianship.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218779 |
| Date | January 1987 |
| Creators | Barnes, Helen, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. School of Information, Language and Culture Studies |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Helen Barnes |
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